Not Invisible | Marjorie Riches

Have you ever walked into a fancy art studio and felt as though you are invisible? In fact, it doesn't even have to be an art studio, just some store where only rich people can afford to shop. You know that you aren't going to buy anything, but it is fun to see the 100 dollar shirts. You probably saw the same one at Wal-Mart the day before marked down to five dollars. But rich people don't need to shop at Wal-Mart. they can buy the expensive shirt and still have a ton of money to spare, not that they should be donating to charity or anything like that. Anyways, to get back on subject, I enjoy going to art studios just to look at the beautiful paintings. I would never buy any of them, there is no way that I could afford them. I can barely afford my rent as it is. But I go, and I don't care that I am invisible to all of the men in suits who are just waiting for the right customer, the rich one, to come in. I am not now, nor ever will be that customer. My husband and I are both going to be teachers...so no art is in our future. But maybe we will not always be invisible. One evening, the evening of my first wedding anniversary in fact, my husband and I decided to dress up in nice clothes and go out in Vegas. I wore a beautiful teal evening gown. it hugged my curves and made me look like I had the perfect body. It also had just the right touch of sparkle to make me feel glamorous and classy. My husband wore a blck suit with a tie that matched my gown. We decided on this wonderful evening, that while we were waiting for a table to open up at the restaraunt we chose, we would tour an art studio. It was the studio of the artist who paints beautiful beach and water scenes. He is very famous and I'm sure you would recognize his work if you saw it. It is always on school folders and the covers of notebooks, making kids beg for the pretty ones instead of the cheap ones with plain colors that are so much cheaper. I can't remember the artists name, but I have always had an attraction to the ocean, not so much the dolphins and whales. I'm not a big animal art person, but I do love the waves and the sky and beautiful beaches. My mom is from Hawaii so I have always been attracted to this kind of place. We entered the studio and as soon as we passed through the door, a man in a suit approached us. I thought that this was very odd. I had always been invisible, and it's not like I was any richer then than I was the day before. In fact, I was going to be a lot poorer as soon as we had our dinner. But he approached us anyways, because we looked richer and he decided to take us on a tour of the studio. He told us about every painting, told us about the artist who he explained as, "the rockstar surfer guy". Then, to our utter shock, he introduced us to the artist who just happened to be in town. We shook hands with him, told him his work was beautiful and then he was ushered off into a crowd of women who were giggling like they really were meeting a rockstar. Well our suited man asked us if we enjoyed the studio as we made a b-line toward the door. He then proceded to ask us if we wanted to take anything home tonight. My husband, who is always quick witted said, "I'll give you a dollar for this one," and pointed to one of the biggest paintings on the wall. The man laughed nervously and my husband gave a shrug and said, "Can't give you much more than that and the lint in my pocket. So, do we have a deal?" The man looked disgusted and muttered, "I'm sorry sir" as he walked hurriedly away. We laughed, knowing that he had thought for sure that we would buy something and had wasted all of his time showing hoolagins around the studio. It had been fun to walk through a studio with a guide who thought that we were something. It was fun to not be invisible, but what had been even more fun was to watch the look on the man's face as he discovered that we had decieved him, and were actually broke as a joke.