Did It Work?

According to the internet, the original HALO computer game was released in 2001. According to my distant high school memories, this checks out. I know it came out when I was living at my parents house because my brother pre-ordered it and was counting the moments until it was delivered.

And when the day came, I remember being at home, my brother ripping open the package and then... All hell broke loose.

Inside was not the HALO computer game, but a book called COLOR, by Betty Edwards, which seemed to be about using color in art. The cover told us Betty Edwards also wrote The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. My brother, who was pretty even keeled, with a very few exceptions, had found himself in an exception.

He was pissed. I found the entire thing downright hilarious, and my mom got on the phone with whoever they'd ordered it from and discovered that my brother's HALO had mistakenly been sent to somewhere in California. No doubt the artist awaiting their COLOR book was equally disappointed, although maybe not volcanically so.

After 2001, and once my brother found the mix up funny (not an instant conversion), COLOR became a gift my brother and I gave to each other at Christmas. We never know if it's lurking under the tree, (it doesn't appear every year) or what wrapping it'll appear in, but when the other unwraps it, everyone laughs.

Then probably about fifteen years after COLOR's initial appearance in our lives, I was back at home as an adult. My brother and my mom and I were in a book store. I have no idea why we were there, or what year this was. But I remember wandering around, and suddenly, right in front of me, there it was. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. On a display table!

I stopped in my tracks. Then I whirled around. My brother is nearly a foot taller than me, and I could see him, on the other side of the store, not paying attention to me at all. This was perfect. I snapped up the book. He would never see this one coming next Christmas.

I glanced again at my brother, still not looking anywhere near me, and turned toward the register, and suddenly, a perfectly nice young woman was standing in front of me.

"You're getting Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," she said.

She smiled warmly. Her voice as clear and way too loud for the mission I was on. I ducked and looked back at my brother, still not looking at me. I returned my attention to her, hunched and trying to make myself smaller. She didn't seem to notice. She was just smiling that really nice smile, clearly waiting for me to say something.

"Yes," I said. Maybe if I didn't really talk to her, she'd get the point and walk away. Then I realized she worked for the store, so I took a step to the register. Maybe she could ring me up and I could get this puppy in a bag and out of sight.

"I loved that book. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain."

Why was she saying the title again? I checked the location of my brother. He had turned toward us and was wandering in my direction. My blood pressure sky rocketed.

"Great!" I was sweating out of my eyes. She was going to blow this for me.

My brother was getting closer. I was starting to panic.

"I used that book, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, when I had a brain injury," she said.

But, unfortunately, I wasn't really listening. I was watching my brother nearly reach me. Then he turned at the last moment and went down a new aisle. I could still clinch this!

"Did it help?" I asked, still looking at my brother.

It took a second, but I realized what I'd said. I turned my full attention to her. Her warm smile was gone.

"Yes. I function normally now," she said.

The silence between us could have been more awkward, but maybe not. Finally I said, "Great. That's wonderful... Can I buy this?"

She nodded and checked me out without another word.

My brother did not discover my mission. So at least there was that.

Months later, when my brother got the book for Christmas, I told him the story. He lost his mind, but not because his HALO game was on a California vacation. Rather, he had to take off his glasses due to tears of laughter.

"Did it help? What are you a monster?" he asked, wiping his eyes.

"She was blowing my cover! I wasn't listening. I was just trying to get her to let me buy it!"

But the story lives on. Me putting my foot in my mouth, but successfully buying another Betty Edwards book without my brother realizing it. For my brother, this is two wins. Another Betty Edwards book to hide at Christmas, and an embarrassing story about me that makes him almost cry laughing every time.

Thanks, Betty Edwards. None of us have ever read a word you've written beyond your covers, but we love your work. It really brings us together as a family.

#familymemories