Chapter 4: The ART PROGRAM

John finished his art portfolio and submitted it to the art faculty of Galveston College, after seeing his art portfolio, they immediately invited him for an interview, and when they saw him, they could not believe that they were seeing a toddler, who had created something they could not even imitate, much less create from original.

 "I'm looking forward to it too and I'm excited about what lessons would I learn that would help me elevate my paintings". He said while he was standing to handshake the committee.

After that, he approached his family who were waiting for him to finish his interview.

'Still, a little weird that they did not include my guardian for the meeting, since I was only a toddler, even if they think that I was 8- 10 years old, that's still a child' he thought to himself while walking to his family.

"How was your interview sweetie? Everything all right?" his mother asked him.m

"Yes, I was accepted," he said to Mary who thanked god and hugged his son

"I never have any doubts, son," His father remarked while he was being hugged by her mother.

"Can we go now? You promised Dairy Queen after this if I behave" Georgie said, bored without doing anything and not allowed to wander around the hall.

"We are very proud of you sweetie," Mary said to John one last time. Before his father said.

"Yes, we can go to Dairy Queen now," George told Georgie.

2 weeks later

John was seen walking towards a room with his father on his side, this was the day the 3-month art program started, and his dad was escorting him since his job is near this university when they found the room, he was shocked to see the number of paintings hang in the wall, and all of them are beautiful for normal standards, but he can see the slightest flaw in deviation or the human touch as he would like to call it, since there is no perfect human, even him,

"So I'll leave you here now, are you sure you are gonna be okay here?" George asked his son caring that his son would be scared in the middle and leave,

"Yes Dad, thank you, just pick me up at the entrance of the school later after our session.

"All right, good luck, and don't be nervous okay?" his dad added.

"Yes Dad, thank you, and drive safe please" he added.

"Okay, I'll leave now," George said while walking away still occasionally looking back to his son who was sitting in the room.

'He'll be fine George' George said to himself assuring that John is a mature kid.

A Few Minutes later

The instructor arrived in the room, she looked around and saw a toddler in the front seat, she just stared for a second and started to inspect the rest of the class.

"Good Morning class, I'm your professor for this program, Anya Sterling, you may address me as Ms. Sterling and nothing else," she said in the class having pride in his professional status.

"Now, for our first agenda, we would introduce ourselves, State your name, your age, and your specialty in arts" stating the instructions, clearly having memorized it due to her experience in each class.

"Let's start with you, little one," She said looking at John.

"Hi, My Name is John Cooper, I'm 4 years old nearly 5 years old, and my specialty is painting and drawing, the art I focus on, is more on realism and naturalism" John stated finishing his introduction.

"Mr. Cooper, forgive me for being blunt but are you in the spectrum? I saw your portfolio and I must say that I have been impressed with your work, so I'm just wondering if you have savant syndrome being so young, I hope you don't take it offensive that I asked you" she stated with a tone of curiosity.

"No, I'm not in any spectrum Ms. Sterling, not that I know of at least, and it's not offensive, it's more of a compliment if you think I have a savant syndrome since they are talented in the areas they excel in" John stated without taking offense to the question.

"Do you have any more talents you can give us state?" Ms. Sterling asked with more curiosity to the prodigy in front of him.

"I have an eidetic memory, I have perfect pitch, and I also observe and process things in a much faster manner than others, like a faster reaction ability," John stated proudly of his talents that he realized over the years.

"Well, I'm excited to see what kind of surprise you would bring us in these 3 months." Ms. Sterling said before moving on to other students.

The introduction was over maybe 30 minutes after Ms. Sterling started the 1st session which focused on 'Introduction to Materials and Basic Techniques' this was the week 1 topic, after maybe an hour of talking and another 3 hours for practical work, they dismissed the class, while he was readying to leave the class, he was approached by Ms. Sterling.

"If you want to learn about sculpting after the painting sessions in the art class, please inform me before the end of this month so we can enroll you in our next art program. I'm sure the professor there would enjoy having you in the program, considering you are one of the most talented students the school has encountered in the art department," Ms. Sterling stated to John.

"I'll discuss it with my parents first before deciding, and I'll inform you as soon as possible," John answered.

"All right, I hope to hear good news, Have a safe journey" Ms. Sterling stated, walking away from John.

John exited the room and contemplated today's lesson having a smile on his face, he also thought of the sculpting program he was informed of, and then he waited at the front of the school for his father, he just waited for about 30 minutes before his father arrived.

"Son, did you enjoy your first day?" George asked John while carrying his bag of supplies for him.

"Yes, I enjoyed it very much, thank you for doing this Dad," he said to George while walking to their truck.

"Want some ice cream on the way home? Just don't tell your mother," George said before opening the door of his truck

"Yes, please," John answered.

This was the end of the first day of his art program.