A Different Type of Picture

OK, admittedly this photo was not taken today, however I thought is was so good I had to post it. So, here's the situation, Mason and Jody had just come to visit me at work, Friday after last. After meeting up with them, we all decided to walk a couple of blocks to Times Square to the Toys R Us to pick up a few new Baby Einstein videos. We got the videos and started looking for a subway stop to head home.



Along the way, we ran into one of the many street vendors along 42nd Street. To give you some background, the street vendors are there day and night and always looking to get you to buy a hot dog or a balloon or a sign with your name painted on it. If you have a young child with, they give you the HARD sell. In this case it was the caricature artists giving it to us. I wanted to get a picture of Mason done for a while, although Jody did not. This was due to the fact any misrepresentation of any of Mason's features would have major, major consequences. Since this is a caricature, this could be an accident waiting to happen. After some bantering back and forth we decided if I had the money we'd get the picture. I had exactly $20 and for a $5 cost it sounded like a good deal.



So, we went over and they put Mason in a little chair. After a little struggling, he settled in and didn't make much of a fuss. They started with the eyes, then on to the nose, then mouth. I must admit; I was getting a little upset. Jody's concerns were coming true. I was thinking "I can just throw this away and it is a $5 mistake I will not make again. However, sometime between the mouth and the vendor giving me the drawing it got good... very good. Next thing you know Mason is wearing a tuxedo, jumping out of a sports car and talking on a cell phone on Broadway in the middle of Midtown. And it looked like him!



We were both very happy and all but willing to give the vendor the $5 dollars. But in true New York fashion, the only way to take the picture home without ruining it was to put it in a picture frame. A picture frame that cost $10 dollars, exactly twice the original cost of the drawing. Although we were somewhat scammed, we certainly didn't want to throw the picture away and felt good about having another Mason keepsake, even if it did cost $15 dollars.