Sunday, August 29, 2010

Leonardo the Florentine, part of 1st chapter

Chapter One
Leonardo swept the floor quickly, trying not to think too hard of the activity going on around him. It just wasn’t fair. Everyone else was doing something useful, something productive, something fun. Why did his father have to punish him this way? He had been just fine at home with his uncle. His uncle had time for his questions, time to point out the variety of plants and animals to him. And there he could go outside and draw them any time he wanted. No one bossed him around and told him what to do! In fact, he was in the midst of sketching the pond behind his grandfather’s house when his father had made the shocking announcement that he was to move to Florence to apprentice to the great master Verrocchio.

And so, here he was. An apprentice. A slave, really. What was he going to learn in this noisy, smelly place? He would never be a great master. In fact, he was never going to amount to anything. That’s what he had been told his entire life, and it was time he faced that fact.

No, he thought angrily, gripping the broom. He did not accept that fact. He was going to succeed. He was going to prove them all wrong. He was going to accomplish great things one day. He gave the broom a hard push, almost knocking over the young man next to him who was delivering panels to the master. Oh great, this was not going to be a good day.

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