"Oh, sorry Aaron, we re not disturbing you, I hope", says Carl.
"Park it", he says, gesturing to the other bench. "The more, the merrier."
"You're still an artist", say I.
"Yes, Aaron is an artist, a very talented artist", says Carl.
He appears to be putting the finishing touches on a highly coloured tropical bird. I am challenged to believe that something so wonderful could be real.
"Is that a real bird?" I ask him.
"It is indeed", he says, letting the red pencil crayon rest on the page.
"It's so beautiful."
"It's called a resplendent quetzal. I have seen them on occasion in Costa Rica."
And the bird is resplendent. it is an iridescent brilliant green with reflections of blue, turquoise, gold and yellow in its plumage, and a deep red breast. The tail appears to be very long, also green, and it has kind of a busy crest on its head, rather like a punk rocker with a mohawk. Covering its dark brown wing are several long green feathers, rather like a palm leaf. There are also purple orchids in the drawing and a big saffron coloured sun that appears to have bleeding veins criss-crossing it and an intense sky ranging from light aqua up to a deep crepuscular blue.
"Do you have some more you could show us?" Carl asks. And Aaron begins to show us page after highly and brilliant coloured page of meticulously rendered hummingbirds and other species absolutely beyond my ken and knowledge. These are images that are truly magical...
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