Page 18 - Harlem Shavuot Companion 2020

The Gift
Ilana Ascher, Fellow at Repair the World Harlem

Lelani was a fanciful person.
She gathered up all her best artwork and left it near the trash cans, by the
curb, with fanciful notions of an excited new owner. An owner who was
not so fanciful like Lelani, but rather whimsical and full of life. She would
put Lelani’s rendering of Mona Lisa at the Last Supper hanging sideways
above the kitchen sink. Thus, she went against all logic and commonly
known rules about hanging art. She wouldn’t stop there. Lelani was sure
that her whimsical friend wouldn’t be able to stop there. She would bolt
her painting of giraffes negotiating with zebras directly to the ceiling in
her bedroom.
Lelani imagined all the possibilities, taking inventory of her own bare walls. The empty space
above the kitchen sink; the plain white paint on her ceiling... but she felt satisfied with her decision.
Before work the next day, Lelani took her trash out. She dragged the two heaping white trash bags
to the fenced-in garbage cans at the entrance of her apartment complex, all the while whisper-
singing a song about starfish and frogs. Lelani grabbed the bags with both hands and, without
looking, heaved them, in one swift motion, into the trash cans. They tore right through a relatively
decent painting of Mona Lisa at the last supper and
splattered a surprisingly tasteful interpretation of a
business meeting in the savanna.

Cal got off the plane and trudged through the airport,
running past a homeless man, almost stepping over him,
on the way to the bus stop. She got to the stop, out of
breath, and looked up at the monitor. The bus left five
minutes ago and the next one wouldn’t be coming for
another five minutes. Cal shifted her weight, locking
eyes with the homeless man she nearly hopped over just
a minute ago. 4 minutes until the bus would arrive. She
sighed and walked over to him, smiling apologetically,
and handed him a five-dollar bill.
She opened the door to a brand new, empty, gray apartment building. The rooms were
unfurnished, and in the process of putting her luggage away, she realized that she had entirely
forgotten to pick up her suitcases at baggage claim. Cal screamed in frustration, clenched her fists
and stormed out of the apartment. She stopped by the vending machine, bought a bottle of water,
drank the entire bottle right there on the spot and went over to the trash can to throw it away.
Something caught her eye and she peered over the edge of the trash to see a striking painting of a
handsomely dressed giraffe shaking hands with a zebra in a bowtie. Cal chuckled and reached into
the garbage to drag the painting out. She recovered two paintings from the trash and immediately
went back upstairs. The paintings were beautiful and vibrant and, amid an empty, dull apartment,
they were inspiring. Cal did her best to hide the stains and patch up the tear, but ultimately ended
up hanging a perfectly straight painting in the bathroom, as well as a slightly crooked painting in
the bedroom. It was turned slightly and adjusted over time until it looked just right.

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