Brian Crawford
Art 353A Wendy
Tues-Thurs 1-3:45
Backstories
Peter
Peter is a pretty even-keeled five-year-old with soft blue eyes and light brown hair. His two parents just welcomed his little sister, Alice, into the world, and Peter could not be happier. He talks to her, holds her, and plays with her – but she’s his sister, so all of that comes naturally. Peter still needs to build his self-confidence when it comes to interacting with the other kids at the elementary school. Despite the fact that both of his parents are back at work, Peter attends public school both to save money and branch out. The problem is, he’s a little young for his grade; most of his classmates turned six during the spring or summer – Peter’s birthday isn’t until late September.
Peter plays pretty easily by himself; after all, he was an only child for four years. This comes into conflict, though, with some of the other attention-deprived kids who have a harder time keeping their hands to themselves. Last year, in kindergarten, Peter was in the middle of painting and another child decided that she needed that brush immediately. Instead of crying when she snatched the brush from his hand, Peter offered her his pink paint, too.
Calm as ever, Peter returns home everyday and puts his backpack at the foot of his bed where it belongs. He grabs his favorite book, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and hops into his sister’s crib to read to her. Peter’s parents understand that he’s adorably sincere, but they wonder how long it’s going to take before he learns to stand up for himself.
Mitch
Mitch is an athletic, hyperactive six-year-old. He’s the only son of a single mother who works as a nurse in the local ER. Mitch loves his mom, but often has a hard time understanding why she’s gone for so many hours at a time. He spends a lot of time at the after-school day care with the faculty kids because his mom can’t pick him up when the first-graders get out at 3 in the afternoon. As a result, Mitch has little trouble making friends, but oftentimes he lets this go to his head.
Mitch gets a lot of praise at school: he wins races at recess, he kicks the kickball farther than anyone besides Big Leo, and he gets all the best deals on lunch-box trades. He’s got blonde hair and piercing blue eyes – not overly tall, but handsome enough to get tagged affectionately during a game of girls-chase-boys. That’s why he’s so thrown off whenever a new student doesn’t immediately like him. Mitch is outgoing and extroverted, but doesn’t always realize how intrusive other kids find his attitude to be. He’s popular, but what Mitch really wants is a friend he can really trust.
When Mitch finally gets home, he often has to help with the dishes. His mom seems really tired all the time, and as much as Mitch tries to help her out, she really only laughs when she gets one of her long weekends and they get to go to the zoo. Mitch notices how happy the other kids are when they get picked up from school by their dads. Maybe his mom just needs a friend too.
Attribute List
Peter
- Caring
- Soft-spoken
- Calm
- Sincere
- Introverted
- Considerate
- Imaginative
- Observant
- Self-motivated
- Accepting
- Timid
- Rational
- Small
- Focused
- Lenient
- Patient
- Obedient
- Penitent
- Respectful
- Truthful
Mitch
- Energetic
- Ambitious
- Athletic
- Extroverted
- Capable
- Cognizant
- Emotionally Insecure
- Selfish
- Prideful
- Valorous
- Popular
- Lonely
- Curious
- Instigating
- Hyper
- Protective
- Loyal
- Tough
- Jealous
- Impulsive
Toll Booth Exercise
On one particularly hot Wednesday, Peter and Mitch were driving around the outdoor asphalt courts in their Little Tike push-cars. Peter was following the sidelines in a clockwise direction, as per the Toll Road Rules, and Mitch was hot on his trail. Peter made sure to slow down before coming to the turnstile Toll Gate so as not to scratch his beautiful red paintjob, and got out of his vehicle. He looked at the monitor:
PLEASE INSERT PAYMENT (2 COINS)
Peter put his hand in his left pocket, looking for the two coins he’d grabbed beforehand. BLAM! Mitch rear-ended Peter’s car and ran it into the turnstile, only to have the locked machine recoil back to its starting position. Peter spun around, pockets empty, and eyed a very mischievously grinning Mitch. He’d stolen the coins, no doubt, and probably traded them already. No wonder he was bragging about having two brownies ready for lunch!
0 COINS ENTERED. PLEASE INSERT PAYMENT.
Mitch, laughing at the apparently foolish Peter, backed up and pedaled around the turnstile while the yard-duty wasn’t looking. But Peter wasn’t about to break the rules. The turnstile was supposed to accept the plastic coins the students were given by their teachers every morning before recess. However, Peter had noticed earlier that the plastic coins were the same size as the quarters he’d brought for milk money. Peter reached into his right pocket for the quarters his dad gave him, and paid the toll.
THANK YOU! PROCEED.
His hot lunch was going to be pretty dry without the chocolate milk Peter was used to, but at least he knew he’d done the right thing. His dad was sure to be proud.
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