Misfit Assignment

These two pieces were made in 1988. 
I was seven and Ben was 15

The picture to the right is of two clay figures.  Ben's is white and was made during high school. Mine is yellow and was made when I was in first grade.

When I found Ben's piece a few years ago I thought that his leg had broken off, but later discovered that he was made that way on purpose. For a long time I thought that he was made that way because it just sounded like something my husband would do to be funny.

It turns out that the assignment was to create a misfit out of clay.  I told Ben that I felt bad for the guy now that I knew that he was a misfit.  He told me not to worry about it because the misfit also had giant ears that gave his superhero-like hearing.

Meanwhile, my poor chicken is wandering through life clueless about his misfortunes.  Misfortunes like no one can tell that he is a chicken.  I remember being surprised that no one knew that it was a chicken sitting on a nest when the art teacher brought our pieces back from the kiln. I was probably wandering around just as clueless.  The more clueless we are, the more real we become.