My little man," She looked up at me from her chair and smiled as I was putting away the groceries.
"OK, my big man," she stated. I hadn't bothered putting on a t-shirt after doing some chores on the farm and my mom was looking at my chest and arms.
"You've turned into such a handsome man," she said with a half joking tone.
"Why thank you mam, you don't look to shabby yourself," I shot back smiling.
"Oh, you think I look pretty?" she said jokingly.
"I do, in fact I was going to ask you if you could help me with my art project," I responded in a submissive tone.
"Oh, like the time you filmed me driving the car around?" she replied calmly.
"I totally forgot about that, yes like that. That was when I tried out my camera," I replied eagerly.
"OK, let me take a shower first" she said, finishing the last of the lemonade.
We were in the makeshift studio now. On one end of the studio was a camera on a camera pod. A few yards in front of it was a chair. I was sitting on the chair and my mom was standing behind the camera, looking at the little display on the camera.
"So what do you see mom?" I asked her patiently.
"I just see your face John, I'm not sure I understand," she responded with a puzzled expression.
"My project is about facial expressions, that camera will be zoomed in like that, but you will be sitting in this chair instead, OK?" I was hoping I could talk her into this.
"Oh, I'm not sure about this, I thought maybe I would be in a car again, filmed at a distance or something," she mumbled anxiously.
"I need your help mom, how am I suppose to make art if I don't have your support?" I said, trying to pressure her.
"You know I would love to help you, but this doesn't feel right," she replied hesitantly.
"What if we try it out once, and if it is terrible then I won't ask you again, OK?" I asked, giving her a puppy eye look.
"OK, I suppose that is fair," she said with a weak tone.
I didn't mention to her the second camera that was hidden. It was positioned to film the chair from the side. I told myself that it was a camera to help me record what I was doing so I wouldn't forget anything important. And my model would of course act more natural if she didn't know about it.