Darkness Falls

Setting: Contest Round: Setting Description (DF)

BC Art Studios on The Farm was established by Rally's parents after he went blind as a place for Rally and Jessie to learn how to create world-class art with which to support themselves. Rally's parents believed that, even though he was blind, their son had the potential to be one of the greatest artists on Earth.

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It's so amazing how much sight does for a guy, Rally thought. So much for all of my brilliant paintings that I can never see again. So much for ever making another one of those. Jessie said I'm standing at the front door of my new art building. I should go exploring.

Opening the door without a sound, he thinks, That's well-oiled. The doorknob is substantial, filling my hand. Ridges & valleys is a nice touch to make it easier for me to grip. The metal plate of about 18", encasing the deadbolt and tongue on the door and doorjamb, helps me orient myself from outside to inside almost precisely.

He takes one step inside. Fresh wood. What an aroma! Gingerly jumping front and back and side to side a couple of times, Rally stops to touch the floor. It has to be a substantial concrete foundation covered with faux wood snap-tos because there is no sound of even one creak, and the flooring doesn't feel like wood. It's more like rubber. The wood I'm smelling must be on the walls. He reaches back to touch near the metal plate on the door jamb. Light switches. Most everybody will need that but me. Yep. Wood slats on the walls. Marvelous aroma.

Another tentative step forward, and he senses something to his left. Gently reaching with his left hand, Rally grasps the cold metal of a pipe. Moving his right hand around to take the place of the left, he uses the left hand to feel around on the pipe. A few inches closer to the door he finds a down curve elbow, and another pipe, which leads him to the floor where he finds a circular attachment with four screws that secures the pipe to the floor. A guiderail! He tears up. Let's "see" where this takes me.

1, 2, 3... he counted his steps. 20. Railing stopped. Since my strides are about 15" to 18" long, I'll bet I've gone about 25' to 30'. Wonder if that's length or width of the room...about? What am I supposed to do here?

Stepping forward slowly, feeling forward with his hands, he is soon introduced to a laminated surface. Crafting table? How deep is it? Does it reach to the wall? He leans over, searching for the other side of the table. Indeed. There is a wall here, and as I guessed, it's wood. The table is about two to three arm's lengths deep in this direction. How much in the other direction? He measures with his arm. It's about twice as long, five to six arm's lengths. That's a good-sized table for painting. Room for a canvas, paints, and multiple brushes. It could hold a Braille yardstick, too. "This is great!"

"We hoped you'd like it!" Jessie smiled.

"Are the three of you here?" Rally pivoted toward Jessie's voice.

"Yeah. We are son," his parents chorused. "How do you like it so far?"

"It's wonderful. We'll get so much accomplished in this studio." He wept softly as his family came in for a group hug.

"You've already found one of our guiderails," his dad triumphed. "Want us to tell you the rest? Or would you like to find everything on your own?"

"I think I'd like to find them on my own," he smiled. "I'll be ready for a cup of tea soon. Give me 15 minutes. If I missed something, you can tell me about it then. I'm mapping the room in my mind."

"As we expected," Mom gave him another squeeze. "You will need one of us with you often, but if you want to work alone, then we'll need to tag things with Braille labels."

"Thanks, Mom." Rally went back to exploring with his hands. He followed the table he had just "measured" to his left, finding shelves three high, filled with jars, and bumpers around the edge of this counter, just like the work table had. (I forgot to mention that.) Apparently, the family anticipated that glass jars, filled with paint, could easily be bumped onto the floor if one can't see them. So, taking the principle Dad had seen in a bar, that bumpers keep drinks from falling on the floor when a patron has "had a few too many," he applied the principle to the pursuit of art.

They thought of everything, Rally became overwhelmed. Continuing to his left, he found two more small tables and a two-sink corner station with an adjustable nozzle of 18" to 24", plus two ridged drying racks as "book-ends." Between the corner sink station and door were three dinner table-height chairs for seating guests or using in the creative process.

Finding the railing, again, Rally guided himself with his left hand while reaching out with his right for anything he might find in the middle of the room. Halfway across the room, this time he found the second "pipeline" guideline. He let go of the first guide to follow the second one to the right, another 20 paces, finding four tall drying racks for his paintings.

"Ready for tea?" Jessie asked. "It's been 15 minutes."

"For sure," he smiled. "Did I find everything?"

"Mostly," she took his hand. "I thought it would be good to rest and enjoy your tea for now. I can always 'show' you more later when you've taken your blinders off. Oops. I'm sorry." She snickered.

"Very funny," Rally gave her a mock scowl. "Make much money on the circuit?"

"I don't ever want you to see yourself as handicapped." She leaned in for a hug. "You're not disabled. You are differently abled. You have so much to give to this old world, and I'm going to help you do just that!"