“I can never see what you’re supposed to see in ’em!”

“Well, hopefully you’ll see this one!” And then Dave wondered for a moment what he would do if Rhonda wasn’t able to see what he had painted for her. And he almost lost heart for a second. But then that strange lightness that he had been feeling grew inside him and helped him find heart again, and he continued. “Anyway, these things are called stereograms, and that’s kinda what I made, here, for ya. And—we learned that some of the old painters made somethin’ like these with dots. They called it … oh, man, they called it … pointa-somethin’—I don’t remember—but—it doesn’t matter—anyway, we did it with little blocks of colors, see, and if you just look at the little blocks of colors, it’s just colors, but if you step back and look at the whole thing, it’s not just little blocks of colors—it’s a picture of somethin’.”

“Picture of what?”

“I’m not gonna tell you, you gotta figure it out.” Dave grinned. He loved making people figure things out.

“Oh, come on, Dave, I had so much crap to figure out at work today, I don’t wanna have to figure somethin’ like this out. Just tell me what it is.”

“No! I’m not gonna tell ya what it is! It’ll take all the fun out of it!”

“Dave—”

“Now, it can take a little time. It can be a little frustrating.”

“Well, why would you give me somethin’ that’s gonna frustrate?”

“No, no! I just mean … you gotta not try to look for anything, that’s what’ll frustrate you. You gotta just kinda … zone out at it. And look at it so it doesn’t know you’re lookin’ at it.”

Rhonda wondered how in the world a painting could know or not know if she was looking at it. “What’re you talkin’ about?!?”

“Here. Sit down.” Dave pulled one of the plastic chairs from its place at the wicker table and set it in front of the painting and motioned for Rhonda to have a seat.

And Rhonda warily did.

And then he picked up the painting and said, “Now, I’m gonna hold the painting up real close to you—right in front of your face.”

“Okay…”

Dave approached Rhonda, and when the painting was so close to Rhonda it was practically touching the tip of her nose, he said, “Now just stare at the center of the painting.”

“Okay,” said Rhonda.

“And keep starin’.”

“K.”

“And I’m gonna back away from you real slow.”

“K.”

“But try to keep your focus where it is—right here, right now—while I move away.”

“K.”

“Let your eyes cross. And don’t let ’em focus on the painting.” Dave slowly moved a few stops away from Rhonda. And stopped.

And Rhonda stared. And kept staring.

And she tried to keep her focus fixed on where it had been before Dave started moving away from her. And she tried to let her eyes cross. And she tried not to let them focus.