May McDonald's Tale

Scotland

My first thought when I stepped foot onto our coffee-colored dirt driveway for our new home was that Scotland is the most perfect place to live. My second thought was that it was the most beautiful place to see. My third thought was that it had the best markets.
Since this is present time, now, I am able to talk in present tense. So understand me when I say that the market of the nearest town square is amazing. There are booths and stands everywhere, but the place isn't crowded in the least. I head for the stand advertising art supplies, and for the third time since we arrived in Scotland, I buy a new set of paints. By this time, the owner knows me well, and is able to bid farewell to me by name as I disembark from the crafts section and enter the food section. I purchase rice, kale, tomatoes, lentils, potatoes, zucchini, cashews, and tofu. My mother is very specific about her grocery list, and she hates it when I come back with a partially completed task.
I begin on the road that leads to home, with a full bag and in a happy mood. Today seems like a great day to paint the sunset, and so when I arrive home, I immediately drop off the food with my mom and head up to my room, where I prepare my paints and paper. Even though treating the paper with these chemicals to make it suitable for oil paints is a pain, it's always worth it when I view my finished masterpiece and my father hangs it up in a cherry wood frame in the living room.
Now, Leo has a handicap and a blessing - he's deaf and has a photographic memory. So it's only natural that I have one, too, right? Wrong. It's not natural. Just because your sibling is cursed with deafness and blessed with an eidetic memory doesn't mean that you have to have a curse and blessing too. However, I have one anyway. My handicaps are those of ADHD and OCD, whereas I am blessed with the gift of a perfect ear. I can play any song or translate any song into notes after just one listening, and I can also tune any instrument without a tuner.
A peachy glow descending outside my window bathes me in its soft light and jolts me out of my thoughts. I hold my paintbrush at the ready and slowly dip it into my golden paint, ready to capture the sunset.