Kirk's Favorite Painting − 1 July, 2007

My brother Kirk is good-natured, talkative and loud, athletic, a great hugger, and absolutely hilarious. He also happens to be mentally handicapped. He came with my parents to visit us in Boston and we did all the sights: the Freedom Trail, Boston Common, Johnny D's blues jam, etc. You name it, we probably did it somewhere in the whirlwind.

On their last day in town, we decided to keep it a bit more low-key and spend the morning at the Museum of Fine Arts. We bought tickets to the Edward Hopper special exhibition and went on in. It was hot and completely stuffed with people. Kirk, like me, is quite impatient and doesn't particularly enjoy crowds. Unlike me, though, Kirk could care less about art. He foraged ahead through the seascape of people and lighthouses, past the city section with Chop Suey and Nighthawks and all the rest, until I couldn't see him anymore. My parents, meanwhile, were dawdling back by the intro panels, reading every last line and waiting their turn to stand nose-to-nose with the famous American artist's work. And me, I was somewhere in between.

After I had my 45-minute fill of Hopper's loneliness and people pushing past, I gathered up my parents (who were at the second painting by this time) and started searching around for Kirk. He's always been the independent type, but after a few minutes of not finding him, I started to worry. He hated the lighthouses and beach houses and empty diners ... what if he had just left the exhibit -- or worse yet, the museum? Boston was new to him, what if he got lost? Could he find his way back? He's pretty good with intuitive direction, but still ...

I searched around more thoroughly without any success and was just about to grab a guard when I spotted him. Or rather he spotted me. He waved his arms high up in the air, flagging me and my trailing parents in the packed room.

"Hey DAD," Kirk screamed, a huge fun-loving grin on his face. "I found my favorite! LOOK!"

With one hand on his head and the other pointing to the only female nude painting in the entire exhibition, Kirk preceded to gyrate his hips wildly and laugh loudly as the crowd stared on: "Oooh baby!"