"Artistic talents?"

The first short story in Through the Elephant Ears is "The Offering."

In the book's first short story we meet Kat, a ten year old girl growing up in a fishing village in Cape Breton. Kat is minding her own business when she learns that her mother has ordered an art test from a television commercial and has decided that Kat will be an artist.

This story will take many back to a time when dodgy correspondence art courses were offered on television, and when hope for a different future was promised in a 30 second advertisement.

"The Offering" sets the stage for Kat's conflicted relationship with her mother, her future, and her social standing.

The horse drawing with the "pork chop legs." (an actual art instruction school assignment)