The Grimace by Ryan Licata

The circus tent came down. The clown returned the poodle to its cage with a treat. Back in his caravan he sat down at the mirror. The show had been a success; the dog had made every hoop. A success, until, amidst the laughter, he’d seen that boy in the front row: pulling a grimace. He pulled off his wig, but his face, he left on. As a schoolboy it had always been grimacing boys, grimacing girls… Soon the bearded lady would come over; she liked to after a show; only tonight, he would let her have it her way.
Sale di Susanna Raule
Aveva bussato alla porta della vicina, quella nuova, quella sempre veloce ed estranea. La vicina aveva aperto, che era già un buon primo passo.
“Buongiorno,” aveva detto Sonia, “ho finito il sale.”
La vicina aveva fatto una strana faccia. Era chiaro che stava pensando che Sonia cercava una scusa per farsi gli affari suoi.
“Mi dispiace, non ne ho,” aveva risposto.
Sonia aveva fatto spallucce. “Grazie lo stesso.”
Ma da quel giorno, chissà come, qualsiasi cosa la nuova vicina mangiasse le sembrava sciocca. Non importava quanto sale usasse, da quel momento in poi tutto il cibo, per lei, fu insipido.
Notes
Not much to say today, apart from that I’m really pleased with these two illustrations. This is probably, I’d say even certainly, due to the fact that we have two really inspiring stories here. Ryan has been sending me tweaked and corrected versions of Grimace ever since this project started, so this is kind of a small milestone, to have it finally illustrated here.
