Learn to see, not just look

Do you like depraved crime novels? Sure, me, too. There is a new author in town--Roger Hobbs--and his debut is GHOSTMAN. Setup: Despite, his getaway precautions and decades of near-non-existence off the grid, elusive professional thief gets in way over his head with horrible gangsters--all within a few hours.

Anyway, it backtracks some to previous jobs in this guy's life and in one he is being schooled by a professional actress turned criminal. She thinks he is cocky, so she sets him a challenge. She takes out a piece of paper and a green felt tip and says, "Draw a one-dollar bill."

He makes a rectangle. Then he puts the numeral one in each corner. He thinks the left hand corner has some leaves or vegetation, so he sketches that. The top right has a shield, he remembers, so he puts that around the numeral 1. FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE across the top--he puts that.

WRONG, she says. Start over.

He starts over. The four 1's, the oval with a stick figure Geo Washington. Some serial numbers.

WRONG!

He gets angry and throws the pen. The green pen.

She says, "The front of the bill is not green--it's black and white." He looks. Well, darn!

The lesson is: We have all seen this object many times, but it whips right by us. I could not have done even as well as he did.

Anyway--good book!

By the way, I could illustrate this with a dollar, but why don't you draw one instead?