A Strange Story of Sugar, Spice, and Stumpy Wooden Legs...

I remember when I was a very young boy, we had this painting of two young girls who were posed sitting together and reading a book. I am sure it was a pleasant picture. And I am pretty sure my mom was the one responsible for its hanging there on the
wall in our house.

Anyhow, that painting used to totally freak me out. I mean, I was
totally in horrible awe of the thing. I found it frightening,
disturbing and aversive. See, the girls in the picture had on these
woolen knee socks. The problem was I never realized these fine young
femmes were sporting knee socks. The color of the socks was dark
brownish, and the girls' legs were brownish, tan. Unfortunately, the
color and texture caused me to perceive not knee socks- but rather,
wooden legs. Imagine how morbid such perception was to my imaginative,
child's mind. I had nightmares about poor, crippled girls for years.

I still have major issues with mediocre painters. A bit more skill and I
would have seen knee socks. It would have spared me years of trauma.