1Elena had spent an entire long winter painting a loving portrait of her elderly mother.
2Every single gallery in the city rejected the painting without even giving it a second glance.
3Disheartened and exhausted, she stored it away in the dusty attic of her small cottage.
4Many years later, a violent storm badly damaged the roof and exposed the long forgotten painting.
5A repairman noticed the portrait and asked whether he could buy it as a gift for his wife.
6Elena laughed softly and told him that he could simply take the painting home for free.
7He insisted on paying something for it, so she finally accepted a modest sum of money.
8Several months afterwards, she received an official looking letter that left her completely and utterly speechless.
9The repairman's brother was a respected art expert who had carefully examined the old portrait.
10Hidden beneath the layers of paint, he had discovered the signature of a long lost master.
11Elena's mother had unknowingly posed in front of a priceless original canvas all those years.
12The gallery that once rejected her work now begged to exhibit her entire collection of paintings.