Is this writing any good?

***The Questionable Genius of Patrick O'Flaherty, Part III***<br><br><br>Their car moved down the street, a fusion of shiny new and rickety old. The trunk had once been red, but now it was a shiny pastel color that was certainly pink. The body of the car was the color of money, old money. The rich kind. The kind with lots of gold.<br><br>"If you're going to become an artist, you have to think outside the box," said Julia, pointing at the car with a snobbishly turned up nose.<br><br>Patrick thought about this as soon as they got home. He ran to his mother's room, where she was lying in bed reading. She had a glass of wine, which was something she only did when she was sad.<br><br>"I want to think outside the box, Mom," she said.<br><br>Her mother smiled weakly and raised an eyebrow.<br><br>"What?"<br><br>"Outside the box!"<br><br>"That's good," she said, nodging. "Thinking outside the box is good. But what does that mean?"<br><br>"It means that you have to go against the norm, to think about things differently. I can't keep on writing stories that make sense."<br><br>"But why not?"<br><br>"You just can't. Because when everyone is writing inside the box, and I'm out here writing outside the box... I'm not a genius unless I write outside the box. I have to be a genius."<br><br>"But what does it mean to think outside the box?"<br><br>"It means that you have to, you know, think outside the box. You know what that means, Mom?"<br><br>"I'm not sure."<br><br>"I don't know either. But I want to."<br><br>"What's made you want to think outside the box, Patrick?"<br><br>"You know Julia?"<br><br>"She's your teacher, yes."<br><br>"She's a genius too."<br><br>"She's probably just a person, Patrick."<br><br>"But she's very important! She's got lots of things in her house. And she's got one of those cars you can only get in France. She's very rich, you know."<br><br>"She's very rich?"<br><br>"Yes, she's got lots of money. Some of it is old, some of it is new."<br><br>"Ah, I see."<br><br>"And she says, when you're an artist, you should think outside the box. So I want to be an artist. The most artistic kind. A writer. Just like you."<br><br>His mother smiled weakly.<br><br>"An artist, huh?"<br><br>"Yes! Just like you. You know, you're a genius, Mom. The greatest genius of all time. I want to be just like you."<br><br>His mother looked up from her book, a strange look on her face. She smiled. She smiled so wide that Patrick could see her teeth.<br><br>"You know, Patrick. When you're a writer, you have to think outside the box. Because that's what geniuses do. And so what I'm going to do is, I'm going to think outside the box. I'm going to do something so artistic that even Julia can't do it, only I know what it is. You have to go to bed now. I'm going to be a genius."<br><br>Patrick nodded, and went to bed. As he lay there he heard his mother get up, and go to her room. He heard her typing out words on her computer and he heard her reading. He hugged his cat, and went to sleep. He had a feeling that it was going to be one of his favorite days.