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A great photo reaches out and pulls you inside the moment, so you can feel, smell, and taste it. And this, by all accounts, is a great photo.
Alice through the looking glass.
The photo is the first chapter of my origin story, the beginning of my love affair with photography.
Barry’s Bay. Saffron sunsets. Fireflies twinkling in the dusk.
“One sec,” Charlie says, annoyed, and then: “For the last time, Sam, will you kindly fuck off? You’re going to ruin it.”
“See you soon, City Girl.”
I stare at the empty bay, wondering if there’s a way to go back.
(How impressed are you right now? Text me a picture of your face.)
“Good things happen at the lake,”
I’m not sure when I start crying, only that I’m overwhelmed with how big the galaxy is and how insignificant I am.
One Golden Summer.
I feel this face in my body.
Pentax K1000
But it was the fantasy of being irresistible that hooked me.
celery-green eyes.
“It’s you,”
“W...
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“Eyes up.”
Red,”
“You seem like trouble. I think I’ll have to be careful when I’m around you.”
“I bet you’re not like anyone else, Alice Everly.”
“You’re cute when you’re mad.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Far too many things to list.”
“The first thing I thought when I saw you this morning at the store was that I wanted to photograph you. There’s a kind of lived-in quality to your features that makes you interesting to look at.”
Charlie is a sheet of thin ice.
“He’s not my friend,” I call back. “Rude,” Charlie says. “Bring him up for tea.” Charlie turns to me, grinning. “Bring me up for tea, Alice.”
“I doubt anyone survives you,”
“Wear it to bed, Alice. Picture me in your dreams.”
But for the man I loved? I would have done anything.
“My family was big into teasing,” he says. “It’s basically the Florek love language.” I mellow. “I don’t speak Florek, so you’ll need to translate.” “The one thing you really need to know is that we only make fun of people we like.”
“I’m turning thirty-three tomorrow. You’d think I’d be a little braver.” “I think the older we get, the scarier shit becomes.”
Today I am seventeen, but sometimes I wonder if I even exist.
“Oh, I can bake.” Charlie takes a step closer. He bends down to my eye level and lowers his voice. “I can bake all night.”
“I don’t believe you,” I say slowly. “I think when it comes down to it, you’re all talk, no bake.”
“I’m going to bake you a cake so good you’ll be ruined for all other cakes.”
“Pr...
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“I want sparkles.” His dimples appear along with a grin that means trouble. “You can apply them anywhere you want, Alice Everly.”
Alice Everly. Alice Everly. Alice Everly.
“The way you laugh,”
“No.”
“I like it.”
It really works for me.
Everyone loved her. You just felt good being with her, you know?” “Yeah,” I say, looking at him. “I know.”
If you were the turtle of your family, I was the joker.
“Who took care of you?”
His eyes spark. They’re aurora borealis green.
“You and me, Alice Everly.”
“You’re acts of service.” My stare is blank. “It’s your love language.” “I’m sorry, are you citing romance self-help to me?” “Not with that attitude.”
