He had two more shots left, what would it be? Whatever it was, he was going to use it wisely. He brought an extra roll so he had back up....
"Okay smile, hold on, I'm trying to focus it," he said.
"What's taking so long, we're freezing our asses off, hurry up!" They rubbed their arms together. Their heads darted in different directions. They were in an island in between two 3 lane roads. Yellow taxicabs and Buses past by. Once in a while tricycle pedaled by a woman trailed after them. A cop on a horse stood in the corner. At the horse's end, memories of lunch piled on the pavement.
He took the shots. That was funny, he thought. He had taken 24 shots, and his camera could still be rewinded. Maybe this was one of those films with extra shots. What a luck, he could take more pictures.
All of them (him and they) continued to walk down the street. They past 34th street, they were one their way to 42nd street. Billboard lights glowed in red. Film of waves crashed. Lights chased each other, A picture within picture flashed one after the other.
He took pictures of the giant cup of noodles, which was steamless. He stopped by starbucks and ordered a Caramel Frap. The clerk asked his name. He said Mark. They walked and took more pictures. Now he got more suspicious.
He reached his 30th shot, and his camera was still rolling away. He tried rewinding it, but the film was not hooking itself. Maybe he did it wrong. If he opened it without rewinding it, he might expose the picture he'd taken from a previous trip down in southern Alabama. But if he couldn't find out, he'd missed out oppurtunities he could face today. He decided to live in the present.
He opened the camera. To his relief, the pictures weren't exposed. To his dismay, the pictures he thought he captured were gone. All the memories, the documentaion of a week full of moments, gone. What was he going to do?
The pictures that captured Birmingham no logner existed. Years from now, would he remembered that grueling week? Leaving at 5;45 am before sunrise to drive a 13 hour drive just to get there by 7pm. feeling the weather get warmer as he and his roomies got closer to the equator. As temperature rose, they took an article of clothing off, such as a scarf ora pair gloves. Grass became greener. Oldiies music turned to the music of the 70s, 80s, early 90s to western country finally to the buzz of a raido out of reach of civilization (time to pop in a cd).
Would he rememeber, the painterly abstraction of the winged Samothrace, the steel buns of god of the forge, Vulcan- whos spear point to the moon, or the morning star of Venus, singing "kareoke style" in the van while cruisng from the ghetto to the rich, to the middle class, to rural areas, or seeing from Vulcan park, the city below, surround by mountains that started as the small rolling hill of Tennesse, or the Baptist church at every corner like the Starbucks in New York city....
How about the people? Allison with her red baseball cap, with inscription under her hat. She said her friend wrote it believing that they were soulmates. She had a tatto on the back of her neck, chinese symbol, he gorgot to ask her. The kumbaya-like group singing christian songs, the dancing of the irish jig or the charleston, the vibrato of "off white" and the seven dwarfs...
The reflections, the ghetto house they stayed in with its brown tarp as walls, the cooking (homemade) especially the midnight breakfast, his group did on their last day their, 30 minute mall (arriving near closing time, rushing to find a magnet, something to hold on to....
The work? The foundation, assembly-line cider block carrier, applying thoroughseal for the foundations, with every stroke of the concrete-soaked brush got heavier, building a shed, a miniature version of the house minus plumbing, building the "tress", making sure they're all flushed and not 'caddywompus', nailing, hammering, measuring, putting the sidings....
The group pictures, he remembered taking two just in case, now it seemed futile.
"Mark, hurry up, let's go!" They continued walking, they were now in 40th street.
"Hold on, I'm putting new film." He would just make new memories, and hoped that he would remember Birmingham...
Posted by Michael Diezmos at April 2, 2006 10:19 PM