The Camera
James needed a camera for a school project. He didn’t have much money, but maybe, just maybe he could find a decent working camera today at the local flea market held in an old barn outside of town.
Entering the creaky old barn where the flea market was held every week was a cornucopia of treasures for the bargain hunters that crowded in each morning. It was well known that the early bird shoppers who lined up at the barn doors first thing before it opened for the day, had the best chance of finding the best deals.
James got into line and shuffled in with the rest of the crowd as the doors swung open signaling the start of sales for the day.
Most of the crowd were very familiar with all the vendors having been regular visitors for years, and instinctively knew which booth to start their search for the day.
James strolled through the isles of booths and scanned all manner of used items for sale, usually at very reasonable prices. The people manning the booths were a mixture of welcoming folks, just trying to sell enough to go home with a few bucks in their pockets, however the ones with scowls on their faces, were going to be the ones going to go home empty handed tonight. Everyone hated those zero dollar days when they happened from time to time. It was to be expected.
Maybe the items on display were of such poor condition that folks quickly decided no matter what the asking price, it was too much. Then there were the items that held the potential for a sale, but the asking price was just too high to be considered reasonable, and so the items sat.
Even though it seemed there was no limit to the variety of items offered that day, James was very specific in what he was looking for.
Most of the time the booths were packed with items for sale. He knew that the right camera would require a keen eye and a quick tongue to negotiate for the price that was within his very limited budget.
His teacher had the assignment laid out with clear instructions for each student. Produce a series of photographs showing the impact of time on houses, streets or public parks in the town. The impact could be from weather for example, showing the effects of water or wind erosion, or it could be the effects of additional traffic over the years, or the degradation of natural elements in public spaces caused by man or nature.
James looked at each booth he came to in an orderly fashion, as he moved from booth to booth, asking each booth operator if they had any low priced used cameras for sale. Usually, no was the answer.
Feeling quite defeated, he started to make his way back to the front door where he started his search a few hours earlier, when he heard a man’s voice behind him. It sounded like a very old voice, with a bit of a gravelly tone to it.
Turning around, the man’s face seemed to match his voice. He was old, actually, to young James, he was very old. He looked like he had lived a hard life. His scraggly silver-white hair was down to his shoulders and his beard looked like it hadn’t been trimmed in years. He talked with a growl, “I hear you’re looking for a camera, young fella.”
“Yes Sir”, was the reply. “I don’t have very much money but I need a camera for a school project.”
“How much money do you have?”
James answered, “Just $25.00. Is that enough?”
The old man replied, “I have just the camera you need”.
Curious, James said, “How do you know it’s the right camera for me?”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know,” the old man assured him and immediately produced a camera and handed it to James.
He continued, “Now this is a very special camera, and I want $25.00 for it, but there’s one very important thing you must remember about this camera. You must never, ever take a photo of any person, anything else is okay, but never a person! Is that understood?”
Thrilled to find a camera that would fit the bill for his small budget and the project, James handed the old man his money and began inspecting the dials, buttons and lens on the camera. A moment later, he looked up to ask the old man a question, but he was gone. James looked around the market and there was no sign of him. He seemed to have just vanished without a trace.
One week later, James returned to the flea market and went to the row of booths where he met the old man who sold him the camera. Not seeing him, he started to ask some of the other vendors if they knew where the old man was. No one knew or even recognized the old man that James described.
Somewhat bewildered, he turned and started to walk towards the front doors to leave, when he heard that familiar voice behind him calling, “I hear you’re looking for me young fella.”
“Yes sir, I’d like to return this camera if I can. It has stopped working and I’ve only taken a few pictures with it.”
The old man growled, “Not working eh? Lemme see it!”
James continued, “And another thing Sir, there’s something wrong with the pictures it does take. I know you said not to take any pictures of people, but I forgot and took one picture of my girlfriend, Linda, or actually, Linda-loo as I like to call her. Afterwards when I looked at the printed photograph, everything that was in the scene when I took it was there, except for Linda-loo. He handed the old man the print so he could see for himself that there was just a shadow where she was sitting.”
The old man asked, “Are you sure she didn’t just walk away while you were focusing the camera?”
“No Sir. She was definitely there when I took the picture.”
The old man just mumbled, “Hmmm….”
James added, “And another thing, look at the bottom of the print, there’s a number there that doesn’t make any sense. It says 3.11.25.”
The old man looked and with his voice cracking a little and he said, “yes that is strange!”
James continued, “I don’t understand that number at all. At first I thought it might have been a date, but if the 25 in the number was a year, that would be 2025, and that can’t be right because that’s fifty years from now!
The old man with a single tear running down his cheek said, “I never should have sold you that camera! In fact, I should never have bought it in the first place!”
James was trying to figure out what he was talking about and why he was suddenly so upset, said, “I don’t understand what you’re saying. Who did you buy the camera from?”
The old man replied, “I bought it from an old man years ago and it has been a curse on my life ever since, it ruined my life in ways you can never imagine. I should have smashed the damn thing to a million pieces when I first discovered the power that it has to destroy lives!”
Very confused now, James asked, “How could a camera destroy your life?”
Wiping the tears which were now streaming down his face, the old man explained, “You were right, the numbers you see on the bottom of the print are indeed a date, the exact date when the person in the picture will die!”
Shocked, James asked, “Do you mean that my girlfriend is going to die on that exact day, and by taking the picture means I've killed her?”
“No, no, no” the old man replied, “It just means that she is going to die on that day whether you took the picture or not. We are all going to die someday, and most people understand that, but we never really know when it’s going to happen to us. Knowing exactly when someone is going to die is a terrible burden to have to carry, constantly waiting and worrying right up until the day they actually die, and what’s worse, you know there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. All you can do is watch and wait.
It changes everything about relationships with loved ones, friends and family members knowing that you are counting the days down until they die. Your whole life becomes a countdown clock because you know that every day is one day closer to when you’re going to lose that person who is so important to you. Would you want to build a relationship with someone knowing exactly when they were going to die? It is a horrible way to live.”
I knew the exact date of when the love of my life was going to die. I never told her I knew, but I think she always suspected that I was hiding something terrible that ripped me apart every day since I took that damn picture of her. It’s been 20 years since she passed away and I blame myself every day for what it has cost me. If only I knew the destructive power of knowing when she was going to die, I would have destroyed the camera years ago.
James couldn’t believe what he was hearing from the old man. His mind was racing. Sure he now knew that Linda-loo was going to die in fifty years and for a young man, fifty years is a very long time, but he was heartbroken for what the old man had been forced to live with for so many years. No wonder the old guy took to the bottle and drank his life away after his wife died. Carrying that burden for all those years was too much for any man, but what could he do about it?
Then he knew he had to do what the old man should have done so many years ago, and put a stop to this so that no one would ever have to bear that much pain again – destroy this damn camera right now!
He raised it above his head with as much power and speed he could manage, smashed it on the concrete floor of the old barn where it shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
The old man looked relieved and instantly 10 years younger knowing that the camera could never destroy another life like it did his. Then he saw a bit of a twinkle come to the old man’s eye.
The old man held his hand out to shake James’ hand and when he did, the end of his coat sleeve pulled up his arm a few inches and revealed a tattoo on the inside of his wrist which read “Forever Linda-loo 3.11.25”
When James saw the tattoo, he looked at the old man’s face as he watched him begin to fade away into the air, leaving only a shadow on the floor where he had been standing.
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Copyright 2024 Kenneth Lane Smith
All Rights Reserved
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