Free Just North of Bliss by Alice Duncan

with her at the moment.
    Instead, he rubbed his hands and beamed at
the company seated around the table, most of whom were exhibiting
various degrees of sleepy repletion. “I want to get a couple of
shots of these two right now, if you don’t mind, Mr. and Mrs.
Richmond. And then I’d like to get one of Miss Monroe alone.” He
grinned at Garrett and Amalie, who’d given up on their ice cream
and had begun sagging in their chairs, looking bored. They perked
up as soon as they had something to do. Win was used to it.
    In spite of the overstuffed condition of the
five of them, they walked with alacrity from the restaurant to
Win’s booth. Win unlocked the door and politely stepped aside. “Why
don’t you and Mr. Richmond take seats on the bench under the
window, Mrs. Richmond? I’ll take charge of the children.”
    Gladys clutched her husband’s arm. “Oh,
George, this is so exciting.”
    George evidently thought so, too, because he
fairly glowed at his offspring as they bounced across the floor in
Win’s company. Belle took a chair close to the Richmonds. Win
noticed that her posture was ramrod straight and she clutched her
tiny handbag as if it were ballast and she feared she’d blow away
if she dropped it. She didn’t remove her hat.
    He decided to concentrate on the kids. Maybe
Belle would relax when she realized what a benign business he was
proposing. “I’m going to shoot two plates in front of my normal
background, Amalie and Garrett. I just want to see what you two
look like to the camera.”
    “Won’t we look like ourselves?” Amalie
asked.
    Garrett tugged one of her pigtails. “It’s
called being photogenius, stoopid.”
    Win laughed. “Photogenic is the word you’re
looking for, I think, Master Garrett.”
    Garrett shrugged. “I knew it was something
like that.”
    Amalie stuck her tongue out at her
brother.
    “I’m afraid the children are exhausted, Mr.
Asher. I don’t think nighttime is the best time for this ambitious
project of yours to be carried out.”
    That, as Win might have expected, had come
from Belle. He sighed yet again. “I’m only taking three pictures
tonight, Miss Monroe.” He spoke in a gentle, measured tone, so as
not to offend her. She, obviously, didn’t care if she offended him
or not, because she gave him a furious frown and sniffed. Figured.
“I only want to see how the three of you look as subjects.”
    “I see.”
    The way she said it didn’t give Win a
feeling of encouragement in his soul, but he wouldn’t give up. This
job was too important to him. Besides, he could out-stubborn pretty
much anyone when he put his mind to it.
    It occurred to him that, if Miss Monroe
couldn’t be persuaded to pose for artistic reasons, she might
succumb to greed. He’d keep that option in his back pocket to drag
out if he needed it.
    “All right now. I want you to sit there,
Amalie.” He gestured to a log he’d set up for his “rural” poses.
He’d learned shortly after he’d seriously begun to consider
photography as a career that the farther folks moved away from
their rural roots, the more they clung to the vestiges thereof.
    Amalie plopped down on the log. She was a
natural subject, because she possessed no grown-up vanity yet and,
therefore, had no self-consciousness. Unlike her nanny, who looked
at the moment as if she wished she were made of plaster. Win heaved
another sigh. “All right. Now Garrett, I want you to stand behind
your sister. Put a hand on her shoulder.”
    Garrett bounded up onto the platform where
his sister sat on the log waiting for him. He lifted his hand high
in the air as if he aimed to set it down hard, and Win hastened to
say, “Softly! Don’t hit her. Just lay your hand gently on her
shoulder.”
    Garrett didn’t appear happy that his fell
scheme had been foiled, but he did as Win asked. Amalie stuck her
tongue out at her brother, who promptly squeezed her shoulder hard.
Although Amalie winced, for good reason, she didn’t start