During Easter break, Mitch took his new phone to the park to test the camera capabilities. He got a couple of nice shots of a small bunny and then a short video of an inquisitive squirrel. Across from the park stood the church. Mitch sat on a bench, and with the phone braced on his knee for stability, he tested the time-lapse and slow-motion features as a few cars passed by.

An old man was walking down the sidewalk in front of the church, and Mitch couldn’t decide whether to do him slow-mo or time-lapse. With time-lapse he judged the guy would cross his field of view in a fraction of a second—he’d be almost invisible—but with slow-motion he’d take forever. Before Mitch could select the setting, the man stopped, turned to Mitch, and yelled something. Mitch couldn’t make out the words. He put his hand to his ear, signaling that he couldn’t hear, belatedly realizing that the gesture might be an affront.

The man stepped into the street. “You spying on me?” he accused Mitch when he was halfway across. “You punks have no right. A man can’t even walk down the street without...”

A car horn honked.

The man gave the car’s driver an angry finger.

“I’m sorry,” Mitch blurted. “I was just testing this new camera. I didn’t actually—”

“Test it the fuck somewhere else,” the man growled, and he turned abruptly and went into the church.

“What was that all about?” It was a girl from his high school, a senior girl two years ahead of Mitch. He wasn’t sure if her name was Vanessa or Veronique. A couple of times in the hall he’d heard someone call her Vee. Mitch had an impossible crush on her, a crush from afar.

“That guy thought I was spying on him or something,” Mitch said. “I was just testing my new camera. I’m trying to figure out how to do time-lapse and slow-motion. I thought the guy walking would be perfect.”

“Yeah, Dad gets that way,” the girl, Vee, said.

“That was your father?” Mitch blurted. “I’m sorry, I –”

“Just teasing you,” Vee said. “Want to try out your camera on me?”

“Oh man, really? That would be so ... Do you want slow-mo or time-lapse?”

“What’s the difference?”

Mitch explained. He showed Vee the pictures he’d just taken.

“That bunny is so cute,” she said. “Can you send me a copy? I’ll type in my email.”

With some reluctance he handed over the phone. There were some private pictures from testing the low-light, high-speed, stop-action features, which he now wished he’d deleted. It was pretty clear she was scrolling back.

“Talk about cute,” she said. She grinned at him. “You should send me some of these, too.”

Mitch blushed.

“Just teasing you. Where’s the one of ... the spy one?”

It took a moment for Mitch to understand what she meant. “I didn’t actually take it,” he confessed.