Chapter 21

"I can't believe how beautiful that looks!"

Beth and I had stopped at the lab and picked up the Fletchers' prints; I's barely made it home before she grabbed the envelope, ran into the house, and spread the pictures over the dining-room table. I had to agree—the print she was holding was possibly my best work yet. I'd worked over the image Sally had selected of all those I'd taken of her and had decided an individual print just wasn't going to cut it—my young subject had given me too many different expressions for any one picture to do justice to all her moods and expressions. I'd dithered for a couple of days until the obvious beat me over the head—a collage. I'd done them before, of course, but they'd always been a bit risqué and it just didn't occur to me at first to do one for Sally.

I hadn't shown the final image to Beth before I sent the order to Tim at the lab. Her first look at it was the print she was holding.

I heard a sniffle and looked at my lady just in time to see her wipe away a tear.

"Tommy, I just ... I mean ... oh, shit. This is just beautiful. You've captured Sally perfectly!"

I looked over her shoulder and wasn't going to argue. What I had been hoping I'd see was exactly what I got—Sally in all her many moods. Now I just hoped my young model and her parents would agree, especially since I'd had the collage done as a sixteen-by-twenty-inch print instead of the eleven-by-fourteen they'd ordered. I thought back to that evening Beth and I had spent at the Fletchers' as they tried to figure out which pictures they wanted. Sally had wanted ALL of hers and it took a lot of hemming and hawing—not to mention a few tears—before the final decision was made.

Oh, well, if they didn't want it, maybe I could talk them into letting me use it as part of my portfolio, and I'd just have Tim print their original choice.

"Tommy, call the Fletchers now! And I'm going with you. I want to see their expressions when they see this!"

It turned out they were available that evening. I was afraid I'd have to tie Beth in her seat as we drove to their house. I hadn't seen her that excited for a long time.

"Come in, come in," Cliff said when we rang their bell. "I hope Sally gets home soon. The girls can hardly wait to see the pictures. For that matter, I can't either!"

Claire stood when we walked in. "Tommy, Beth! Come in. We've been on pins and needles waiting to see if your pictures look as good as the last set you did for us."

"Where's Sally?" I asked. I was surprised when she wasn't there, as excited as she'd been the night they'd decided what they wanted.

"She's just finishing her physical therapy session and should be here any minute. Her therapist is dropping her off when they're done."

I opened my portfolio and took out all but Sally's collage.

"Well, here're the pictures you ordered," I said as I laid out the smaller prints.

"Tommy, these look even better than the first set!" Claire said as she sorted through the prints. "But I don't see the one of Sally by herself. I remember the trouble she had deciding which one she wanted."

"Well, I hope you don't mind, but I tried something different for her. I don't want you to think you have any obligation to take this since it's not what you ordered, but since the three of you had such a tough time picking out the image you wanted for her, I did this instead." I reached into my portfolio and pulled out the big collage. When Claire saw it she burst into tears and Cliff pulled her to his side, obviously as affected as she was.

"Tommy, it's beautiful!" Cliff said in a hushed voice as he hugged his wife.

Claire reached for the print, then pulled her hand back, almost as if she was afraid that touching it would cause it to disappear.

"Oh, Tommy, I ... I don't have the words... ," Claire said as she stared at the collage. I guessed I wasn't going to be ordering their original choice, after all. "How did you ever think of doing this?"

Between all the praise and the thought of trying to explain to Claire where the collage idea got its start, I felt my face ready to combust. I glanced at Beth and saw her struggling to keep a straight face.

She wasn't helping.

"Quick, put it back in your carrier!" Cliff said. "I just heard a car in the driveway. Sally's home and I want you to surprise her."

I got the collage back in my portfolio just before Sally came into the room, guiding her walker before her.

"Tommy! Have you got the pictures?" My young subject was almost bouncing from foot to foot.

Taking a cue from our host, I looked at Sally. "Sally, I've got all of them except the one you wanted. I'm sorry."

At her crestfallen look, I took pity on her and reached in and pulled out the collage.

I don't THINK any windows in the neighborhood shattered at her scream, but I wasn't going to bet on it.

Sally abandoned her walker, jumped in my lap and almost strangled me with her hug. I never realized what muscular arms someone who grew up using a wheelchair could develop.

Eventually she released me but stayed on my lap. She reached down and picked up the collage and just stared at it, focusing first on one image, then another. Eventually she carefully put it down and treated me to another hug.

"Tommy, it's beautiful! Where did you get the idea? You must be a genius."

Here we go again!

"Sally, I had a couple of other people who had the same problem you did—they couldn't decide which picture they wanted so I combined all the ones they liked into one."

The young girl looked at me. "You must be the best photographer ever," she said in an awed voice.

"Oh, I can't take credit for the idea, it's been used before. I just sort of swiped it," I admitted.

"Well I still think you're the best photographer EVER!"

"Thank you. I'm glad you like it."

"How much extra do we owe you for this?" Cliff asked.

"Cliff, if you'll let me use a copy in a portfolio of my work I won't charge you anything extra. Just the amount we originally agreed on."

"If you've used this idea before, why don't you already have one to show off your work?"

"Um ... well ... ah ... you see..." I ran down.

"What Tommy is trying to say is that his other collages were kind of um, private," my princess said. I know she was trying to get me off the hook, but her explanation had Cliff and Claire snickering as I turned a shade of red I was afraid would leave a permanent sunburn on my face.

"Well, whatever the reason, I don't think any of us would object," Cliff said with a grin.

Sally gave me a funny look, as if she was trying to figure out what we were talking about.

"Tommy, what does it mean you want to use it in your portfolio?" she said as she looked at the case next to my chair.

I could only chuckle a bit. "Sally, portfolio is one of those funny words that have several meanings. This," I said, pointing at the case, "is one kind of portfolio, but it can also mean a collection a person uses to show off his or her work. So if it's okay with you, I'll be able to use a copy of your picture to show people the kind of work I can do."

"You mean you'd show other people my picture? Wow!"

"If it's okay with you."

"You bet! Wait until my friends hear about this!"

"Now, young lady, I don't want to hear you bragging," Cliff said, sternly.

"Aw, Daaadddd!"

"No. End of discussion."

I could almost see the gears turning in her head.

"You know, if I could tell my friends about Tommy's pictures, or maybe even bring them over and show them, I'll bet he could get a lot of jobs."

Cliff gave me a look I recognized. That what did I do to deserve this? look.

"Sally, no, and that's final."

The young girl sighed and turned to me. She didn't say anything, but it was obvious she was looking for some support. I just looked at her and slowly shook my head.

"Oh, all right," she grumped.

"Can you believe that little scamp?" We were driving home and Beth was talking about Sally. "I mean trying to get around her dad that way.

"I wonder what we'd do if our kids tried something like that?"

Oh, great, something else to worry about.

The following Saturday we drove over to the civic center for the summer show auditions. They were doing Grease this year, and when Beth insisted that I wear my leather jacket I thought why not go all the way?—white t-shirt, jeans and engineer boots completed my "costume." This time I wasn't even going to argue about auditioning. Sometimes it was just easier to go with the flow.

We walked in and saw some familiar faces, mostly theatre board members who were running the auditions. "Hey, Beth, Tommy! You here to audition, Beth?"

"Yeah, and so is Tommy."

"You are?" Fran, one of the board members, asked.

"Yeah. I figured I'd probably get talked into it anyway, so why not just do it."

"Well, at least if you get cast we won't have to worry about a costume," Fran laughed, pointing to my outfit.

We signed in, got our numbers, and spent some time talking to the other hopefuls.

Eventually, our numbers were called and we had our chance to sing and strut our stuff before Dan, the director, and the rest of the staff.

The following Friday we got the call—Beth was going to play Sandy and I got cast as Danny, one of the other leads. It was going to make for an interesting summer.

That Sunday we were sitting around the dining-room table for our normal rotating family dinner. It was Bev and Chuck's turn as hosts and Bev had just brought out the coffee when Dad grinned at my lady.

"So I hear you're defecting?" he said, obviously referring to her choice of summer jobs.

"Yeah, I am. I figured I should experiment a little before I settle down."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth, then she remembered the afternoon at the farm and a blanket shared with Cindy and Greg. I could see the red creeping up her throat. That's when I heard a smothered giggle. A quick glance at Gail showed a little blush, too. Apparently Beth had been telling tales again and I thought back to that afternoon and the way our ladies had decided to share Greg and me.