“My daughter-in-law is completely deaf. Do you know sign language?”
“I do, but I don’t use it often. Does she?”
“She does the close captioning for our local television network.”
I’m impressed. “Then she uses it daily. That’s a noble career choice.”
She gestures to the tree picture. “I can see you’ve chosen a noble career as well. Tell me, what inspires you to take photographs of such mundane things, yet make them appear so surreal?”
“I believe that there’s beauty in everything. Even in a piece of garbage, if you look at something with that eye. Angles, lighting, mood, movements, all those things play a part in objects.”
“Do you use any special effects?”
“Only to add special touches like this one, where the back fades out into an oval shape." I explain, showing her a photograph steps away. "Or this, where I add a small fairy to the hand of this child to give it a touch of whimsy." I illustrate, showing her the hand-sketched fairy in color, against a black and white photograph of a child, which just so happens to be my neighbor's daughter. "I added a little pink to her cheeks to tie it in with the fairy's coloring, but that's all the effects I use. This child is a real live person that lives next door to me."
The woman is intrigued. She smiles. "Really. That's adorable."
"She is. I couldn't help myself. And her mother is just as beautiful."
She steps back to the lightning bolt picture. "I think I'll take this one. It's high time I impressed my grandson, since all he's been into since he turned thirteen is video games and watching storm videos."
"Is he going to be a meteorologist?"
"Lord knows. Maybe. That's the only thing he ever seems to talk about when it isn't the latest electronic device."
"Would you like the photograph in a special gift box?"
"Sure, honey. That would be great."
"Are you able to fit it in your car, or would you like me to arrange to have it shipped?"
"No, that's fine. It should fit."
I package it up nicely, grateful that I've already got all the materials out, and I cash her out, just as Levi returns. He tips his hat kindly at her, and gives her a hand with the package to her car, which is parked just outside. My heart sort of melts. There are plenty of gentlemen out here, but nothing like that. She's not even an elderly woman. "That was awfully kind of you. Thank you."
"No problem. I didn't want to see her trip and fall and lose your first sale of the day."
I smile. "So, if you have a change of heart about buying that photograph, there are no hard feelings, Levi."
He pulls a wad of cash out of his pocket. "I wouldn't think of it. I told you I wanted that picture and I do."
As he hands me the cash, I look at him. "Where are you going to hang it? I'm always curious about that."
He tilts his head slightly. “That’s a great question. I’m sort of hanging my hat in several places right now.”
I don’t want to pry, so I just smile, as I walk to the cash drawer and ring up the sale. As I count the money, I notice that he’s given me way too much. “Levi, there’s two thousand dollars here.”
He purses his lips together. “That’ll be our secret.”
“But that’s not what we agreed on.”
“No, that’s what you and Buddy agreed on, but not me. And I’m not arguing about it any longer if it’s all the same to you.”
His voice is sweet but tight, like if this were any other circumstance and we knew each other better, he would put up a fight, but instead, he’s just setting me straight. “I was sort of looking forward to riding lessons.”
“Y’all can do that, too. I’m not squelching here.”
As I place the bills into the till, I look up at him. “You come into some money? It’s none of my business, but I just wondered how a rancher has that sort of cash just laying around like that.”
