Coming up from behind us, a new voice broke through the hum of conversation—another member of the bus tour.
“Well, this is ridiculous,” the woman huffed, frowning down at her phone like it had personally offended her. “It says I’m in the middle of the river.”
Her companion peered over her shoulder and squinted at the screen. “Josie, that’s a weather app.”
“Then what’s this brown dot?”
The taller woman squinted at the phone. “That’s from when you spilled your coffee.”
Babs chuckled and turned us both around, bringing everyone following to a halt. “It’s time I introduced you properly, Luna Girl. These two are Marla McFee and Josie Baxter—sisters. They leave their husbands at home whenever they travel.” Marla was tall and sturdy-looking, her silver hair cropped close to her head. Josie, shorter and a little plump, had twinkling eyes. She wore her hair slightly longer, letting it bounce around her shoulders.
Josie sighed, fishing around in her massive tote bag and smiling when she pulled out a wadded-up tissue. “I swear, technology gets harder to use every year.”
“How many pictures have you taken of the inside of your purse so far?” Marla adjusted her visor and patted her fanny pack. “I keep mine safe and sound.” She glanced over her shoulder. “You accepted my friend invitation on the Facebook, didn’t you, Denise?”
At the mention of her name, another woman from the bus—nearly as tall as Marla but wearing a travel vest instead of the fanny pack—held up her own phone and began slowly pecking at the screen with a single finger.
“I think so, Marla,” she said in a tone that suggested she wasn’t sure at all.
Next to her, a petite woman with silver-white waves and oversized beaded earrings let out a small sigh and took the phone from Denise’s hands. “You need to press this blue button to open up the Facebook, Denny luv.”
“I just want to send my niece that picture.”
“Well, what you’re doing is going to share it with everyone. Again.”
But holding this technology workshop in the middle of the sidewalk, we were creating something of a bottleneck. “Should we…?” I tugged on Babs to get us moving again, not that she appeared to notice.
“You’d think Denise and Patty were sisters, too.” Babs leaned in, laughing in a conspiratorial way, but speaking loudly enough for everyone around us to hear.
“Ha! Sisters! That’s what everybody says,” Denise declared.
“We’re just two spinsters, living together, sharing romantic dinners…” Patty added. “Going on thirty years now.”
Just then, a loud click sounded from behind us.
I turned to see one of the men from the bus—mostly bald, a little hunched, in a windbreaker and cargo pants—lowering a 35mm film camera from his face.
“Gotta capture the moment,” he said cheerfully, flipping the camera, and was he…winding film?
Babs had introduced him and his wife as well. Helen and…
“Roger refuses to get a smartphone.” Helen shook her head as she followed her husband over. “Insists on toting Minny along every time we go on vacation.”
“Minny?” My head was kind of spinning.
“My Minolta SRT,” Roger said, undeterred. “This baby takes real photos.”
“You mean the kind you have to wait a week to see?” his wife teased.
Roger sniffed. “Nothing wrong with a little anticipation.”
Josie held up her phone. “I can take a photo right now and post it instantly.”
Which, I realized a second later, she did.
“There,” she said proudly, slipping the phone back into her bag.
Marla leaned over. “Josie, I think you just went live.”
