film in my bag, so we stayed until
the end, if for no other reason than for me to get a shot of the two teams
congratulating each other.
It was
getting late, but I was too excited to go home. I wanted to develop the film
far enough to at least see on the negatives what kind of shots I had pulled
off. I told Jo that I was more than happy to give her a ride home, but she
didn’t really have anything else to do so she decided to go back to the school
with me.
At 8:30 at
night the school was dark and quiet. Had the darkroom been in the main
building, we would not have had access to it, but since it was in a small
building out past the auto shop, a few of us had keys and could develop film
long into the night or on weekends if a deadline was approaching.
Jo and I
pulled up and parked next to the grey-brick building and went in. I switched on
the regular light and set my camera bag down on the table closest to the door
while Jo walked over to the stereo that had gotten so much use over the years
that several of the buttons had broken off. Tape with scratchy writing marked
where the pause and play buttons used to be.
I pulled
out the half dozen or so rolls of film I had shot at the game and set them
aside while Jo loaded a CD into the player.
I rummaged
through the rolls piled on the counter looking for the one with Patty’s
bat-breaking run, which was marked with a red pen streak so that I could
develop it first. Found it .
A song by U2
began to play.
I went and
started collecting the various tools I needed to pry open the film canister and
developing the film while Jo began mixing chemicals. I loved working with her
in the darkroom- us bumping into each other, handing stuff to each other,
having to reach over and around each other- trying to put the pieces together
to correctly process an image.
“What is
this?” I asked her.
“The new
City of Angles soundtrack. Have you heard it?” She asked starting to sway her
hips to the music.
“No, I don’t
think so,” I told her walking over to the light. My tools were laid out and I
was ready.
“I’m ready
if you are,” I said.
“Yep.”
Click. The
room went dark.
I was so
used to trimming and clipping film that it only took a few minutes to get the
roll into the metal canister for the chemical bath, but while the lights were
out, the next song on the album began to play: Alanis Morissette’s ‘Uninvited’.
I heard a
roll of film fall off the table and clank against the ground.
Then, in the
dark, quiet room, the solitary piano notes began walking, slowly, between us.
The words of
the seductive song sounded like Jo was saying them to me herself, and it took
me a few moments of listening to realize that even though I had not heard this
before, Jo obviously had, and it was the album that she chose to play here in
our dark quiet world of hanging faces and captured moments, and as I listened
the hairs on the back of my arms stood on end.
Two lines,
three lines more and the dulcimer-like notes began to work on me like a drug.
“I think I’m
finished,” I said softly and walked to the light switch. “I’m going to turn on
the safety light. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she
replied. Then I clicked the dim, red light on.
I looked at
her and she looked at me.
In the red
light she looked like a Siren of mythic quality.
I walked up
to her, put my hand behind her neck, and we kissed with more passion than we
ever had before, like our tongues were looking for a way to tell each other
something.
I felt her
breath against the small hairs above my mouth as she gently bit my lip. I
wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up onto the table. She wrapped
both of her legs around my waist and pulled me closer, pressing herself against
me so hard that she stopped kissing me, for just a moment, to look at me. Then
she began kissing me again, this time much more slowly. I was almost dizzy
under the intoxication
the end, if for no other reason than for me to get a shot of the two teams
congratulating each other.
It was
getting late, but I was too excited to go home. I wanted to develop the film
far enough to at least see on the negatives what kind of shots I had pulled
off. I told Jo that I was more than happy to give her a ride home, but she
didn’t really have anything else to do so she decided to go back to the school
with me.
At 8:30 at
night the school was dark and quiet. Had the darkroom been in the main
building, we would not have had access to it, but since it was in a small
building out past the auto shop, a few of us had keys and could develop film
long into the night or on weekends if a deadline was approaching.
Jo and I
pulled up and parked next to the grey-brick building and went in. I switched on
the regular light and set my camera bag down on the table closest to the door
while Jo walked over to the stereo that had gotten so much use over the years
that several of the buttons had broken off. Tape with scratchy writing marked
where the pause and play buttons used to be.
I pulled
out the half dozen or so rolls of film I had shot at the game and set them
aside while Jo loaded a CD into the player.
I rummaged
through the rolls piled on the counter looking for the one with Patty’s
bat-breaking run, which was marked with a red pen streak so that I could
develop it first. Found it .
A song by U2
began to play.
I went and
started collecting the various tools I needed to pry open the film canister and
developing the film while Jo began mixing chemicals. I loved working with her
in the darkroom- us bumping into each other, handing stuff to each other,
having to reach over and around each other- trying to put the pieces together
to correctly process an image.
“What is
this?” I asked her.
“The new
City of Angles soundtrack. Have you heard it?” She asked starting to sway her
hips to the music.
“No, I don’t
think so,” I told her walking over to the light. My tools were laid out and I
was ready.
“I’m ready
if you are,” I said.
“Yep.”
Click. The
room went dark.
I was so
used to trimming and clipping film that it only took a few minutes to get the
roll into the metal canister for the chemical bath, but while the lights were
out, the next song on the album began to play: Alanis Morissette’s ‘Uninvited’.
I heard a
roll of film fall off the table and clank against the ground.
Then, in the
dark, quiet room, the solitary piano notes began walking, slowly, between us.
The words of
the seductive song sounded like Jo was saying them to me herself, and it took
me a few moments of listening to realize that even though I had not heard this
before, Jo obviously had, and it was the album that she chose to play here in
our dark quiet world of hanging faces and captured moments, and as I listened
the hairs on the back of my arms stood on end.
Two lines,
three lines more and the dulcimer-like notes began to work on me like a drug.
“I think I’m
finished,” I said softly and walked to the light switch. “I’m going to turn on
the safety light. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she
replied. Then I clicked the dim, red light on.
I looked at
her and she looked at me.
In the red
light she looked like a Siren of mythic quality.
I walked up
to her, put my hand behind her neck, and we kissed with more passion than we
ever had before, like our tongues were looking for a way to tell each other
something.
I felt her
breath against the small hairs above my mouth as she gently bit my lip. I
wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up onto the table. She wrapped
both of her legs around my waist and pulled me closer, pressing herself against
me so hard that she stopped kissing me, for just a moment, to look at me. Then
she began kissing me again, this time much more slowly. I was almost dizzy
under the intoxication
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