tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350462354818906007.post6504888279345504474..comments2009-05-11T07:58:27.940-07:00Comments on On the Level: April 23, 1924: eveningTeresahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06718715011259568557noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1350462354818906007.post-91329008512375964452009-01-08T09:22:00.000-08:002009-01-08T09:22:00.000-08:00"Yep. Got a new favorite dress, I see."Cati had be..."Yep. Got a new favorite dress, I see."<BR/>Cati had been hoping that Huey's first words to her would be an expression of surprise – that way she'd have known that there was something interesting in the photos. "Something like that. Say:" she began, hopefully probing. "Did you see anything in those pictures?"<BR/>"You mean besides your dress?"<BR/>"Yeah."<BR/>"Like what?"<BR/>"I don't know. Anything unusual? Ectoplasma," she said, trying to recall Thelonius' word.<BR/>Huey squinted as if searching for the meaning of the unfamiliar term in Cati's face. "No." Intuiting that he was meant to have seen something, Huey offered his compliments. "They're really fine studies of texture and darkness. So, they're not what I was hoping for when you said, 'experimental.' They were still very nice to look at."<BR/><BR/><I>Nice to look at,</I> she thought. <I>Disappointing.</I><BR/><BR/>Instantaneously, Cati felt guilty for the thought. Mags was dead, and here she was hoping to find evidence of phantasms in her party dress. <I>Have the Whitcombes even been told?</I> She thought about how rude she had been to Jacquie – suspicious, goody-two-shoes Jacquie. Sheltered Jacquie. It would be very hard on her.<BR/><BR/>Cati paid and took the photos. Perhaps they could be inspected at home, in better light. Huey was a busy man after all and probably didn't look at them very closely once he had realized that there were no nudes.<BR/><BR/>The sun was gone now, having sunk behind the skyline while Cati had been waiting on the chatty older ladies in Huey's shop – <I>What did </I>they<I> take pictures of?</I>, she wondered. Not <I>ectoplasma</I>. The others would be at Henri's shop by now – she hoped. They had been going to see a man named Spider – What a name! These people Thelonius knew!<BR/><BR/>That was exciting, at least, entering into the world of Thelonius Jones, photographer, reporter. He seemed so - there was a certain - <I>je ne sais quois? - savoir faire?</I> - about the guy. Like he knew what he was doing. If nothing else, this was valuable experience for an aspiring photographer.<BR/><BR/><I>If nothing else.</I> The words echoed in Cati's head against her will. Briefly, Cati remembered the pleading look on Mags' face as she cradled her swami.da solomonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07707340424343007670noreply@blogger.com