The family circles the wild ponies. The dad stands in the middle of the marmalade, holding court on his cell. His adult daughter admonishes her father to end the call. You are destroying this moment. A foal nudges the pocket of a young girl for forbidden food. A warning snort. Its mother. She tosses her head. The girl turns her back and shoves a granola bar deep in her pocket. The end wrap peeks out like lace trim. Hikers and couples and families extended trek past the free grazing ponies. All human eyes are on the guy talking loud on the phone.
The moment is heightened, Hyper-kinetic. Loaded with foreshadowing.
Something is about to go upside down fast.
Photo by Sheree Shatsky (2021)
Grayson Highlands State Park in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia
Murphy’s law. “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Reminiscent of Albert Brooks in the magical movie Defending Your Life. He’s driving his new BMW with Barbra Streisand singing “Something’s Coming” way loud. A passing driver yells “Do we all have to hear that?”
Then it all goes bus…t.
“With a camera obscura, you can perfectly capture the world around you by projecting what's on the outside down into a darkened space on the inside.”
***
Billings, S. (n.d.). Camera obscura. History of Science Museum. Retrieved October 20, 2024, from https://www.hsm.ox.ac.uk/camera-obscura
Acknowledgement: © History of Science Museum, University of Oxford, inv.92218
From the first sentence, my story Exposure opens the front door and offers a peek inside a house of upside down moments.
This story was first published after a lengthy writing hiatus and appeared online in Sassafras Literary Magazine, (Issue 5, October 2013) - a gorgeous graceful lit mag. I was and remain flabbergasted my work was accepted and presently archived in such a jewel box.
The publication of Exposure made me realize that hey, maybe I could do more than string sentences together. Maybe I could write literary fiction.
I believe editors sometimes never realize how a single story publication can inspire a writer to keep going.
Miranda Holmqvist, editor of Sassafras Literary Magazine did that for me and I cannot thank you enough, Miranda.
Read the story here.
And after, check out the stories listed in the Sassafras archive.
“Isn’t it funny how the memories you cherish […] can become your worst enemies afterwards? The thoughts you loved to think about, the memories you wanted to hold up to the light and view from every angle–it suddenly seems a lot safer to lock them in a box, far from the light of day and throw away the key. It’s not an act of bitterness. It’s an act if [sic] self-preservation. It’s not always a bad idea to stay behind the window and look out at life instead, is it?”
Photo by Sheree Shatsky (2021)
Grayson Highlands State Park in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia
What I’m watching at MUBI
“Forgetting is natural, remembering is the effort one makes.”
-William Kentridge, artist
Excellent photos of those horses!
Well thank goodness for Sassafras then! :)