ESCAPADE

Chapter 5:(Epilogue)

Saturday 12, June 2016

"Alright, let's have a big, loud, majestic lion's roar," Harry said, giving his deep voice extra raspiness. He held his scrunched fingers by his face and demonstrated, "Roaaarrrr!"

The set of triplets all giggled loudly, their small hands mimicking his position.

"Beautiful," he smiled, snapping a handful of photos. The warm spring breeze blew through his loose short sleeved button down, black with flamingos printed on it, his dark skinnies rolled up his to ankles and his feet bare. "One more roar. C'mon, I can't hear you!"

"Roaaarrrr!!!"

"That's it," Harry laughed over them, snapping more pictures. "You girls look lovely."

"We're lovely lions," one said, her puffy purple hat falling into her eyes.

Harry ran in front of his tripod and adjusted her hat, tilting her sister's blue hat on her head of soft blonde hair. He bopped the pink hat of the third sister for good luck, earning a chorus of giggles.

"There we are," he said, running back around the tripod. "Let's see." He checked the viewfinder, tilting the camera downwards. "We've had lions, bears, tigers." He bent his head around the camera and grinned at them, sliding his black aviators higher into his long hair. "What else do you girls want to be?" He fanned his fingers out, excitement rasping in his voice. "You can be anything you want, anything at all, now that we have the," he rolled his eyes dramatically, "boring, serious photos done."

"Cows!" the puffy pink outfitted sister cried, kicking her legs on the park bench. "Mooooo!"

Harry mooed along with them, breaking into laughter as he took more photos. They had passed their allotted time, but he didn't have anyone booked directly after them. Sometimes, the best photos came from when his clients were relaxed and under the impression the shoot was over. He didn't mind an extra few minutes here or there.

He took his camera off the tripod and ran closer to their propped position, dipping the camera in and out as they mugged up at him.

"You girls are perfect. Perfect!"

Their mother, Lucy, chuckled from her place at an adjacent bench. She looked up from her book, watching Harry run around her daughters to take photos, their laughter growing more and more.

"You're so good with them," she called over their giggles, Harry looking away from the girls to smile at Lucy. "Do you babysit?"

"Not professionally, but I've been known to manny when needed."

"Do you have any of your own?"

"Oh. Uh," he shook his head, snapping a quick photo of the girls trying to climb down from the bench in their puffy dresses, "no. Not yet."

"Are you seeing anyone?"

Harry's fog lifted, a bright smile stretching over his face.

"Yeah, I am. I've been with my boyfriend over a year now." He held each of their tiny hands as their short legs struggled to find the ground. He pointed over his shoulder at a patch of grass bursting with wildflowers. "How about those flowers, girls? What do you think? Wanna have a photo shoot over there?"

They all cried, "Yeah!" and ran to the spot.

He winced through his smile, wrinkling his nose towards Lucy.

"Sorry in advance for their dresses."

"That's alright." She turned a page of her book. "I learned long ago to buy fabric that can handle grass stains."