The Photographer's Son -Frerard-

Event 3

The shop was dreary. The rain outside was very numbing and I almost fell asleep two or three times. To wake myself up, I decided to clean and play music on my father's record player. I played the first record my hand touched in his office. Metallica? I didn't know my dad had records of them. And to hide them from me! Anyway, I swept around, straightened this and that, and hummed along to the songs I knew. I jumped when I heard people laughing and entering the shop, the door's bell loudly singing. I put the broom down to greet whoever came through, but as soon as I turned around, I was greeted by Ray, Bob, James, and... Frank.

"Woah," Ray said, in awe.

"Dude this place is loaded with cameras," James said, doing a 360 turn.

"Is Metallica playing?" Bob asked Frank, but Frank had already become distracted by my presence.

"What luck! We didn't know if you were open on Sundays. What's banging, Gee?"

I heard a noise from the storage room, "Something in there... I'll be right back."

"Mind if I check out this camera, Gerard?" James said, eyeing an older one.

"Just don't break it. Bob! Don't touch that! The film is sensitive."

He backed away from my photo book, hands in the air, defensively. I looked at Ray who was just looking at the vinyl case near my dad's office. All seemed well. Frank was closer to me now, "Can I come with? For the buddy system of course. It could be a ghost..."

I suddenly became anxious, "Okay,"

I could hear the guys laughing as we left the room. I could feel Frank very close to me as we entered the dark, and slightly damp storage room. That was bad. Water and cameras don't mix. I yanked on the string connected to the light on the ceiling, but it was only on for a second until it violently went out. Frank jumped and grabbed onto my arm. I told him that it was okay, but his ghost comment made me second guess my statement. I heard the loud noise again, coming from a very dim light. It was the window.

I laughed, scaring Frank again, "It's just the window! No wonder is so wet in here."

I grabbed the branch that was banging against the window violently, handed it to Frank, and closed the window. He was very quiet and from what facial expression I could make out, very scared. I led him out of the room, telling him to hold the door open while I changed the light bulb. Ray eventually came over to see what all the fuss was about. Frank explained the window story and showed him the branch.

I heard murmuring from James and Bob, "Are these all of... Frank?"

"Hey!" I called, "Get out from behind the counter!"

I heard scurrying and the sound of paper. I called to them again, stepping off the ladder, "And put back anything you took!"

"You caught us..." James said, guilty, setting down the film he had in his hand.

Bob hit his arm and James shot him a look. I heard the light click in the storage room, and Frank say that it was fixed. I went back to the storage room with a towel. I rolled it up and stuck it under the window so no more water could seep through. I turned the light off and locked up the storage room. I faced everyone, my back towards the door. James, Ray, and Bob stared at me strangely, but Frank was focused on something else. I just looked at them and shrugged. I knew why they were staring at me. I just pretended I didn't.

I leaned against the wall by the counter, faking my casualness,"So why'd you guys come in on a Sunday at 4:45pm when it's pouring outside?"

"We were messing around nearby and decided to stop by," Bob said, "Frank's idea."

"I see," I glanced over at Frank who had a horrified expression, "Anyway, we close at 5 on Sundays."

"Would you wanna hang with us after you close?" Ray offered, hopeful.

"Yeah," Frank chimed in, recovering from his state of horror.

"Oh... are you sure?" I looked around the room.

They all showed some look of agreement. Frank looked more hopeful than Ray. I never knew I was so exciting, "Oh, okay," they all looked happy at my decision, "just let me close up, okay?"

I walked over to the sign on the glass door and switched it over to the side where it said 'closed'. Ray stopped the record for me and put it away. They all helped in a sense, making my job a lot easier and faster. My dad really needed to take my advice and start hiring. Having just me, Mom, and him working there was consuming. I changed out of my uniform in the bathroom, grabbed my leather jacket, and one of my newer polaroid cameras. I, of course, asked before if I could bring it, of which Frank answered yes for the lot.

We all crammed ourselves in Ray's truck and sped off to a pizza/arcade place. The truck had limited room, so Frank ended up having to sit on someone's lap. Everyone seemed to have an excuse as to why Frank couldn't sit on their lap, so in the end, he awkwardly sat on mine. It wasn't awkward for me, but Frank seemed to think so. He shot everyone a look when we were all settled in the truck.

A few families and couples were in the pizza place, but it wasn't very lively. The large front windows had a picture of a penguin serving pizza, which made me giggle. I had never been to this pizza place, but my dad did with Mom once. I was at school when they did, which I still find to be unfair. We don't really do that stuff together anymore. Things like that stopped two years ago when I turned 16.

We all piled out of the truck and James and Bob were teasing Frank about something that I couldn't hear. Whatever it was, Frank didn't like it. I decided to intervene and make a comment about how Frank and I were wearing similar jackets. James and Bob backed off.

"I guess we are wearing similar jackets," He chuckled.

"I noticed earlier, but I didn't want to make it awkward," I laughed.

"Yeah... Also sorry about the whole truck thing. I don't know what's up with them today." He glared at Bob who just smirked.

"It's fine, honestly. You're small enough to make it work," I opened the door for him.

He laughed, "That's what everyone tells me!"