Dogs and Cats and Kids, Oh My!

Amanda felt a thrill of joy race up her spine as she walked through the front doors of her old High School. Her love of photography had been born here and the Art Department had seen her keen talent with the camera and supported her efforts. And today her old principal had called to hire (Yes. Hire.) her to do some pictures at the school for a promotional calendar being sponsored by Principal Masterson and the local Animal Rescue Shelter.

Even though she had only graduated a year ago, the familiar hallways triggered a novel sense of nostalgia with her. "That's silly," she thought, "I've only been away to college for a year. Better quit daydreaming and get to work." She turned reluctantly away and lugged her cameras and equipment on down the empty halls into the gymnasium and over to the stage area at one end.

The contrast in sound was shocking. From the deserted quiet of the echoing tile-floored corridors she was met here by cacophony! There were the barks of dogs, the squalls of fighting cats, a strange piercing squawk from something, the screams of young children, and the voice of one very exasperated adult male. When Principal Masterson had first told her about the job he said, "It's just kids and critters. The pictures almost take themselves."

"Well," she thought as she strode over to the only other person in the room over four foot tall, "this looks more like a war zone than a photo shoot." The young man jumped when she said, "Excuse me," and turned around so fast he almost tripped over the dog he had been holding while a little blonde girl tried stuffing her angry cat back into its carrier. "I'm Amanda Dalton, I'm the photographer."

He started to say something but stopped, his mouth slightly open and his eyes growing wide! She hadn't seen that deer-in-the-headlights look on a boy's face since 9th grade. She tilted her head to the side and gently continued, "Principal Masterson told me to meet the Director of the Animal Rescue here. Do you know where he is?" The clean shaven young man was rather nice to look at with his dark, slightly rumbled hair and soft hazel eyes and Amanda gave him a small, friendly smile.

"Oh, uh, yes, Uh, that's me! Frank Masterson. Hello. Yes, I run the Shelter. Yes, um, Principal Masterson is my dad." Amanda wondered if this shy sounding fellow had ever talked to a girl before. "Sorry for all the confusion; all my helpers seem to have abandoned me but I'm sure we can handle it. Dad speaks very highly of you!" That gave her a warm glow inside that quickly faded as she turned to look at the mass of photo subjects running, hissing, and in one case, hopping around the stage. "Oh, dear. Where do you think we ought to start, Frank?"

He looked distractedly out over the unruly mess of children and pets and said with a lopsided grin, "Either shoot yourself or shoot them, I don't care which. Er, I mean, the children, yes." He's blushing! She thought and could hardly keep from giggling at his flustered faux pas. She spotted a way to deflect his embarrassment and pointed, "How about we start with the little boy over there with the hamster. He seems to be the only one sitting still anyway."

The next two hours were a mixture of nightmare and endurance as they slowly corralled a dozen "kids and critters" and at least tried to stage them in front of various seasonal backgrounds. There was the little girl in red for February that had the big orange Tom that had a perpetual frown nearly as bad as Grumpy Cat's that growled at everything. July's spotlight was a grubbily dressed little boy with post nasal drip and, of all things, a ratty looking cockatiel even more disheveled than him. Then the kid that was dressed so androgynously, Amanda never did know if they were a boy or a girl, lost their rabbit when a door was opened and it lit out for some wild and distant burrow in the city. Frank did his best to dry the child's tears and then called one of the Shelter workers to bring them another rabbit ASAP. It took a little time for the two young ones to bond but he helped them get used to the new animal so well they ended up taking the replacement rabbit home with them.

Through it all Frank talked, cajoled, and comforted both kid and critter alike. He even extended what turned out to be seemingly endless patience and comfort to her when at one point, while trying to get a shot of another little girl and her turtle, one of the dogs had used her leg as a fire hydrant. As the day progressed, the chaos lessened as more months were shot and their models picked up by proud parents.

And all through the day, even at the height of the madness, she noticed Frank's surreptitious glances her way and the little goofy grin that popped up along with them. And yet, he managed to keep a professional composure even when the cockatiel had flown up to his shoulder and crapped down the back of his shirt. "Well, a pirate's life for me now!" he laughed nervously as Amanda got a wet paper towel and cleaned it away before tackling the next Month's pairing.

On her way home the day kept playing through her head and she realized the best memories of the day's photo shoot included the shy smile and occasional stammer of the Principal's son. So when she got the file of digital photographs edited and organized and ready to send off, she smiled and shot herself and added her phone number and Facebook Profile to the picture and included it in the packet just to see what the future might bring.

==========================================

Trading writing prompts with other writers can be a great exercise in twisting the brain. To wit:

"Either shoot yourself or shoot them, I don't care which."

I was three days trying to figure out how to fit it into a war story of some sort when the inspiration came to use it for a Romance instead.