Page 60 of With Stars in Her Eyes
I nodded. “Impressive. Most people think it’s a compass. It’s not an antique or anything. Bought it on Etsy. It looks like the one my grandfather had though. I figured with the whole Squid-slash-under-the-sea vibes of my job, having some nautical stuff here might be fun.”
“I was really into ships as a kid.” Courtney huffed a tiny laugh. “Now my motion sickness couldnever.”
I laughed. “Same. Sort of poetic to long for the sea and to bestuck on land. You definitely should pick a future Historically Hot and Bottled Book Club book with that as a subplot.”
“I was really into astronomy as a kid. My parents always tried to make it a Christian thing—likeGod knowing the names of all the stars in the heavens, but I’m pretty sure it began after I caught a few episodes ofSailor Moonat a daycare program once and experienced some highly confusing feelings that made more sense once I discovered I was a lesbian.”
I snorted.
Courtney smirked, but her gaze became locked on a framed photo in the position of honor on the wall. In the foreground there was a giant tree on its own in a field. The background was open sky with circular patterns, almost like ripples on a pond.
Courtney’s finger dragged along the words below the photo.
STAR TRAILS OVER MCBAINE BURR OAK
NEAR COLUMBIA, MO
PHOTOGRAPHER: THEA QUINN
“You took this?”
“Yep. It’s the only photo I’ve ever won an award for. Third place, but I basically carry it with me everywhere like it’s a trophy.”
“I’m sorry if this is a rude question… Is the effect with the lines in the sky… like is that a Photoshop thing? It doesn’t seem like it, but I…” Courtney’s nose was an inch from the photo.
“Lemme show you.” I pulled an old leather album off the bookcase and flipped through to find the astrophotography pages. “Here are some more shots like that. Those are star trails. You set a long exposure and because of the movement of the earth you see these arcing lines. Sometimes you can get full circles.”
“You do this with film? Not digital cameras?”
My cheeks went hotter than the room around me. “I’ve always mostly shot with film because I learned the basics on my grandfather’s old cameras. Kind of like the people who still drivea stick shift. Film seems more…” I traced the lines in the photo like Courtney had just traced my name. “More tangible maybe?”
“You dateandshoot photos in analog?”
“At least I’m consistent.”
Courtney’s shoulder grazed mine, making my skin surge with an electric intensity that craved more. Our fingers were inches away from each other on the plastic pages holding the photos. When she turned to look back at the photo mounted on the wall, some of her hair swept across my neck, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room or the breeze from the windows.
“Did you take these too?” Courtney gestured to the leather book.
“No, my grandfather took those.” I rose. “Speaking of which. We need to photograph that aura. So come here.”
The blue metal box on a tripod was set up in front of the backdrop. A little table was set up in front of it with two additional flat blue boxes. It did not look anything like a typical camera, so I wasn’t surprised by Courtney’s apparent confusion.
“My grandfather was an electrical engineer and a NASA scientist, but he had a special interest on the side in photography. Some of it was just experimenting to see if anything could have scientific applications. But it also meant he loved trying a lot of new kinds of cameras.”
“This is a camera?”
“Yep.” I held out a photo. It was me, surrounded by bursts of a deep purple color with an arc of red and orange above my head.
Courtney smiled at the photo. “I think I’ve seen these photos online, but I just thought it was a filter?”
“Therearefilters, but this is the original camera that created the concept. You put your hands on the plates, and they read your energy. It was invented in the eighties, but it’s definitely soared in popularity recently.”
“Really?” Skepticism edged Courtney’s voice.
“Who knows really. I believe there’s some kind of energythere, because I’ve takena lotof these photos over the years. My grandfather just thought it produced beautiful and interesting photos.” I pulled out another photo that seemed much older as it was slightly yellowed.
A little girl in pigtails sat in the photo. My chubby childhood face with all my dimples on framing a mischievous grin.
