Much has been made lately of Kathleen's skills with her cell phone camera. She's taken a variety of photos of her granddaughter, her dog and others, all to the amazement of admirers who wonder why her husband just can't seem to keep up. Those fledgling skills were put under fire when we came upon workmen at the burned hulk of our neighbor's house, the tragic victim of a December blaze reported on this blog. A huge crane was about to lift the roof off the house when the retired newsman, driving without his camera at hand, said to his good wife: "That's going to be a great shot. See if you can get it." He put the car into proper position as the crane strained against its load, then slowly the entire roof rose exactly over what remained of the house, a framed silhouette high against the sky, a perfect and glorious news shot that would tell the whole story. Meanwhile, inside the news cruiser, the photographer was grappling with her little camera, struggling to remove it from her purse, pressing its buttons, selecting the proper menu choices. It beeped and peeped as she labored mightily to morph her telephone into a camera and line up the shot. Outside, the entire roof now dangled precariously from its cable, then slowly turned to the left and eased gently downward. Inside, the frantic struggle continued. Words of encouragement were exchanged with the camera operator as the crane operator finally brought his load to rest and loosed it. Then at last, through some orgasmic miracle of technology, the little cellphone fired off its first brave shot, complete with a Hollywood sound effect that is supposed to imitate a shutter opening and closing on an honest-to-goodness camera. Above is the digital result, the house razing photo that almost was. Look closely and you'll be able to see the roof assembly, now resting in the foreground in the snowbank.
The retired newsman couldn't help but feel a bit smug as he turned the car homeward.
