Smile

366

By Kathy Miele
I walked into the living room where all of my guys were hanging out on the couch. I held up my camera and said, “Smile!”
“Whoa…” Alex held his hand over his face. “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to get some candid shots of the three of you,” I explained.
“Walking into a room shouting ‘Smile’ isn’t candid,” Steven reminded me.
“Fine.” I snapped a quick shot of them.
“Come on!” Max cried.
I hit review on my camera. “Well, that was an awful picture,” I said as I pressed the delete button.
“Why the interest in candid shots all of a sudden?” Steven asked.
“I’m glad you asked.” I pointed to the table next to the couch that was filled with framed photos of the boys. “Haven’t you noticed that all the photos we have around the house are when the boys weren’t even in their teens yet?”
Steven picked up a picture of both boys on the play gym of our old house. Their heads were sticking out between the slats of the tower. “What were they, 4 and 8 in this shot?”
“Exactly!” I said. “If someone came into our house right now they’d think we have little kids. Not two guys in their 20s.”
“Who’s coming into our house that wouldn’t know who we are?” Alex asked.
“Good point,” Steven said.
“That’s not the point,” I countered. “What’s wrong with wanting to have some updated photos around the house?”
“Ah, I can find something wrong with it,” Max said.
“What?”
“We’d have to spend hours posing for pictures,” he said. “You know how you get when you start picture-taking.”
All three began to laugh.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
The boys looked at Steven, making him the spokesperson for all three. “You start yelling,” he reminded me. “Smile! Look this way! Quit making that face!” The boys were nodding in agreement. “That’s the reason we stopped taking pictures, don’t you remember?” he asked.
By this time I’d put the camera down on the table and Max had picked it up. He snapped a shot of me with my hands on my hips looking annoyed as I listened to Steven explain why we don’t take photos anymore.
“Hey! Give me that!” I tried to get the camera out of Max’s hand but he’d already hit the review button and was showing Alex and Steven the shot. “That’s a keeper,” he said as he handed it back to me.
I cringed as I took a quick peek before hitting delete. “Fine, I won’t take any pictures today,” I agreed. “But this isn’t over.”
The three of them were high-fiving each other as I left the room. I quickly turned around and snapped the picture. “Perfect!” I said. “Now I have a picture with a fun story behind it!”