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After Marta Neuheim’sclass, I stood by the door, frowning at the sign-up sheet for darkroom times. The only times available were early in the morning, which was fine, but they overlapped with my work shifts.
“Problem, Peter?” Marta asked, coming to stand directly beside me, peering at the schedule too.
I waited until she looked at me to answer. “It’s mostly full.”
“Getting into the darkrooms is always competitive.” She pointed at the open morning hours. “These are almost always available.”
“I work at that time.”
“Ah. At the library,” she said. “I’ve seen you there.”
I was surprised to hear it. I’d only been employed a week. “Yeah, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday mornings, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.”
“What if…” A sneaky smile passed over her lips. “You were able to sign up before anyone else?”
“How?”
“I put the new sheet up for the following week’s schedule on Friday nights before I leave.” Her wild gray hair shook with excitement at her own wiliness. “You work at the library on Saturday mornings. What time is your first break?”
“Around eight.”
“You know who won’t be up and around the A&A building at eight a.m. on a Saturday morning? Art students.” She winked at me.
I laughed. “Thanks, Professor.”
“Of course. Now, I get the impression you have undeveloped film burning a hole in your backpack, am I right?”
I nodded, trying not to blush as I thought about the nature of said undeveloped film.
“As it turns out, I had the darkroom booked for myself this afternoon, but I don’t have time to indulge after all. My wife asked me to accompany her to a Tai Chi class, and one thing I never do is refuse my wife.” She barked a laugh.
Her wife!Marta was gay, too? I smiled. “My father agrees.”
“Smart man. That said, I’ll make you an offer you won’t get often: want my darkroom hours?”
“Yes!” I grinned. “I’ve been dying to get into a darkroom all summer.”
“Excellent. I scheduled myself from three to six.” She passed the key over to me. “It’s yours. Enjoy.”
I wanted to hug Marta, but that seemed silly. Instead, I said, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Of course. Just promise to show me something you develop today. I’m eager to see more of you work.”
I swallowed, hoping that in the handful of rolls I’d grabbed there was a decent shot that wasn’t utterly pornographic. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Go on.” She waved me out the door, her hair bouncing with the motion. “Off with you.”
And off I went. I had another class to get through and then I’d have a darkroom all to myself.
For the first time since I’d left Kingsley.
***
I got busydeveloping the film Daniel and I had taken of each other on Friday night. The nudes weren’t Harold Seville quality, but they weren’t too shabby either.
I made a contact sheet first, and then used a loupe to choose which I wanted to develop larger. The first picture of me that Daniel had taken showed me spread out on Bobby’s guest bed. I was surprised to see that Daniel was right. I was handsome.
Deciding which I wanted to enlarge, I chose to develop them in black and white, despite having used color film. Both because it was easier, but also it would make for artsier-looking photos. I decided to make some five-by-eight, and a few others eight-by-ten, but the ones I was working on now were going to be four-by-six. Regular photo sized.
