AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’ve visited Seattle yourself then?”
“I have,” I said, not explaining in which century. “It’s everything you can imagine, and then some.”
“You’re very fortunate indeed then,” he said enviously. “Uncle Arthur says that Seattle is booming these days with all sorts of new businesses. Uncle is very business smart and has many friends from back east that he trades with. He went to college, you see.
“An old school chum of his, Mr. Eastman, runs a very successful business developing photographing equipment. He’s always coming up with new inventions, and sent one of his older models to Uncle Arthur to give to me.”
“Photography?” I remarked with interest. “Have you taken many pictures then?”
“Not many as yet,” he said. “A few portraits. The developing of the photographs is a bit confusing, and quite dangerous. Ma says that I’ll likely blow up the entire store with all my chemicals one day. She rues the day Uncle Arthur gave it all to me.”
“You’ll just have to be very careful then. I’d love to see your equipment, if it’s handy.”
“Would you? I’ll be right back then!”
The boy quickly darted around obstacles and raced into rear storage room, returning minutes later with his arms around a large antique camera and tripod. He awkwardly set it up and rattled on about the working mechanisms and long, tricky process of photo taking and developing.
“Ma says that it’s a useless waste of my good time that would be better spent on chores and in helping run the store here,” he concluded slightly dejected. “She’s probably right, of course. She usually is.”
“It’s good to listen your parents’ wisdom,” I agreed. “But maybe if you demonstrate to your mother that you can work hard at your responsibilities and still have other interests that won’t interfere, she will be more encouraged with your photography.”
“Have both, then?” He sighed, frowning, “That would be a nice thought.”
“In the meantime, keep learning all that you can about photography,” I said. “You never know when something considered frivolous now like this becomes very important in the future.”
“You think so?”
I winked at him confidentially. “I predict that photographs will become very popular as the years go by. Personally, I think it’s a great way to record history.”
He frowned, considering this. “Perhaps so.”
“One more suggestion. Don’t just take stilted portraits. This is an exciting world. Take pictures of all the things you see and experience—waterfalls and rivers, people walking down the street here, stagecoaches and buckwagons in motion, cowboys riding horses and roping cattle.”
Henry’s hazel-brown eyes widened behind his round eyeglasses. “Freezing specific moments in time.”
I shrugged. “Something to think about.”
We were called to dinner by Alice’s bellowing from above. Henry officially closed the store, put away his photography equipment, then followed me upstairs and into the kitchen where the table was set and filled with various steaming dishes.
Bryant gallantly stood when I walked into the room and held the empty table chair out for me.
Everyone seated, Alice said grace, then began to dish out the chicken stew and buttermilk biscuits that I had been smelling and drooling over for the past hour. Everything melted in my mouth, better than anything I had eaten in a long while.
Scratchy, confining clothes aside, the nineteenth century American west did have its points.
“Tell us the latest news from back east, Miss McEwan,” Henry eagerly asked me, mopping up the chicken gravy on his plate with his biscuit. “We don’t get much out here in the territories.”
“Don’t be bothering Miss McEwan with your questions, Henry,” Bryant said as he ate.
“No bother,” I said, nudging my empty plate forward. I was a historian after all and had a working knowledge of the times. “Well, since President Harrison was elected—”
“You mean that the Republican Party wishes forSenatorHarrison to beat President Cleveland in the upcoming elections this November,” Bryant corrected me with a warning look.
Oops. Had I inadvertently gaffed and blurted future events?
Quickly I filtered through my mental files for exact dates and events.
“Yes, of course,” I said, clearing my throat. “Senator Harrison. He, well, he mentioned something about bringing the Washington territory here into full statehood. If he’s elected, of course.”
