Wisley hopped out of the shop, his stubby boyish hands almost dropping his new toy camera. But no, he would say, it wasn't a toy. It was how he was going to become famous, and no-one would be allowed to call him names! Just like the latop with which he created the world-renowned social website, and the spare parts with which he had invented a new kind of bicycle that became the latest must-have at the back of thousands of other kid's sheds. Except that this idea would work. And happen. In real life, not just in his daydreams.
It was going to happen because last night he had accidentally found- whilst not looking for anything other than innocent and appropriate television, by the way- a documentary about the amazing life of the celebrity photographer, Kent Kildroy.
Mr. Kildroy had been to amazingly colourful places, and taken pictures of them. He had also been to amazingly sunny places, and taken pictures of them. His pictures lined the walls of galeries across the world.
All of this was due, as his well-connected parents and celebrity friends had said in interviews, to his amazing pictures. None of them had been able to say what it was about his pictures that was different from any other pictures, but Wisley had been smart enough to figure out that this was because the beauty in the pictures went beyond what eyes or even mind could see, deep into something only your heart could see. Wisley hadn't noticed his own heart say anything about Mr. Kildroys snaps, but that must have been because he wasn't used to the idea of his heart having its own eyes yet.
But he had picked up the vibe, that was the important thing! When he tried to imagine himself being a famous photographer in the ranks of celebrities, he could do it- and that must be a sign that he was destined to do it! Yes! So in the morning he had run straight to his nearest charity shop to find a camera. He had to run to several others before he found one, an old and dusty one, at the back of a shelf, practically shouting (well, wheezing) destiny at him. He had picked it up delicately in his hands, imagining that he held a future of fortune in his hands. His future made his hands tingle a bit, and had been dropped on the floor.
After being scolded by the charity staff, and being forced to buy what he had possibly broken, Wisley had recovered his youthful enthusiasm and hopped out of the shop. He looked around his neighbourhood from where he now stood. There was a lot of grey... He tried to think of something good that he could shoot first, but it was a bit like a vegetarian thinking the same thing on a hunting safari.
However, destiny really did beckon Wisley, by placing a brilliant idea in his head. It was genius, he thought to himself, as he ran back home, into his front room, and pulled out one of his parents holiday magazines. His slippery fingers had only dropped the camera three times now.
You could practice your lens focus, zoom, and clicking-the-big-button technique whilst taking an interesting picture, by taking a picture of another picture! He wouldn't take credit for it, of course... Well maybe a bit, but it was just to get started.
He found a two-page spread of a landscape in Eygpt that caught his eye. It was a picture of the pyramids, towering like old toys above a lot of otherwise boring sand. It didn't have much variety of colour, it was true, but it was much more exciting than terraced houses. Perfect, he thought. Wisley knelt down carefully on the carpet, with the magazine open in front of him. He pulled the camera up to his eye, and his head directly over the magazine, and tried really, really hard not to roll forwards and land on his head.
He nearly had the angle, now. He lowered his head a tiny bit closer to the magazine, until it looked, through the camera view-finder, like he could really be in that desert. The sun even looked like it was really burning out at him. The camera started to feel a bit tingly in his hands again, but in the tense excitement of getting it right, Wisley hardly noticed.
He pressed his finger down onto the button, and heard the click that he expected, but he hadn't noticed the flash was on. Except that for a flash, especially on such an old camera, it seemed to fill the whole room. But after a brief moment of feeling light headed and a bit blinded, the light faded again, and Wisley let himself slouch a bit on the sand.
Sand? Wisley's panicked senses took only a second to take in the scene around him, which was the eygptian desert. Right there, towering in front of him in a very un-toy-like way stood the pyramids.
Reading this story, your mind may have got as far as 'why does this camera have the ability to transport a person anywhere in the world?', or you may have even skipped straight to 'oh, the power! You could have amazing adventures with this kind of device!' But these thoughts did not cross through the mind of poor Wisley. His only reaction, for several minutes, was that his mouth hung open, his staring eyes didn't dare move, and a small bit of wee came out.
The first coherrant thought that finally entered his mind was that he must have broken something. Fear gripped him because breaking something gets you into trouble, and also because he wasn't sure what he must have broken. Had he broken the world? Or the camera? Or Eypgt? Was Eygpt now inside his house? He quickly worked out that the last thought couldn't be right, because Eygpt was almost definately too big for a house. But here was a hope, a part of his mind noticed. If, now let's get this right, Wisley was definately not in his house... In fact, he was almost certainly not in England, because he was in Eygpt... His parents must be miles away! He started to feel horrible tears welling up in him, but then the hopeful part of his mind pointed out that this was good, because it meant that he wouldn't be in trouble any time soon, so he had time to fix whatever he had broken!
OK, he thought, and sniffed. Being a scaredy-cat could wait. What did he have? He had Eygpt. Kind of. His camera, he noticed, was still in his hands in front of him. Good. And on the ground, he had the maga- Oh.
Wisley looked around him for the magazine, and saw that the hot gritty wind had carried it away from him. He leapt up and ran towards it, taking a few stumbles as he tried to learn how to run on the sand. It looked a bit like a drunk chasing a plastic bag in a car park. When he finally scrunched his hands on the shiny paper, he sat on it, and stopped to think what to do with it.
He couldn't think of a way to undo what he had done. The opposite of taking a picture must be giving a picture, he thought. Or maybe it's taking a sound. Wisley didn't know how to do either of those with what he had, so his problem solving brain moved on to what else he could do. He had to work quite hard at thinking carefully. His eyes were tired of squinting in the light, and he had dirt in his mouth. The desert didn't taste nice. He was also trying to ignore the thought that a camel had probably done its business in the sand.
After a few more minutes, he put the magazine in front of him (held down forcefully by his right foot), and held the camera up to his face again. He held his breath, and pressed down on the button.
There was a click, but no flash. When he was sure nothing had happened, he breathed out again, and let the camera slump in front of him. At young-boy speed, thoughts went through his head. He pictured what he had done in his house, and nodded to himself when he knew what he would try next.
He opened the holiday magazine, and started flicking through the pages of colourful and sunny places. If he had remembered which page he had found the pyramid picture on, he might have noticed that it now had a picture of a grey, dull looking terraced house instead. But Wisley flicked past this, in search of something that caught his eye with vibrant shades. His hand stopped at a page with a view of a tropical beach. Sand was getting on his nerves now, true, but the water there looked so clear and cool, and the shady palm trees made the whole place look a lot more relaxing than here.
Wisley knelt down carefully on the sand, holding the magazine open in front of him with his knees. He pulled the camera up to his eye, and his head directly over the magazine, and tried really, really hard not to roll forwards and land in the sand again.
He lowered his head a tiny bit, to get the perfect focus, until it looked, through the camera view-finder, like he really was on that foreign beach. The sea even looked like it was gently rippling. Wisley noticed that the camera started to feel a bit tingly in his hands.
There was a click, and a bright light, and then the Eygptian desert was empty again...
See another Short Story in Comedy and Fantasy...
Image Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg
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