A found Polaroid

SUGO magazine, no.1, 2004

Thomas shot the fresh asphalt, looking just long enough to frame it. He slid back in behind the wheel and caught me laying flat. He knew right there I was avoiding the camera.  We drove off across the black square, leaving a permanent tyre print. On the freeway we got up to seventy. The shovel skittered in the back like a lizard on noonday rock. “How many left?” I looked at the camera: “One”. I grabbed the Polaroids from the dashboard and fanned them like playing cards: the pretty sunrise, the car dealership, clouds, the Nauman Street house, the two bags, Thomas smiling, the stadium, the car lot and the asphalt. I looked across and caught Thomas looking down at them. The truck veered a little. I wound down the window and tossed the pictures into the wind, one by one. Finally I reached for the camera and photographed the sunset ahead.

 

 

 

 

[A 150-word response to a found Polaroid, commissioned by SUGO magazine, 2004.]