Behind the Curtain
Nina wanted one good picture. That did not seem too much to ask. It was her grandmother's birthday on Sunday, and Nina and her younger brother, Dan, always put a strip of four little photographs inside her card. Their grandmother kept the strips beside her bed. The first one showed Dan with almost no hair. In the latest one, his head reached Nina's shoulder. This year, Nina wanted both of them to look at the camera, keep their eyes open and smile at the same time.
At the village fair, they found an old photo booth beside a tent full of farm animals. Music came from the other end of the field. A red curtain covered the entrance to the booth. Above it, a sign showed two coins and four pictures. Nina counted the money in her small purse. They had enough for two strips. Dan pushed through the curtain before she finished counting. "There's only one seat," he called. "Come in. We can share it."
Nina went inside. Dan was standing on one side of the seat. A brown hen sat on the other side. Its yellow feet held the edge, and it looked straight at them. "Where did that come from?" Nina asked. "I thought it was part of the fair," Dan said. "A funny picture with a chicken." Nina looked at the sign again. It showed two smiling people. Neither of them had feathers.
"Don't press anything," she said. But Dan was already putting two coins into the machine. He pressed the large red button. A little light above the camera began to flash. Nina reached for the hen, then stopped when its wings opened. "Wait!" she told the machine. The machine did not wait.
Four Flashes
The first flash lit the hen and one of Dan's ears. Nina tried to sit beside it, but the hen moved along the seat. The second picture caught Nina's hand in front of her face. "It's taking them now!" Dan said. He bent down to find the middle of the camera. For the third picture, his face was so close that Nina could see only his nose on the small screen.
Then the hen jumped onto his shoulder. Dan stood up quickly. His head hit the curtain rail, and the hen flew past Nina into the entrance. The last flash came while Nina was holding the curtain and Dan was rubbing his head. They stood still. A soft cluck came from somewhere behind the red cloth. "Are you hurt?" Nina asked. Dan shook his head. "Only my hair."
A strip came out of a narrow slot beside the door. Nina pulled it free. The hen looked calm in the first picture. The other pictures showed Nina's hand, Dan's nose and the red curtain. She turned the strip over. The back was white, but that did not improve the front. "Grandma won't even see both of us," she said. Dan was looking behind the curtain. "She'll see the chicken."
Nina put the strip in her purse and went to the animal tent. An older man was closing the door of a wooden chicken cage. One small space inside was empty. "Have you lost a hen?" she asked. He looked at her hand. A brown feather was caught in her sleeve. "Where is she?" he asked. "She's waiting for another picture," said Nina.
A Quiet Corner
The man, Mr Vale, came back with her. Dan was sitting outside the booth, holding the curtain open. The hen stood behind it, between the wall and the seat. Mr Vale bent down and looked inside. "There you are," he said softly. "She's called Butter." Dan looked at the hen, then at Nina. "Butter likes having her picture taken."
Mr Vale moved his hand towards Butter. She stepped farther into the corner. He pulled his hand back. Beside the booth, two children ran past with noisy whistles. Butter pressed against the wall. Mr Vale asked Dan to let the curtain fall. The booth became darker, and the hen stopped moving. Nina could still see its feet below the cloth. "She wants somewhere quiet," Mr Vale said.
He returned to the tent and brought a low wooden box with straw inside. Nina thought he would put it in front of the hen. Instead, he placed it beside the booth, under a bench. He took a few pieces of grain from his pocket and dropped them into the box. Then he asked them to stand back. "Can I call her?" Dan whispered. Mr Vale shook his head. They waited without speaking.
Butter looked out from under the curtain. One yellow foot appeared, then the other. She walked slowly to the bench, looked into the box and jumped in. Mr Vale put a light cloth over the top and lifted the box carefully. A small cluck came from inside. Nina held the curtain away from him as he passed. "Thank you," he said. Dan looked at the empty seat. "It's our turn now."
One More Strip
Nina checked the purse. Two coins remained. She and Dan sat together, close enough to fit on the little screen. Before putting the coins in, she moved the seat down a little. This time, both their heads were below the curtain rail. "Four pictures," she said. "Please keep still." Dan put his hands on his knees. Nina pressed the red button.
For the first picture, they smiled. For the second, they kept smiling, although Dan's smile was getting larger. Then a loud cluck came from the animal tent. Dan looked at Nina. "Butter wants a copy." Nina tried to keep her mouth closed. The third flash caught her laughing. By the fourth, Dan was laughing too. The machine finished, and she let her shoulders relax.
They waited beside the slot. The new strip showed both of them in every picture. Two were neat. In the last two, Nina's eyes were almost shut, and Dan's mouth was wide open. She looked from those faces to her brother. He was still smiling. She took the first strip out of her purse and placed it beside the new one. "We have to explain this," she said.
On Sunday, their grandmother opened the birthday card. She found both strips and a short note in Dan's writing: "The third person is Butter." She looked at the neat photographs first. Then she held the other strip closer to her eyes. Nina waited. Her grandmother laughed so much that her glasses slipped down her nose. Dan gently pushed them back up for her. "Next year," she said, "ask Butter to keep her eyes open too."
