All Tomorrow's Photos by S. S. Genesee

Author:S. S. Genesee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay romance, serial killer, 1970s, historical romance, dark romance, romantic suspense, historical fiction, detective
Publisher: S. S. Genesee
Published: 2023-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

During Monday’s class, Maurice prepares his film roll to develop in his canister. He needs absolute complete darkness, and there’s only one small room in their work area with no light leaks. Yet he needs to share the space with one of his classmates in order for everyone to move along with their project, and Kathy comes in to join him.

She shuts the door behind her. “You ready?”

Maurice nods. “Yeah.”

Kathy turns off the light and the two get busy: cracking open the roll, shuffling the film onto the metal reel, and attempting to hastily plop them into their small cylindrical tanks.

Kathy groans. “Shit, I think I got mine stuck, it doesn’t feel on there right.”

“Need my help?”

“Yeah, if you could.”

Maurice reaches his hand out randomly into the darkness until it eventually lands on Kathy’s, and she hands him the tank and reel. Even he has trouble with this sometimes; putting the film on the reel with zero visibility is one of the hardest parts of the whole developing process, especially when it’s so easy for it to get stuck.

He runs his thumb over the film, smoothing out the roll of any folds and secures it on the reel. “There, I think I got it.” Before he hands it back to Kathy, he quickly sets it into the tank and seals the lid.

“Thanks a lot.” She chuckles.

“You’re welcome. I got mine in, you can turn the light back on now.”

“Alright.” And she does just that.

Maurice twists the lid of his tank to make sure it’s completely secure. “You can go ahead first.”

“Sure.”

Against the small back wall is a counter with a sink that extends to the edge of the other walls. Above that is a shelf with four barrels containing different chemicals: developer, stop bath, fixer, and hypo clear. Scattered around the basin are various sized pitchers and flasks for measuring, and Kathy grabs one to fill with developer.

Maurice follows suit; he grabs a small pitcher and does the same, as Kathy dilutes her developer with water. Once his is ready as well, they pour their solution into their film tanks and set a timer on the wall, swishing around the liquid and agitating the film at varying intervals.

“So Maurice, how’s things been going with Ken?”

“Huh?” He lifts his head from looking down at the tank in his hands. Ken, oh, she means Kenneth. “Everything’s going really well!” He can’t help but smile when he thinks of his boyfriend.

Even though he and Kathy have class together, they don’t usually stand and chat with each other much. Most class days are spent in the darkroom, and Maurice and Kathy alike focus their attention to their work closely. Maybe they make a comment here and there, but never a full conversation. But now with their current task, there’s lots of waiting, repeated actions of tossing a container over and over, and staring at the clock to count down. She must’ve thought it’s a perfect time to strike up small talk, especially since they’re confined to the small room alone together.

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