Sharpe Image_Prequel Novella by Lisa B. Thomas

Author:Lisa B. Thomas [Thomas, Lisa B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-08-21T22:00:00+00:00

• 9 •

Her hands shook as she entered the darkroom with the metal reel and canister to load up the black-and-white film left by Detective Evans. Not only was it the best evidence they had to solve a crime, but it also contained pictures taken for Harlan Granbury’s book. She didn’t want to mess it up.

But a number of things could go wrong. The film might not wrap correctly on the reel. There may be a light leak in the ancient darkroom. The chemicals may have gone bad and may not work. She might drop the lid of the canister while shaking it. She might be attacked by zombies.

Curses, Ansel Adams! Why had she agreed to do this? She tried to put all the previously ruined rolls of film out of her mind. It was time for lights out.

Her hands trembled as she opened the end of the metal film reel, being careful not to cut her fingers on the jagged edge. She squinted her eyes shut even though it was pitch-dark. That one trick helped her better visualize with her mind’s eye what she was doing. She felt around and found the scissors on the counter in front of her and cut the end of the film off with a slight arc, the way she had learned in college. Taking the reel in her left hand and the tip of the film roll in her right, she eased the edge under the clip. The key here was making sure the sides of the film were perfectly centered so that the film would load onto the spiral reel correctly the first time.

Since the digital camera revolution, she had fallen out of practice. Ten years ago, she could do this in her sleep. Now, she only did it a handful of times a year when she taught her film unit.

She held the tips of her fingers against the edges of the metal and gently squeezed the sides of the film as she spun the reel in a circle. So far so good. Generally, she worked with film with just twelve exposures. This one had thirty-six. The longer the film, the higher the possibility that it would get off track and stick to itself during development. She could feel the sweat in her armpits. Finally, she came to the end of the roll. She felt for the canister, dropped the reel inside, and put the lid on it. Just to be sure, she felt around the edges of the lid to be certain it was all the way on.

She held her breath and felt on the wall in front of her for the switch to the room’s safety light. Turning it on, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the room’s dim, yellow glow. The canister looked good from the outside. She let out her breath, satisfied she had successfully jumped the first hurdle.

The genius who designed the photography set up put the main light switch on the wall opposite the darkroom entrance.

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