Chapter 428. A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words, but a Picture Does Not Do You Justice. (3/3)

I strapped on my helmet, but just as I was about to turn the handle to take off, Dawn called out, “Uh, wait!”

“What is it?” I turned my head back, glanced over my shoulder, and discovered she’d pinched the back of my sleeve by my elbow.

“Uh… that is… here…”

She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a small card.

“What’s this?”

“The business card for my dad’s farm. It’s got the address. If you and Rosa don’t have a place to stay in the city... and uh… the weather gets really bad to the point you can’t camp out… yuh can always come and stay with us on the farm or somethin.”

“Only if the weather gets bad?”

“Well… if yuh wanna… even if the weather isn’t bad… I think it’d be fine too.”

“You know we could have just made the offer rather than giving me a business card. We have your number already.”

“What if yuh got no reception or your phone’s dead? If it’s an emergency and yuh didn’t know where it was it could be bad, yuh know.”

“Oh, that’s certainly true. I didn’t consider that. Good call.”

“Yeah.”

“By the way…”

“What?”

“Is this your father’s number on this card?”

“Huh? Yeah, it is. Why do yuh ask?”

“Earlier when you didn’t remember it, you could have just gotten it off this card, couldn’t you?”

“Ah. Now that yuh mention it, I coulda, couldn’t I?”

“Hahaha. You really are an airhead.”

“Mmmm. Don’t laugh… it’s not funny…”

“Thanks for the offer, Dawn. In all likelihood, we’ll probably take you up on it.”

“You will? Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Haaaaah. That’s great.” She placed her hand over her chest, closed her eyes, and let out a relieved breath. With that small gesture, I saw something quite rare. It was the second time I’d seen it today, but this time it was in full view. A genuine, heartfelt smile.

So the first one I saw wasn’t an illusion in my head and she really can smile.

I didn’t miss the chance this time around. I acted fast, pulled out my phone, and took a picture of her.

When she opened her eyes and noticed the phone in my hand she asked, “What are yuh doin with your phone?”

I turned it to her and showed her the picture I took of her.

“Huh? Yuh took a picture of me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“To show you.”

“Show me what?”

“You didn’t notice? Look at your face more closely?”

“My face? Is there something weird on it?”

“No.”

“What is it then?”

“You’re smiling.”

“Huh? You’re right. I am, aren’t I? I look weird…”

“You don’t look weird at all. As someone who really looks weird when he smiles, I take offense to that.”

“Delete it, I look really weird in it.”

“You sure you want me to delete it? I will if you’re really against me keeping a picture of you smiling since I understand the feeling.”

“Uh… actually…”

“...”

“Please… keep it. But…”

“But what?”

“Can I… take a picture together with yuh in exchange?”

“That’s a hard bargain. If I refuse, do I have to delete the picture?”

“Yeah.”

“I see, then I suppose I’ll have to delete it.”

“Huh? Really? You’re that opposed to takin a picture together with me? Is it because it’s embarrassing to be seen together with me?”

“It’s got nothing to do with you, I just don’t like being in pictures that much. I always look gloomy and depressing. Such a shame, it was such a good picture of you too. Oh well, time to delete it.”

“Wait! It’s fine, yuh don’t need to delete it.”

“Huh? Why not? Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Why? Uh. I dunno. It’s... because…” She struggled to give voice to the reason.

Was she unconsciously afraid she’d be forgotten? Did she want me to remember her?

Haaaaah. She’s really too adorable for her own good. 

A week from now... when Rosa and I returned home, we’d probably never see each other in person again. It’d just be a fleeting summer memory for her in the future. That one time she met a boy traveling together with his girlfriend from a big city.

“Well… it’s fine, I’ll keep it since you insist. As for your previous request for a picture together, I’ll cave just this once. Just don’t set your expectations too high and think the picture will turn out well when I’m in it.”

“Really? Yuh’ll let me take one?”

“Is that not what I just said?”

“Then… your helmet, can yuh take it off?”

“Do I have to?”

“Yeah… I don’t want to… forget,” she murmured as her words trailed off.

“Forget what?”

“Nothin, forget I said that.”

I removed my helmet while Dawn carefully balanced her phone on the hood of her pickup truck. She looked over her shoulder and asked, “Can yuh move your motorcycle in front sideways, and stand in front of it?”

“Sure.”

When I was in position, Dawn started the timer on her phone. She moved to stand directly by my side and held up her right hand and made a peace sign while I stood there with a neutral expression, not looking directly at the camera, slouching with my hands in my pockets. The flash went off and the picture was taken.

When Dawn took a look at the picture her shoulders trembled.

“I look weird as usual when I try to do those poses I’ve seen city girls make in pictures.”

“Certainly, if you smiled it’d look more natural.”

“It’s hard.”

“I don’t look much better either though.”

“Yuh weren’t kidding, I’ve never met someone who was worse than me when it comes to pictures.”

“Haaaah. Hey, why don’t you send me that picture?”

“Yuh want it?”

“It’s not that I want it, I’m just going to do something with it.”

“What are yuh gonna do?”

“You’ll see after you send it to me.”

“I don’t have any reception to send it though.”

“Oh, right.”

“I can send it later when I get home if yuh still want it.”

“No, it’s fine, it looks like I have a signal on my phone. I can use it as a personal hotspot.”

“A personal hotspot? What’s that?”

“Basically it’s like turning a phone into a WiFi connection for other devices to connect to so they can access the internet using cellular data.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah. Your phone probably can do it too if you go through your settings.”

“I never knew you could do that. Phones are pretty amazing.”

“When you actually have reception that is.”

“Haaaah... yeah.”

I uploaded the picture from her phone to one of my online drives and downloaded it on my phone. From there I opened it in an image editing app and took the picture I’d taken earlier and overlaid her smile on top of it. After removing everything that wasn’t her smile and blending it properly to make it look more natural, it was complete. It didn’t take very long, only a short five minutes.

I downloaded the edited version and also the picture I’d taken of her smiling on her phone.

“Done. Here you go.” I handed her phone over for her to take a look.

“What? How’d yuh do that? I don’t look weird in it anymore.”

“It’s just some cheap editing magic. Lots of girls in the city edit their pictures to make themselves appear better. They pass it through a bunch of annoying filters too.”

“If yuh could do that for me, why didn’t yuh do it for yourself?”

“No amount of editing can fix my problems. You were only missing a smile. It’s a pretty easy fix.”

“Hey, which version of the picture do yuh prefer? The original or the one yuh edited?” 

“Which do you think looks better?” I didn’t immediately answer and instead posed the question back to her.

“Me? Personally… I think the one yuh edited looks a lot better…”

As expected, of course people prefer the one they look more flattering in. It’s human nature.

“But… in terms of preference… I prefer the original version. What about yuh?”

“...”

“What’s wrong? Which one do yuh prefer?”

“Uh… I prefer the edited one.” I somehow felt too embarrassed to admit I actually preferred the original.

“I see… yeah… that makes sense.” It was very subtle, but her shoulders just barely drooped down.

Now I just felt bad for lying. It’d have been a different story if it hadn’t been a stupid lie. She’d probably sought acceptance from someone in spite of her fault. From someone with a similar problem to hers.

“Sorry…”

“What are yuh sorry about?”

“That was a lie just now. Your answer sort of… caught me off guard. I expected you’d say the edited one and I felt a bit awkward to answer truthfully when you proved my assessment wrong.”

“Yuh mean it? You’re not just saying that?”

“I mean it. The original feels more authentic.”

“Yeah, I kind of like the awkwardness of it. It fits us better.” Dawn nodded in an unusually good mood.

“Why? Because we match?”

“There’s a better balance that way. It wouldn’t be fair if you're the only one who looks awkward in it.”

“Then are you going to delete the edited version?”

“No, I’ll keep both versions.”

“I see. Your choice I guess. Anyway... I should really get going now.”

“Yeah, Rosa might start to worry because of how long you’re taking.”

“Alright, see you around, we’ll be in touch.”

With those parting words, I took off and returned to the thicket I’d left Rosa behind at. It wasn’t too far from where Dawn’s pickup truck was parked.