A Picture-Purrfect Christmas (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 13)

by Patricia Fry

  “Okayyy,” Chuckie said.

  Charm made a face. “Sounds kinda hard.”

  “Yeah, I can’t think of anything,” Selene added.

  Savannah walked up behind the girls, putting her arms across their shoulders. “Just use your imagination. You’ll come up with something.” She leaned down to their level and said quietly, “A close-up of your worn blue jeans might be hard for the others to identify or a shot of a familiar item through a piece of thick plastic, your grandmother’s wrinkled cheek, a shadow on the sidewalk…”

  Both girls looked at Savannah, their eyes wide. “Yeah,” Selene said. “Those are great ideas.”

  “No one will guess them,” Charm agreed. “Selene, do you have a camera?”

  “Uh-uh, do you?”

  “Nope. Then how are we going to take those pictures?” Charm whined.

  “Just a minute,” Savannah said. She walked over to Adam and Marissa, who were examining the likenesses and differences in their cameras. “Adam,” she said, “do you mind if I let Charm and Selene borrow the camera now? I’ll take out your card and put in a new one. We can download your pictures at home.” When he looked disappointed, she said, “If you want to do more photography before you go back to your mom’s, I have another digital camera you can use, okay?”

  His face brightened. “Yeah, sure,” he said, handing her the camera.

  “Charm, Selene,” Savannah said, approaching them again, “I’m going to loan you my camera. Please bring it back to class Friday, okay?”

  “Really?” Selene said. “Awesome. Thanks.”

  Charm reached out and took the camera. “Yeah, thanks. How many pictures are in there?”

  “It has a good charge. You should be able to take around thirty pictures or more. Now, let me show you how to use it.”

  After a few minutes of instructions and practice, the trio heard Shelly clapping her hands. “Okay everyone, class is over. We’ll bring prints and new disposable cameras Friday. Unfortunately, rain is predicted, so we may have to stay inside.”

  “Awww, there’s nothing in here to take pictures of,” Chuckie complained. “Can’t we go out? I like playing in the rain.”

  “The rain will ruin our cameras, stupid,” Brad said. He then looked sheepishly at Shelly. “I mean, idiot.”

  Shelly gave him a disgusted look then turned to the rest of the class. “That’s right; a camera doesn’t work well when it’s wet, unless it’s an underwater camera.”

  “Why don’t we do the next session at my house?” Savannah suggested. “I have plenty of room, lots of animals you can photograph, and a baby.”

  “A baby?” Selene said. “I want to take pictures of a baby.”

  “What kind of animals?” Chuckie asked.

  “A dog, cats, a horse…”

  “A horse?” Charm asked. “In your backyard?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yes, but if it’s raining, we may not get to photograph her this time.”

  “We could use umbrellas,” Brad said. “You could hold an umbrella over our cameras.”

  Shelly smirked playfully at Savannah, then told the class, “We’ll see. I’ll call each of your parents or guardians and get permission to take you to Ms. Savannah’s home on Friday.”

  ****

  That evening Savannah and Adam entertained Michael with stories of their day.

  “And this is my picture of litter,” Adam explained as he clicked through his photographs on Savannah’s laptop. “See the potato-chip bag and that broken ice-cream spoon? Here’s a picture of the spider Marissa and I found.”

  “Nice, son,” Michael said. “Those are some good shots. Who’s that?” he asked, pointing.

  Adam turned to Savannah. “What was his name?”

  “Brad.”

  “Yeah, Brad. I took this picture of his spiky hair.” He giggled. “He doesn’t know I took it.” He clicked on another picture, saying, “That’s a toenail.”

  “A toenail?” Michael said, furrowing his brow.

  “Yeah, that big girl…Charm was her name…see, she had blue paint with polka dots on her toenails.”

  Michael chuckled. “Doesn’t look like something you’d want to frame and hang on your bedroom wall.”

  Adam looked at him for a moment. “Is that why we took these pictures—to hang on our wall?”

  “Not really,” Savannah said. “When you’re learning about photography, most of your pictures will be throwaways, but sure, some of your pictures might be good enough to frame.”

  “Well, I didn’t take any pictures I’d hang in my bedroom,” Adam said. He looked at Michael and Savannah. “Hey, could I take a picture of you guys for my wall at my other house?”

  The couple looked at each other. “Sure,” Savannah said. “I’d love to hang on your wall of fame.”

  “Certainly not your wall of shame,” Michael said, chuckling.

  Adam scrunched up his face. “Huh?”

  ****

  “Adam has gone home already? I only got to see him once,” Margaret complained when she arrived at the Iveys’ Friday afternoon.

  “Yeah, we took him back yesterday evening,” Savannah said. “We kept him pretty busy. We’ll plan something special with you next time he’s here.”

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said. She looked around. “So where’s Lily?”

  “Napping. She should wake up around two,” Savannah said, pulling her jacket on. “I’m going to meet Shelly at the rec center. We’ll be back with the kids in a few minutes. Thanks, Auntie, for coming over to help out, by the way.”

  “Sure.”

  Savannah picked up her purse and pointed toward the dining room table. “Hey, if you want to be entertained, just look through the photos the kids took—I printed a few. There are others on the laptop, there.”

  “Cool.”

  “That didn’t take you long,” Margaret said when Savannah returned with Shelly and six children.

  “Where’s Arturo?” Selene asked.

  “Yeah, and Spence,” Brad said. “Isn’t Spence going to be in the class?”

  Shelly shook her head. “I guess not. I haven’t been able to get in touch with Spence’s family. Arturo’s brother said his dad took him to Mexico for the month.”

  “Maybe Spence’s family is Amish,” Chuckie suggested.

  “Amish?” Savannah repeated, a confused look on her face.

  “Yeah, they don’t like having their picture taken. I watched some Amish people on TV once and they wouldn’t let anyone take their picture.”

  “So how did they get on TV, dummy?” Brad asked. “Don’t they know if they’re on TV it’s because someone took their picture?”

  “Brad,” Shelly warned, “stop with the name-calling.”

  The boy winced. “Oh, yeah, right. Sorry.”

  “Maybe they’re okay with video cameras, just not this kind of camera,” Charm reasoned, referring to the digital camera she held in her hand.

  In the meantime, Shelly asked, “Where do you want us, Savannah? You just show us where to go.”

  Savannah hung her jacket on a coat tree. “Okay, kids, let’s find a place to sit here in the living room. By the way,” she added, “this is my aunt, Margaret.”

  Margaret waved. “Call me Maggie.”

  “Hi, Maggie,” several of the children said in unison.

  Shelly greeted her with a brief hug.

  “Yikes, what was that?” Marcus shouted. “Some weird, gigantic animal just flew off the stairs and slammed into that dog.”

  “It’s a cat, stu…” Brad started to say. He glanced briefly at Shelly. “…I mean, it’s a cat…Marcus.”

  Savannah turned in time to see Rags slide in a circle on his belly as Lexie leaped over him.”

  “That was awesome,” Selene said. “I want a picture of that. Can you make him do it again?”

  Savannah, Shelly, Margaret, and most of the children were laughing by then.

&nb
sp; “I doubt it,” Savannah said. She thought for a moment before adding, “But we might get Rags to jump for us. He does like to jump from high places.”

  “Rags?” Chuckie repeated. “Is that the cat or the dog?”

  “The cat, dumbo…I mean… Darn, I can’t help it,” Brad grumbled. “It just comes out accidentally when I’m not paying attention.”

  Shelly peered sternly into the boy’s eyes. “Well, start paying more attention, young man.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the boy said quietly.

  She squeezed his shoulder and spoke softly. “It’s become a habit, Brad. You developed the habit and you can break the habit. It’s all up to you.” She turned to Savannah. “So you can get the cat to jump for our cameras?”

  Savannah nodded. “Maybe; as long as he thinks it’s his idea.”

  “Sweet,” Brad said.

  Chuckie agreed. “Yeah, I want a picture of that.”

  “Okay, are you ready?” Savannah asked. She watched as the children scurried to locate their cameras. She laughed as they bumped into each other, ran around in circles, and shouted out to Shelly, asking which camera was theirs. It was momentary chaos. Finally, everyone agreed they were ready.

  “Where’s Marissa?” Savannah asked glancing around the room.

  “With us,” Margaret said from the hallway. “She wanted to help me get Lily up.”

  “She’s so sweet,” Marissa said as she entered the room walking slowly and awkwardly. “And she can talk.”

  “Oh, she can’t talk,” Charm said. “She’s too little to talk. She’s only a baby.”

  “Uh-huh; she can talk,” Marissa said. “She says kitty, mama, ball.”

  “She can say auntie, too,” Margaret said, proudly.

  “Marissa, do you want to take a picture of Rags jumping?” Shelly asked.

  “Oh yes. I do,” she said, excitedly. Then she asked, “Who’s Rags?”

  “The cat, stu…” Brad said. He glanced at Shelly before pointing. “It’s the cat—that big one over there.”

  Shelly glanced around the room. “Where’s your camera, Marissa?”

  The girl looked down. “I don’t know. Mavis said…”

  “Oh, never mind,” Shelly said, waving her hand in the air.

  “It’s okay. Here, use this one today,” Shelly suggested, handing her a disposable camera. She took the child’s arm and led her to a spot where she could sit for the shot.

  “Okay, everyone ready?” Savannah asked. When she heard the children shout out, she picked up Rags.

  Before she could place him on the banister, however, Shelly interrupted. “Oh, Savannah, I forgot to tell you. I invited a photographer friend to work with the kids today. You met him; he’s the clerk at the camera shop.” She grinned. “In fact, he volunteered.”

  “He did?” Savannah asked.

  “Yeah, when I told him about the photo workshop with the kids, he asked if he could help. Nice, wasn’t it?”

  Savannah nodded. “Sure; does he know how to get here?”

  “I gave him the address.” Glancing up at the living room window, she said, “Oh here he is now,” and she hurried to the door, opening it wide. “Come in. You’re just in time for our first wild and crazy shot of the day.” She gestured, leading the man into the dining room. “Watch this.”

  Savannah placed Rags on the banister and stepped away from him. Everyone watched as he simply sat there looking around at the students.

  “Jump!” Chuckie said.

  “Yeah, jump!” Selene shouted.

  “Don’t scare him, you…” Brad started. He flashed a quick look at Shelly.

  She smiled back at him. “Doing great,” she said quietly.

  Just then Rags leaned over the side of the railing, slid his front paws down a banister post, and landed gently on the stairs.

  “Ohhh,” everyone chimed sounding disappointed.

  “Rags, we want you to jump,” Savannah said.

  “Yeah, like you did before, you stu… you…cat,” Brad said with a big sigh.

  “Insulting him won’t help, Brad,” Marissa said.

  Savannah walked toward the cat. “Okay, I have an idea. Everyone get ready.” She picked Rags up and placed him on the banister rail again. This time, she showed him a packet of treats. When he acted excited, she tossed a couple of treats a distance away on the floor and the cat leaped down and devoured them. He then sat licking his whiskers and looking at Savannah.

  “I didn’t get it,” Chuckie complained.

  “It happened too fast,” Selene said. “Can you make him slow down?”

  “I think I got him,” Marissa said, “or part of him. I won’t know until I can see the picture.”

  “Do it again,” the children begged.

  “Okay, one more time,” Shelly said. “Then we need to move on to something else.”

  Savannah picked up one of Rags’s feather toys. “Now this time I want everyone to anticipate the jump. When you see any hint that he’s about ready to jump, press the shutter release.” She looked at the children. “Here we go,” she said, holding the feather toy a distance away from Rags, wriggling it and encouraging him to jump toward it.

  Rags watched the feather for a moment, his head moving quickly with the rapid motion. Then he lowered his head and leaped into the air toward the toy, landing hard on all fours.

  “I got it!” Brad shouted. “Look, he’s fuzzy and you can only see part of him, but I got it. Wow!”

  “I think I just got his butt,” Chuckie said.

  Shelly looked at the screen on her camera. “I actually got him in mid-air.”

  “I wanna see,” Chuckie said.

  “Me, too,” Brad, Selene, and Charm said, as they all gathered around her.

  After everyone else had seen her photo, Shelly walked over to show it to Marissa and then to the camera-shop clerk, who said, “Hey, great shot. Not easy to get.”

  Once Shelly had turned off her camera and set it aside, she introduced her guest. “Savannah, Maggie, students, this is Esse—like S-E—Esse.”

  “Oh yes, we met you at the camera store,” Savannah said.

  Margaret waved, then turned and headed into the kitchen with the baby.

  Once Shelly had the students’ attention, she said, “Now here’s what we’re going to do today, gang. First, we’ll hand out the photos you took last time. I’ve asked Esse to look at them with you, tell you what you did right, and give you pointers for how you can make them better next time.”

  There were boisterous bursts of laughter as the children pored over their photos and shared them with each other. Brad tore one of his pictures up into a lot of little pieces. Charm put hers in her pocket and said no one was going to see them because they were awful. Marcus rushed up to Esse, asking how to make his picture of pine needles clearer. “It looks like there’s fog in the picture, but it wasn’t foggy.”

  “Well, buddy,” the man said, “you were shooting into the sun; that’s why you got that glare.”

  “There was sun that day?”

  Esse looked at the picture more closely. “If not, it must have been a pretty bright day.” Esse then took the opportunity to talk to all the children about shooting with the sun. “It can be a help or a hindrance. A rule of thumb is to keep your back to the sun when you’re shooting. If your subject is in the shade, you should move into the shade. But,” he said, “rules in photography are sometimes meant to be broken. Most of the time, you’ll want to follow the rules, which include making sure your subject is in focus and holding your camera still while shooting.” He demonstrated some techniques for holding a camera steady. “Would you boys and girls like to see some of my photos?” he asked.

  Most of the students shouted, “Yes!”

  “Yeah.”

  “I want to see them.”

  As the children gathered around him, Esse reached into his backpack and pulled out an e-tablet. When he did so, a handful of loose photographs spilled out onto the floor and Brad qui
ckly kneeled to help pick them up. “Never mind,” Esse snapped, while grabbing up the photos and shoving them into his pack. He glared at the boy, saying, “You need to learn to keep your hands off other people’s things, kid.”

  Brad stepped back, stunned at the reprimand. When he noticed Savannah looking at him rather inquisitively, he shrugged, as if to say, What did I do?

  Savannah shook her head, equally shocked at the outburst. A few minutes later, as Esse clicked through photos on his e-tablet and described them to the children, Savannah noticed Brad grinning at something on the floor. She eased to where she could see from his vantage point and spotted Rags pawing at something under a nearby chair. Unable to see what held the cat’s interest, she motioned for Brad to join the other children behind Esse. That’s when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rags run toward the staircase. Looks like he has something in his mouth, she thought. She started to move in his direction, but abandoned the idea when Shelly clapped her hands.

  “Have all of you had your pictures critiqued?” she asked.

  “Huh?” Marcus asked.

  “Has Esse looked at your photos? Is there anyone who would like to show his or her photos to Esse before we move on?”

  When no one responded, Esse said, “I think I’ve seen them all, except for yours, young lady. He walked across the room toward Marissa and sat down on the ottoman next to her. “Wanna show me your pictures?”

  “Uh, okay,” she said, rather reluctantly handing him those Savannah had printed out for her. She scooted to the left a little, giving the man more space.

  “I’d say you have an eye, there.” He looked at Marissa. “Have you done photography before?”

  She shook her head. “I’m a newbie,” she said brightly.

  He stared at her for a moment, then looked at the photos again. “Well, your composition is good, your choice of subjects is…interesting. I’d say you’ve got talent.”

  “Good,” Shelly said. “Thank you, Esse. I’m sure the students have found your comments helpful. Now let’s start shooting, shall we? Remember to move slowly around the animals and respect Ms. Savannah’s home. Brad and Chuckie, stick with Esse. Marcus and Selene, come with me. Marissa and Charm, Savannah will work with you. You’re to stay in the living room and dining room where we can see you. If you want to go outside of these boundaries, ask your leader.”