Pictures

What's in a picture? Not a thousand words surely; at least not a thousand true words. Those bright faces huddled around a Thanksgiving ham did not tell any interesting stories on the surface. The facade of teeth and taught lips never ceased to amaze, however. Each set of eyes showed some amount of resentment that varied from annoyance to hostile antipathy every time the damn camera flashed.

Pictures were wonderful things. They would always capture the reality of a person's existence that no amount of grinning could conceal, and there was something beautiful in having that hypocrisy imprinted on an image for posterity. Family gatherings, friends getting together, birthdays--these moments were the most false in the camera's eye because they had the burden of happiness on them. This is supposing that these are all adults of course. Children will always tell you who they are. In this picture the only one not lying was the ham. Somehow, that seems just as it should be.