Friday, March 29, 2024 09:46

The Traveling Bear Woman

My wife and I are traveling, and we find ourselves in a small seaside town. We have some time to kill before our train, so we go into a small cafe. The interior is very light, with a lot of woodwork that’s been painted white. Small paintings of still lives of bowls of fruit hang on the walls. My wife and I sit at a table and have cups of coffee and light snacks. A large (both big and tall) woman wearing a black fur coat (which I suspect was once worn by a bear) sits down next to us. She has two large dark-colored bags on rollers, which she parks, occupying the space. She seems to be aware of the space she’s taking up. She begins to smoke, which immediately irritates my wife further. The woman at least tries to keep her cigarette away and blows her smoke away from us. She sees my camera and soon we’re talking about the process of taking vacation photos. She says it’s discouraging, because she often feels she’s taking the same photos millions of other people have already taken. I tell her (with great husbandly pride) about a novel approach my wife has to travel photos: When she visits a place, she takes small “found” or purchased items and arranges them, creating her own still life compositions, which she then photographs from a variety of angles. The bear coat woman says this is a delightful idea, one she plans to use for her own photos in the future. My wife smiles politely enough, but when the bear woman turns away to eat her lunch, my wife whispers in my ear: “Copycat.”

Leave a Reply