"Happy Birthday Sarah!" screamed her cousin Liz as she walked into Sarah's Dad's house. "How's the Birthday girl?"
"Nervous," Sarah whispered into Liz's ear as she gave her a cheek to cheek greeting. It was no secret between the two that Sarah was expecting something big for her 30th birthday from her longtime boyfriend Josh. Her and Liz had been talking about it back and forth for months as Sarah helped with her cousin's wedding planning. She so wanted to celebrate her possible engagement to Josh and thought that this was the perfect weekend to do so. Today, Saturday, was her birthday and Sunday being Liz's wedding day. It was now or never.
"I've got my fingers crossed!" Liz said as she showed Sarah her left hand, index and middle fingers entwined. All Sarah could see was the rock on Liz's ring finger.
"Come in. Come in," said Sarah as she took the bags Liz was holding. "Have a seat." They settled in on the couch. It was still an hour before most people would be showing up for her Birthday BBQ bash.
"Where's your Dad and Step-Mom?" asked Liz.
"Dad's outside babysitting his smoker and Tessa's in the kitchen," she replied. Sarah's Dad always went all out on these parties. "He's been smoking beef, ribs and turkey since last night and he can't seem to pull himself away from his grill," relayed Sarah. "And Tessa's made just about every type of salad known to man. We're going to be eating leftovers for weeks!"
"Ha!" laughed Liz. "Well, I won't be any help. I need to fit into my wedding dress tomorrow so I can't pig out today!"
Sarah's smile faded. She loved her cousin Liz. They'd been like sisters growing up because Sarah was an only child. Now Liz was getting married. Sarah couldn't help the feeling that she was somehow losing her best friend.
Sarah shook her head. "How did you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?" Liz responded.
"Get Bryan to pop the question?" asked Sarah. "I mean, I feel like I've done everything right. Left him tons and tons of hints, and he still hasn't put a ring on it. What was it? Three months before Bryan asked you to marry him? Josh and I have been dating for 4 years now."
"It was 4 months," replied Liz.
"Thanks, that doesn't help," said Sarah. She looked down into her lap.
"Sorry Sarah," said Liz as she went in to hug her cousin. "I don't know what I did. It just seemed so right, so natural, whenever I was with him. I didn't do anything special. I didn't expect it to go so fast. But when he asked me, I knew the answer right away."
"I'm sorry too," replied Sarah. "I guess I'm just jealous. You guys are so perfect together. You deserve all the happiness in the world."
"Thanks, Sarah. Josh will do the right thing. I have confidence in you," Liz said as she rubbed her cousin's arm.
"Hey, I have something for you," said Liz as she tried to change the subject. She pulled up one of the shopping bags that were sitting at her feet. "I went to an antique shop and found these!" She spilled out the contents onto the coffee table.
"What are these?" asked Sarah.
"It's a bunch of those old insta-matic cameras from back in the day," explained Liz. "I've seen on some wedding sites that these are all the rage! You just point and click and it prints out a picture. Watch!" She grabbed a Poloroid camera and pulled her cousin in close. Before Sarah could even object, Liz hit the button. Click! Flash! Whirr. Out popped a glossy wet piece of photo paper.
"What's wrong? Nothing's on the picture," Sarah asked with a confused look.
"You have to wait!" Liz took the picture and began to wave it in the air. "It has to develop!"
"Why can't we just use our phones?" asked Sarah.
"You can and many people will," Liz said. "But this is just for fun." Liz looked at the developing picture but couldn't stifle a laugh. She covered her smile with her other hand.
"Give me that!" yelled Sarah. She went to rip it out of her cousin's hand but Liz held the photograph out of reach, laughing hysterically. "Damn you!" shouted Sarah as she wrestled Liz for the picture. Sarah was finally able to rip the picture out of Liz's grasp, mainly because Liz was laughing so heartily.
Sarah looked at the nearly fully developed picture. It showed a beautiful, radiant, smiling Liz sitting next to what looked like a bridge troll. She could make out that her own mouth was wide open and her eyes were half closed. The rest of the picture had been smudged.
"Oh my God!" yelled Sarah. "I can't believe you took that picture!"
"Look at it this way," laughed Liz. "If I had taken it on my phone it would be on Instagram by now!
"Oh God! No Way!" yelled Sarah. She crumpled up the picture and threw it in the trash can next to the writing desk in the living room. "Don't you dare point that thing at me again!"
"Oh, come on Sarah! These things are fun!" said Liz. "Look, I wanted to pass these out to all my best friends at the wedding. Since you are my bestie I figured I'd let you choose first."
They looked at the array of instant cameras spilled out all over the coffee table. They were all different makes, models and sizes. Sarah recognized some of the company names: Polaroid, Kodak, FujiFilm. As she looked through her choices she came upon one that was still in a box. She picked it up.
"Who did you get all these from? She asked.
"Like I said, from down at the antique store," replied Liz. "When I asked the clerk about the owner, he said that the owner's husband collected photographic equipment from all over the world. Unfortunately he had just passed, so his widow was selling his collection. I just had to buy them after his story!"
"Oh, OK," replied Sarah, almost absentmindedly. She was trying to figure out the writing on the side of the box she was holding. "What language is this?"
Liz looked at the box. It seemed different than all the others, almost like it was hand made instead of printed. "I don't know," she said.
They both looked at it quizzically. "Open it up," suggested Liz.
Sarah turned the box to open it. The top of the box had large cursive letters. "Viitorul Tau" was what was spelled out.
As Sarah went to open the top, the old box gave way and the contents spilled out from the bottom. "Oops!" Sarah exclaimed as a camera, several packs of film and a note fell out of the bottom. Sarah picked up the camera, "I hope it didn't break."
"Let's try it out," Liz said as she reached for a packet of film.
"Hands off!" yelled Sarah. "After that last fiasco, I'm taking the picture!" She pulled the package of film out of her cousin's hands.
Liz grabbed the note. "I can't read this, it's in some foreign language." she stated.
"Looks like it works like the others do," offered Sarah. She pulled open the tray, unwrapped a package of film and slid it into the camera. "What's this knob for?"
They both looked at the camera. The extra knob seemed to be the only thing different than all the rest of the cameras. The numbering on the knob ran from 0 to 30. "Maybe it's a timer or something," Liz offered.
"Well, it's set to zero," said Sarah. "I can just leave it there. I don't need a timer. Here, pose for me and I'll see if it works."
Liz posed the same way she had before. Sarah pointed the camera and pressed the button.
Click. Flash. Hum. Whirl. Clunk. Clunk. Pfft.
"Nothing came out!" shouted Liz.
"No wait, I can feel it's still vibrating," said Sarah.
Hum. Clunk. Whirl.
