"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"This where this goes?" Weedy asked Arabella, leaning on the screen.
"Uh? Oh, wait till they're all sat down, then you use it to catch the sunlight and shine it on 'em, like when you use a mirror to make a faster for Buster to chase." Unlike a mirror, though, the white disc would diffuse the light, illuminating the scene evenly.
They were nearly there now with the girl's body.
"Okeh, Wy, catch hold of her as we set her down, get in there quick, Ray."
Raymond Mathews, his nightie no more decent than Wyatt's, managed to sit himself and poor little dead Mary Henderson down at the same time, so Wyatt didn't have too much to do, just steady her floppy head and body a little. Arabella fussed around, adjusting the positions of all three of them until she was happy.
"Right, try and get the Sun 'luminating them, Porter. I'll get the camera. Wyatt, cheer up, you look like you come from 'The Other Place' instead of Heaven! Give her a beatific smile for Heaven's sake!"
He couldn't help it, a snorty-laugh escaped Weedy at the thought of Wyatt having a 'beatific smile'. This whole thing really was so absurd, and that was just the icing on the cake.
"Beatific," he snickered as he moved the panel around, soon more intrigued by the way the sun was reflected on the living trio, and even made Miss Mary seem not so...dead. And different angles cast different lights and shadows!
"Which is best?" he asked Arabella, "most beatific?" He couldn't help himself!
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Right, try and get the Sun 'luminating them, Porter. I'll get the camera. Wyatt, cheer up, you look like you come from 'The Other Place' instead of Heaven! Give her a beatific smile for Heaven's sake!"
Wyatt had a disgusted expression on his youthful face, "I feel like I'm in the Other Place. And why, she don't know if I'm smiling or not, she's dead."
And now Weedy had to go start snickering.
"Which is best?" he asked Arabella, "most beatific?"
Wyatt glared at his best friend. If it weren't for the money, he'd make a run for it. Oh wait...nope, not in this dress thing.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Wyatt had a disgusted expression on his youthful face, "I feel like I'm in the Other Place. And why, she don't know if I'm smiling or not, she's dead."
"Well, according to Jemima Wigfall and Mrs Orr and those other spiritualists, she's probably still hanging around before she ascends to the next plane... their words not mine... I'm a Southern Methodist, far as I'm concerned, soon as you die, you're weighed in the balance and then it's either straight up or straight down." she shook her head at the thought "Glad I'm going up!"
The idea that there might not even be an afterlife did not even enter her 1877 head.
"Which is best?" Weedy asked Arabella, "most beatific?"
"Mmmm, left a bit.... right a bit... up... down... that's it!" she directed.
The young actress-cum-pianist-cum-saint-cum-photographer disappeared under a black cloth at the back of the camera, then reappeared with a frown on her face.
"No. You need to cuddle up a little bit closer. And Wy, look at her like... like you're just about to give her a chaste kiss. Like this..." she grabbed Weedy and moved her face right next to his and looked into his eyes like he was the most desirable thing in the world, pursed her slightly opened lips... then dropped him as quickly as she'd seized him.
"Er... isn't that... er... wrong?" asked a somewhat disturbed Raymond Matthews, glad it wasn't him who had to make googly eyes at a corpse.
"Uh-uh!" answered Arabella as she disappeared back under the black cloth "Don't you know that when we die, the Angels of Heaven desire our presence in Heaven passionately?! ... All right, that's better, and Ray, look at Wyatt with a sort of 'look of ethereal love"
Ray tried.
Weedy yelped as Arabella grabbed him, trying to pull away, his nose wrinkled in disgust. He'd determined once that he'd never get married, and this just sealed the deal!
"Not gonna go to Heaven if that's part of it," he grumbled, not that he was too worried. Addy'd been dragging him to church...er...taking him to church every Sunday for a couple of years, and he'd never heard that one!
"Better take that picture while I can still hold this steady," he then declared, wanting this over with as quickly as possible, and reckoning that Wyatt felt the same...just do it so they could run!
Storyteller / Shared NPC
Wyatt was repulsed by this whole thing. If he did die, he did not want Arabella anywhere near his corpse. This girl was dead and no amount of beatific smiling or play acting was going to change that. Why on earth parents would pay for a picture like this was beyond him. But then Arabella was beyond him too. How the devil did Clara like this person?
"Just take the pictures and hurry it up or I'm leaving," he glared at Arabella for an instant then forced himself to look at the dead body. As for Raymond, no way was he returning any looks.
The only religious thought he had was 'lord help us get this over with!'.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Not gonna go to Heaven if that's part of it," he grumbled, not that he was too worried. Addy'd been dragging him to church...er...taking him to church every Sunday for a couple of years, and he'd never heard that one!
"Oh pooh, Porter Chappel! In a year's time you'll be chasing after every little girl in town... unless you turn out to be a pansy, in which case you'll be chasing all the boys!" she laughed, enjoying confusing the lad.
Raymond suddenly looked a little uncomfortable.
"Get on with it" he muttered rather tersely.
"Better take that picture while I can still hold this steady," Weedy then declared, wanting this over with as quickly as possible, and reckoning that Wyatt felt the same...just do it so they could run!
"All right, all right! You can't hurry a great artiste!" Arabella chided him, as she fiddled with her camera.
"Just take the pictures and hurry it up or I'm leaving," he glared at Arabella for an instant then forced himself to look at the dead body. As for Matthew, no way was he returning any looks.
"Oh Wyatt, you wouldn't desert a girl on the first date, would you?" Arabella joked macabrely, but at last she was ready. "All right boys, hold still, 3, 2, 1, and ...." she removed the lens cap for a couple of seconds. The light was good, thanks to the bright sun and Weedy's help. By this time in her photographic career, she had a good feeling for how long to leave the cap off, she didn't have to count any more... she just sorta 'saw' the picture developing on the glass plate in her head.
The cap went back on "And relax" she commanded. "All right, I'll just change the plate and we'll do one more as a back up."
She carefully removed the first plate and put it in a black light-proof bag. After what seemed an age, she put in the second plate and took a second picture.
"All right, let's get her back inside." Miss Mudd chirped.
"Good, she's starting to smell!" Raymond complained.
"Tuh! They do not smell when I embalm 'em!" Arabella countered "Not for a couple of days anyway!" Arabella countered.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Oh Wyatt, you wouldn't desert a girl on the first date, would you?" Arabella declared.
"I would as soon as I saw it was with a dead person," Wyatt had a ready answer then added, "And this is not a date. You are paying us to be here and do ...........this."
Finally! She took two pictures which should be one more than needed in Wyatt's personal opinion.
It only to move her back in, Matthew pointed out,"Good, she's starting to smell!"
"Tuh! They do not smell when I embalm 'em!" Arabella countered "Not for a couple of days anyway!" Arabella countered.
"She does too," Wyatt glanced at Raymond with a nod, in full agreement. Who was this boy anyway? Never saw him in school. Granted not every kid went to school. Just unlucky ones like him and Weedy.
"This whole thing smells," Weedy grumbled, shaking his head. He was with Wyatt on this...who would want a likeness of their dead relative? While he'd loved his mother dearly, and the memory of what she'd looked like was fading, he still didn't want a picture of her dead body.
"If they wanted a picture so bad, why didn't they do it while she was alive?" The longer this went on, the more it was seeming wrong. He lowered the board he was holding so that the light was no longer 'holy', and called, "I gotta go, I have chores to do." He kinda did, but not really at this second. "And Wyatt has to help me." Cover your friends!
Wyatt and Weedy were revolting against their boss lady.
"If they wanted a picture so bad, why didn't they do it while she was alive?"
"Too expensive, of course, silly. Course, it's even more costly once they're dead." Arabella explained.
"I gotta go, I have chores to do." He kinda did, but not really at this second. "And Wyatt has to help me." Cover your friends!
"Hey, come on fellers" Surprisingly, it was Wyatt's fellow angel who came in on Arabella's side. "Ara paid you, you gotta finish the job off"
"Why thank you, Raymond!" Arabella said airily as she rearranged poor little Mary's hair and shroud nicely in the coffin.
"Now, Porter, help me carry the plates and the camera back to the Christian Girl's Refuge, Mr Jolly doesn't like me leaving this stuff all around, and your duties will be fulfilled." she looked at her two angels "... and you two can stay here and get changed."
