Snapshot

Abstract

Introduction:  She holds the snapshot like a prayer book.  Clutching the thing.  Forcing herself to look at the image, and to remember as she looks.  A crack runs down the side of the snapshot where it was folded to fit into a wallet.  To the right of the crack is the image of a family.  Lucille wears a green print dress.  Wrapped around her shoulders is a fox stole.  She is smiling up at her gangly thirteen-year-old daughter.  The daughter, in turn, represses a smile, hiding the braces that cover her teeth.