An excerpt from a new short story I’m working on:

They say it’s impossible to feel the Earth’s rotation, but standing in the meadow, the last rays of the setting sun warming my face, I feel it. I glance at my clients, sitting on the orange couch (because Victorian red velvet is so yesterday) and I wonder if they feel it, too.

The Earth is turning toward darkness and there is nothing I can do about it.

And maybe I don’t feel it as much as I hear it: an almost imperceptible ticking, like a time bomb counting down. I feel the darkness closing in, creeping ever closer.

I have mere minutes before I lose my light source and we aren’t close to being finished. This family of 8 will not be together again for years. They are counting on me. ME! I have no idea what to do. And really, nobody would. That thought gives me comfort.

How do you take photographs without the sun? I almost LOL at the ridiculousness of the thought.

And then, I remember…I could leave that part of the lens open for a longer time to allow more light in the camera.

HALLELUJAH!

So, with the confidence of one who has climbed her mountain and stared fear in the face, I tell my beautiful clients, that they need to hold very still for 12 seconds.

I wink at the four small children wiggling on the couch and tell them, “That means you, too, little jellybeans!”

I’m so surprised I didn’t think of this sooner.

About the Author

Missy Mwac is a photographer/eater of bacon/drinker of vodka and a guide through the murky waters of professional photography. You can follow her social media links here: Facebook, Tumblr. This article was originally published here and shared with permission.