Whitney 073

The inventor had a friendly conversation with the owners and returned to the model.

"We have full permission to shoot here. Are you still comfortable wearing these glasses?"

"It's amazing how fast it goes. Minus eight instead of minus two and yet it feels almost natural. Now before we start shooting, can you tell me briefly about your connection with this shop?"

"Of course. You have seen it's only a two minute walk from the house where I lived during most of the fifties. My family were regular customers. The shop was smaller in those days, only the part with the counter. But I have special memories of my ninth birthday. My maternal Gran was still alive. She was heavily asthmatic and unable to walk further than one block. Yet she insisted on taking us kids to this shop and treat us with ice creams. This time it took her even longer and she was out of breath after each few steps. She tried to mask this by chatting with my brother and sister who were both Kindergarten age. Three days later she was dead. I think she saw it coming and she wanted to make a final gesture. Mind you, she was not the Gran with all the glasses".

"That's a sweet but sad story. Did you tell it to the owners?"

"Yes, I did. They are Italian and they told me that they are the third generation of owners. Their grandfather started this shop in 1935 and he was still running it throughout the fifties. So this is a real nice déja vu. Alright, can you do a few poses for me? And then you can walk to the counter and choose your favorite tastes of ice cream. I will take a couple of pictures of you from behind the counter. And then I will order an ice cream for myself and take some pictures of you enjoying your ice cream. Are you OK with that?"

"Sure. Everything with these glasses on, I presume?"

"Yes, please. Just as if these are your own glasses".

"Let's do it. How about this pose?"

"That's great". (SNAP) "One more, please".