Becoming Prince Maxon

The Camera

Age: 10

I stared at the small box my mother handed me. I looked up at her with pleading eyes, confused about why my gift wasn't as grand as I was hoping. My adoring mother looked back into my brown eyes. Her face instantly turned into an expression of love.

"Maxon, my dear child," Mother said sweetly. "Just open it."
I opened my mouth to protest, but Mother was swift- she saw it coming. "I know it doesn't look like much, but the gift is in a box. What is in that box, I cannot tell you, but it may open up a whole new world for you."

I gave up, defeated, and started to tear off the wrapping paper. I did this slowly, however, and it surprised me. Usually on my birthday I was thrilled to see my gift, and tore the thin paper away in a matter of seconds. But not today. Today I felt like my gift wouldn't bring me joy like my previous gifts.

When the stripped paper was removed and the small cardboard box rested in my hands, I looked up at my mother again.

"Mother," I began. "Why is my gift so small this year?"

She just smiled and said "Sometimes it's the smallest things in life that being the most joy. Now open it."

I slowly lifted the lid to the box, filled with dread. When the container was opened and the gift was revealed, I was very disappointed. I was turning ten this year. That's double digits! I certainly should have received more than whatever the strange object was.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at my mother's face with sadness.

"Oh, my sweet Maxon," she replied. "It is a gift of many different things."
"But what is it?" I asked again, this time annoyed.
Mother laughed and threw her head back. "Why don't you find out?"

I looked at her cheerful face, then to the strange object, then back to her face, and finally back to the object. I carefully picked it up out of the box and turned it over in my hands, examining it to hopefully figure out what I was supposed to do with it.

On one side of the strange contraption, there was a small black screen, of which above was a small glass-covered hole which allowed me to see through it to the other side.

I flipped the weird gift over, and it had a cylinder sticking out from the surface. The top of the cylinder was glass like the peep-hole on the other side, only I could not see through it.

On the top there was buttons, both little and large, but one particular button was larger than the rest and stuck out more. Curious, I pushed the button down, it clicking, and something popped up and a great flash of light appeared from it. I squinted and jumped a little. Mother laughed. When the light disappeared, a strange looking arch remained on top of my gift. A faint glow, I noticed, appeared on the back of the unknown object, and I turned it over to see what it was. On the once-black screen, was a picture of my squinting shocked face. Moments later, the image disappeared, and the screen was black again.

So, I thought. That's what you do. I peered through the peep-hole, and focused the cylinder on my mother's face. The image of her through the glass was blurry. My hand grasped the cylinder and it turned. I noticed that the image of my mother became more focused and I moved the cylinder around again.

When my mother's face was clear, I held down the button again. It clicked, the light flashed, and the screen lit up with an elegant picture of Mother's face, her smile wide; the image of a regal queen. The image disappeared, and the screen went black.

"Wait!" I yelled at the little box. "I wanted that picture! Mother, how do I get it back?"

Mother laughed once again. "Let me see it." I surrendered the device to her hands, and she showed me a button next to the screen. "See this button, Max?" I nodded. "This is what will bring back your picture."

I took the gift back, and pushed the button. My picture was back!

"Now," Mother said. "See the arrows right above that button? Press the one to the left." I did as she said, and my picture changed. I didn't want the picture of me squinting, I wanted the picture of Mother! I looked at her with anguish and she continued. "Now push the one to the right." I did, and my mother's face returned to the screen.

"What is it called, Mother?"

"A camera."

"A camera," I repeated. And right then I knew that I had found everything. Right there in my hands lay everything that I wanted to do. "I like it."