In Focus - Enfoque

Exposure

7:48 a.m.
The alarm has been ringing for...
...forty-three minutes.
Throwing the blanket over her head in a desperate attempt to get one more minute of sleep, Lucía doesn't even hear it anymore.
Her tiny studio apartment in Colonia Americana is already bright with the Guadalajaran sunlight filtering through thin curtains. One wall is covered with prints she'd taken over the years, soccer matches, dia de muertos celebrations from el centro historico, street vendors laughing, a little girl chasing pigeons in Plaza de Armas.
The apartment isn't fancy, but with the little money she had saved up while working in the U.S.  after college it was enough for her after moving back to her hometown.
It was just a full size bed pushed against the wall. She still didn't have enough money or thought it was worth buying a whole bed frame, if she was able to get a full night's sleep it was good enough for her. She had an old couch she bought second hand, mismatched dishes. Camera batteries lying around and charging on the kitchen counter. Memory cards scattered across her desk and laptop, two lenses worth more than every piece of furniture she owns.
Photographers are like that.
They'll sleep on secondhand furniture before buying a cheap lens.
Her laptop was still open with her editing software still open from last night. She'd gotten home after midnight after covering some cultural festival in Centro Histórico. She'd promised herself she'd only edit "a couple."
She edited 417.
Once she got in a groove she just couldn't stop.
Then-
BZZT.
Her phone vibrates.
Not her alarm.
WhatsApp.
María Luisa:
Lucy...
Another vibration.
Esti:
Güey.
Another.
María Luisa:
No mames.
Another.
Esti:
¿DÓNDE ESTÁS?
Lucía throws her blanket into her lap and cracks one eye open. Turns over and grabs her phone to check the time.
"...chingada madre."
There are already twelve unread messages.
⸻
María Luisa:
Ya pedimos café.
Esti:
El café ya se enfrió.
María Luisa:
Vamos a mandar a la Guardia Nacional.
Esti:
O Protección Civil.
María Luisa:
O una Amber Alert.
Esti:
SE BUSCA
Lucía Méndez.
Última vez vista delirando editando fotos.
Lucía groans into her pillow.
She types with one eye still closed.
Lucy:
YA VOY.
Immediately—
Esti:
Mentira.
María Luisa:
Ni te has levantado.
"...¿Cómo saben?"
Esti:
Porque te conocemos.
Jumping out of bed, she kneels over throwing the clothes she meant to fold and put away from the floor into the bed looking for her sneakers she must have thrown while getting into bed last night.
Hair still damp from yesterday's shower because she slept with it wet.
She only has one sock on and decides it'll be easier grabbing a new pair than finding the other pair. Grabbing whatever pair of jeans are on top of her bed she decides it's not a day to look cute but just to survive the day. She throws on a clean oversized black t-shirt and throws her hair up in a bun.
Camera battery?
Where—
Oh.
Still charging. She goes up to her desk to grab her camera lenses and work bag and catches her reflection in her makeup mirror on her desk and groans. Her eye bags and dark circles couldn't be any worse. Esti and Maria Luisa would not let her live it down if she shows up looking like this. She sits down and does the quickest minimal makeup known to man. Moisturizer, concealer, brushes her brows into place while she thanks the brow gods for not having to do anything to them. Applies mascara and adds a tinted blush that doubles as a lip gloss and calls it a day.
She glances at herself on her full length mirror next to her door as she grabs her work bag and double checks her equipment.
Camera body
Second camera
70-200 lens
Wallet
SD cards
Laptop
Keys
Check, check and check.
"...Sobrevivimos."
Good.
⸻
Then she runs out the door. Making sure to slam the door since it has been giving her trouble to make sure it shuts completely and as she slides her key after locking it she face palms.
"...Madres."
Practically body slamming the door to get it to open again.
Her phone. Running to her nightstand she grabs it and catches herself before tripping on a pair of jeans she forgot to throw on her bed.
Laughing and groaning at the fact she'll have to make sure she takes time to clean up her place later she runs out once again.
⸻
Normally it was only a ten minute walk to the cafeteria, a local cafe that has come to be a favorite spot of el trio to start their day. Coming out of her building Lucia gets greeted by Don Gilberto or Don Gil as she has come to call him. The caretaker of their building who basically does everything and anything that you may need around here.