The little bell above the thrift store door jingled as Rhiannon wandered toward the electronics shelf for what had to be the fifth time.
"Come on..." she muttered.
Old radios.
A karaoke machine.
Three DVD players.
A blender someone had clearly given up on.
Then she saw it.
"...No way."
Wedged behind a dusty VCR sat a worn Canon DSLR with a vintage fifty millimeter lens attached.
She picked it up like she was handling an artifact.
"It can't be..."
She flipped the power switch.
Nothing.
Dead battery.
Normal.
She turned the lens toward the light.
Then sighed.
"A scratch."
Not huge.
But enough that bright light would bloom across the image.
Still...
She smiled.
"I can work with that."
The price tag read:
$275.00
She laughed out loud.
"You have lost your mind."
A voice came from behind the counter.
"That's already a good deal."
Rhiannon looked over.
The older man folded his newspaper without even standing.
"It goes for more online."
She walked over, camera in hand.
"With a scratched front element?"
"It still works."
"You don't know that."
"It probably does."
She raised an eyebrow.
"'Probably' doesn't usually cost two hundred and seventy five dollars."
He shrugged.
"Take it or leave it."
She set the camera on the counter and calmly rotated the lens so the scratch caught the overhead light.
"You see that?"
He leaned forward.
"It's cosmetic."
"It isn't."
She smiled.
"It'll flare every time someone points this toward a stage light."
He hesitated.
She knew she'd found the crack.
"You know how many people come in here looking for vintage cameras?"
"A few."
"They'll see the scratch."
He crossed his arms.
"Maybe."
"They'll Google it."
Silence.
"They'll show you completed eBay listings."
YOU ARE READING
Afraid To Grow Up
FanfictionWhen Rhiannon is offered the opportunity of a lifetime to document Joey Valence & Brae's first major breakthrough, she expects long nights behind a camera, packed venues, and countless hours in the editing room. What she doesn't expect is an invitat...
