A Box of Photographs - Lima

Photograph #17

A table, laid with two plates, two knives, two forks, and two tall glass cups of what appears to be tea. On the plates are banana pancakes. They look delicious.

Photograph #18

This is a photo of some trees, tall and leafy, with low hanging branches. Ordinary trees; only, they are growing out of the sea. Their boughs hang over the beach. In the centre of the photograph, a grey monkey sits on a branch, causing it to bow down towards the sand. Its mouth is open in a wide scream, and you can just make out its tiny, sharp teeth. It is screaming at a small brown and white dog, standing in the sand. The dog is barking. Behind the monkey, smaller monkeys are visible, partially hidden in the leaves, looking on as the conflict unfolds.

Photograph #19

Some sea shells laid out on the sand, bathed in sunshine. All different shapes and sizes; it seems they have been carefully selected, arranged as a curator might arrange ancient artefacts. One large cowrie shell with a speckled back. A piece of coral that looks like honey comb. Another the shape of a twig, the colour of blood. A strange formation that looks like a volcano. A few tiny spiralled shells, the kind in which a hermit crab might reside. And languishing on half a cockle shell is a minuscule starfish, still glinting with water, although starting to dry. Bright orange-red. Legs not quite spread enough, one longer than the others. It looks like a tiny palm tree. You feel sorry for it. But you understand. The human desire to possess beauty, even if such possession causes only destruction, distress. Picking flowers. Putting birds in cages. Taking tiny starfish out of the sea, as a gift to your lover.

Photograph #20

This is another photograph taken of the sea, at night. Another long exposure, only this time, longer. More light has been let in. The stars are visible, more so than they ever are in reality. Bright white points on an orange glowing sky. On beach, a dark, blurry figure stands, at the sea shore, in the eerie light. The girl. Not keeping still enough to be captured, she errs on the boundary of sand and sea, of our world and the next. Like a ghost.