The Shine Journal

I told them all I wanted to do was be a small sponsor, that a simple thank you was all that was necessary, but they always talking Judy Such and some of the others of the organizing committee insisted I be recognized and rewarded for my modest generosity. This little town isn't big enough for disagreement and the years I've been here taught me it's usually easier to go along than to resist and risk spending too much time explaining yourself. So I was agreeable and went along with the program and my part in it.

"Ok, it's time to announce the winner of the photo contest." The standing-room- only crowd that looked back told me this wasn't going to be easy.I scoffed when a couple dozen chairs were set up, not imagining they would even be needed. There were only three photos submitted; yet in addition to the photographer, family, friends and neighbors of all three had apparently come out to see who would win. I was in a spot I had not thought about or practiced for.

Leland Lee Beauchamp's picture of The Matterhorn was certainly nothing special and something that could be found in many books and postcards. There's only two kinds of mountain pictures, looking up and looking down. His was looking up from what likely was a well-worn vantage point and that's as close as he got to the top. I'm sure he maxed out his zoom lens. What the picture was really about was him showing off his and his wife's trip to Europe. He probably told them over there his name was Bow-shamp.He's nothing but Lee Beach-em from the hardware store in these parts.

One of the little Coffer boys took a snapshot of a map of Nebraska that showed all the counties and a little star in the northeast corner of the State indicating where he was. Who goes to Nebraska and takes pictures? Most cameras don't have a wide enough lens to show anything. Why he decided to take this picture on his family's trip out west is beyond me. A bigger question is why he entered it in the contest. My guess is it was the only picture his dad let him take and bribed him into not taking anymore by saying he'd enter it in the contest.

The third picture was a lie. It said by Ralph Potts when the photographer was certainly his wife Lyda. It showed wildflowers in Southern Nevada. There was only one thing Boozer Potts was doing around there and while he was taking his chances, his taken with nature, wife was looking for life in the desert and found it. I actually almost liked the picture. She even looked up the scientific name and included it in the description. They must have had a rain to bring out the colors. No wonder they call her Flower. I wasn�t sure why she put Boozer's name on the picture but I know he's lucky to have her.

At least I had an easy choice. Even so, after I made little Coffer shout out and run up for his twenty dollars, there were some stern gazes. Boozer shook his head with his eyes fixed to mine and Lyda had an angry expression. Of course she can only get so mad because as much as she tries there's always laughter lurking inside. I knew they wouldn't press the matter and they didn't. Lee would be my toughest test.

He pointed his finger at me with a sharp back and forth motion and waited for most of the people to leave before taking me aside for reasons why. He acknowledged that the flower shot was nice, but how could I pick the dull map of Nebraska over his? I didn't even try to get into composition, form, lighting, setting or mood. I just told him it was the thought that counted with me the most.

"Where's Boozer?" I had to ask since he was nowhere to be seen."He's over playing bingo." I should have known.

The show had started and the players were already strumming, plucking and hammering their instruments in fierce breakdowns and rags. The upright bass was keeping up and foot stomping had already commenced. It was something to see all the fiddlers standing, hands forward, near the stage. A fiddler without his fiddle, now there's a picture. And near the front, little Coffer sat in a folding chair clutching his prize-winning photo with a grin as big as Nebraska. That's another picture too.