Dabble

With that, he walked off. When he was gone, I took from my front pocket the partially developed photograph. The image was of a courtyard full of young men walking and talking, enjoying a sunny afternoon. Their attire was characteristic of seventeenth-century England, like they were on the set of a period drama. The picture offended my sensibilities, for my own perspective of the past was devoid of color. Even as part of the team that built this camera, a part of me doubted that the scene depicted was of the past, of students from centuries ago, of people long gone. It was a precious record of the prime of countless youths, studying at one of the world’s oldest universities at a time without electricity, women’s rights, or a modern understanding of gravity.