The Photograph

They could not have been more different. He looked at everything from a glass half full point of view, for her it was at all times half empty. So those that knew them both were greatly perplexed when they began to date.

“What’s the difference?”, Sharon asked, when Glen inquired on their fifth date as to whether or not she had a desire to bear children. “I’m never going to get married. Who could ever fall in love with me?”

“Sharon, I could. In fact, I think I am falling in love with you. I asked this question because I have a great desire to have a large family, lots of little people running around the house. I wanted to know how you feel about these sort of important matters.”

“It will pass, Glen, your feelings for me will pass. I’ve been through this before. Why bother discussing things which will prove irrelevant in the end? Children, no children. Our relationship will never reach that point”, she said with complete conviction.

Glen really didn’t get her. She was no great beauty, but she was quite distant from being unattractive. She had a very sexy figure, though her breasts were a little on the small side. And her blue eyes shined like diamonds during her infrequent smiles. If he were to grade her looks by number, something which he abhorred but his friends were constantly doing, he would say that she was a seven. He could not understand why she had such low self esteem, why she believed that no man could ever truly love her.

For his part, he enjoyed being in her company. She could be very sweet, and he found her very easy to talk to. But what attracted him to her the most was her sheer honesty. She told you exactly how she felt about all things. He found this to be extremely refreshing. So unlike himself, who would tell a complete untruth even if there was the remotest of possibilities that the truth would prove offensive in some sort of manner.

They had been dating for about six months when Glen asked her to join him at a Thanksgiving meal with his family. At first she flat out refused, but after much pushing and prodding, she finally relented.

At the table, Sharon felt quite uncomfortable. His family began to really grill her. After all, the two had been seeing each other for quite a while, and they considered her as if she were a candidate for inclusion within their circle. Glen, noticing her uneasiness, did quite a good job of changing the course of the conversation. The focus was no longer upon her.

Driving home that night, she said to him, “it’s over. I know they hated me, and they’re going to convince you that you’re making a terrible mistake. You are going to ruin you’re life if you stay with her, they will tell you. And they won’t let up until you believe what they are saying”.

She proved to be right about one thing. His family did not like her. “You can do better, much better”, his Mother would constantly comment whenever they spoke.

When they had been together for nearly ten months, his Mother began nagging him about her parents. ”When is she going to introduce you to her parents?”, and “When are we going to meet her parents? There’s something strange about her, Glen. I’m telling you. For you not to have met her parents after all this time?’

Sharon was an only child. She didn’t talk much about her youth, and seeing that the subject bothered her, Glen didn’t bring it up. But by this time, Glen was truly in love with her, and was considering asking her to marry him.

For her part, she too was madly in love with him. But deep down she knew something would go wrong. A ray of hope, however, was beginning to grow inside her. So, after repeatedly saying “I’d really like to meet your parents, Sharon. I want to meet the man and woman who produced such a beautiful girl”, she finally, hesitantly relented.

Her parents had lived in Brooklyn Heights for over forty years, witnessing the gentrification of the neighborhood. Their apartment was located on the second floor of a now attractive brownstone building.

Her parents were all smiles when Sharon and Glen arrived. They greeted them both with strong hugs.

After a delicious steak meal filled with light conversation, they all sat on the living room sofa. “I want to show you pictures of our beautiful girl when she was growing up”, her Mother said, and she got up and left the room to retrieve them. Glen noticed how Sharon’s mood had suddenly changed. There was a look of terror in her eyes.

When her Mother returned with a box full of photographs, she too noticed her daughter’s apprehension. “What’s the matter, dear, you don’t think Glen has ever seen a baby’s tush before?”

There must have been thousands of pictures in the box, and they all grabbed a handful to view, all except Sharon. They were seated closely together, and Sharon carefully observed the photos Glen was examining. After he had viewed a few batch full of pictures, Sharon began to relax.

And then the moment came. For her, the inevitable finally came to be.

Glen was seated next to her father, who was also flipping through the photos. And her father was staring at one photograph in particular long enough to catch Glen’s attention.

Both Glen and Sharon looked at the picture her father was holding at the same time. Her father, realizing what had happened, quickly put it on the bottom of his stack, revealing a picture of his baby daughter.

But for Sharon, the damage had been done. Glen had a shocked and bewildered look about him now. Her secret, her shame, was openly revealed to the one man she had ever truly loved.