The town was near the ocean. There was a fountain in the middle of the concrete square that was surrounded by office buildings. Around the fountain were vendors hawking their wares from folding tables. Some of the vendors had umbrellas to shield them from the sun. People milled around the tables, ate from food carts or sat upon the many benches spaced around the center. I noticed a photographer coming toward me. I watched as he took a picture of a young woman. He talked to the woman for a minute and then as he was taking the photo, she vanished.
The photographer then came up to me and said he needed my help. He wanted me to take pictures of people to save them from the disaster about to strike out planet. I had been chosen and we didn't have much time. He explained that I must take the photograph, while speaking each person's name and telling them that they were going to Everton. He stressed again how urgent this project was and said I would know who to photograph. I grabed my camera and began to take pictures. Each time I would ask the person's name, push down the button on my camera and hold it down as I spoke to him or her, and then watch them disintegrate into nothingness. No one seemed to notice what I was doing in the crowded square. I wondered where Everton was. I wondered if the people I photographed were safely transported. A sense of urgency began to overhwhelm me. I wondered why I could not take pictures of two or more people together thinking it would be much quicker. I saw a family sitting on a bench. I went to the youngest girl and asked her her name. "Gloria," she said. I told her, "Gloria, I am sending you to Everton." I walked around the square choosing others and repeating the process with each one. I searched out my own family and sent them all to Everton. I left the square and walked to the shore. I wanted to find more people to photograph. I was on the sand now and I saw the swells begin. "A tidal wave is about to begin" I thought to myself. How could I get to safety? In answer, I watched a dolphin swim towards me. It scooped me onto its back and we rode the crest of the tidal wave until the dolphin deposited me onto a concrete riser with a tall steel rod sticking out of its middle. I stood on the small circle of concrete, holding on for my life as the water swept past me with great force and rushed all the way to the mountains. I stood there clinging to that pole for long hours waiting for the water to recede. The water finally settled into a large lake covering the basin between beach and mountain. When the water started to sink into the ground, I went back to the town center. I wanted to find out if there was anyone left who I needed to photograph and if anyone else had been left behind. And, I wanted someone to photograph me.
It was strange how the town square looked unaffected by the tidal wave. It was dry and sunny. The tables and the vendors were in exactly the same places, only now the vendors seemed somehow different. Every vendor seemed distant and cold. A man called out to me from behind his table, "You have beautiful hair!" I thought about my shiny straight auburn hair as I looked his way but soon realized that he only wanted me to buy the hair care products he had for sale, so I just said, "Thank-you," quite tersely and walked on. I thought that everyone was out here just to make money and they would say anything to trick others into buying their products. The atmosphere was so different now - it seemed heavier or something. I wanted to get out of there! I wanted to get to my family. I started asking people to take my picture but now I couldn't remember the name of the town I sent everyone to. The first woman I went up to seemed nice. She was browsing at a table. She was pretty in her flowered headscarf and dark sunglasses. I hoped she would remember the name of the town. I hoped she wanted to go with me where the others had gone. She told me that she had wanted to go but it was too late now. "Besides," she said, "the camera won't work now because it has gotten wet." I looked at the camera. It was clear now, not black. It did look like it had water in it. But when I walked up to a man, the camera was black again. Relieved, I told him I needed to get my picture taken, that my family had gone to another town and I wanted to go be with them, but I couldn't remember the name of the town. I asked him if he remembered the town and asked if he wanted to go too. He said that the name of the town didn't matter. I could choose any name I wanted when I got my picture taken and it would whisk me out of here. I didn't believe him. I wanted to go to the same place as everyone else, not to someplace by myself. The people here knew about the camera's ability to transport me, but everyone had a different reason as to why they could not take my picture or have theirs taken by me. Finally, one woman told me that if she took my picture when she wasn't supposed to, she would be destroyed. I was getting frantic and decided that the only way I could escape this planet was to take my own photograph. I didn't know if it would work or not. If I just could remember the name of the town. And then, it came to me. I remembered that when I first was asked to take photos of other people, I was unsure if my teacher was saying Eberton or Everton. I figured out he was saying Everton, like we would be safe for ever. I held my camera at arm's length, said "Diana, I am sending you to Everton," and snapped the picture.
