Daniel looked down the wall. While the photos were in sharp focus and dazzled with color, they were beyond embarrassing. A young woman caught mid-blink, cake falling from her overstuffed mouth. A man’s leering grin, illuminated by his phone, his wife sound asleep beside him. A cloud of sharp, acrid chemicals tickled and then stung his nose. The smell of something developing.

Simon folded his white-gloved fingers as he stared into a small LED screen on the side of the blue-and-white processing machine. “They’re nearly ready.”

Daniel moved to the shelves on the opposite wall, the price tags hanging from the cameras fluttering at his approach. His finger flicked at the tag on the leather-concertinaed camera. “Fifteen hundred? This camera was ten thousand dollars last week. That’s one heck of a discount.”

“It’s now the right price for the person who needs it.”

“W.I.N.? What does that even mean?”

Simon smiled, his cheeks bathed in the faint glow of the LED. “Whatever Is Needed.”

“So your cameras are for sale for either a set price or whatever is needed?”

“Yes, and most of the time ‘Whatever Is Needed’ is the higher price to pay.”

Daniel shook his head in disbelief. “You must be new to business.”

“This shop is new. I used to have another one not far from here.” He clicked his fingers and then moved around the counter to the boxes under the shelves. “You’ll need more film! Once you see the great clarity the Olympus HS-10 Infinity gives you, you’ll want as many rolls as you can get.” Simon pulled out a box filled to the brim with film canisters.

Not this again. “I haven’t used the camera much yet. To be honest, the photos you produce are pretty disappointing.” He waved a hand at the frames on the wall.

Simon stood and stroked his chin. “Why are they disappointing?”

“Have a look. People aren’t smiling, and they look like they didn’t even know the photo was being taken. I wouldn’t put them in frames.”

Simon’s eyes glistened. “They have great clarity.”

“Well, they are sharp, but they aren’t great photos.”

Disappointment clouded Simon’s face. “So you can’t see?”

“See what? These aren’t the best photos of people at all.”

Simon shook his head. “What if these are the moments that are the very definition of truth? The camera never lies, you know.”

Daniel’s pulse quickened. The phrase from Gramps’s camera again.

A soft buzz came from the back of the lab. Simon drifted back to the processor as it spat photographs into its tray. He flicked through them, his fingertips tracing the images. “Just wonderful clarity.” He placed them in an envelope and padded back to the counter.

Daniel held out his hand. “Thanks—”