Read A Picture-Purrfect Christmas (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 13) for Free Online Page B

announced to the class, “Today, Chuckie is using one of my digital cameras. Marissa has her own digital and so do Marcus and Adam. Next time, someone else can use my extra digital camera and maybe Ms. Savannah’s. We don’t have enough digitals to go around, so we’ll take turns. Those who don’t have a digital camera can use a disposable camera today.” She then asked, “What about you, Charm…have you used a camera before?”
    “Yeah,” the large black girl said, “one or two…maybe four times.” She paused, then said excitedly, “I took pictures at my mom’s wedding!”
    “That’s cool,” Shelly said. “How’d they turn out?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. Never got to see ‘em.”
    “So do you think you’d like to learn how to take good photographs?”
    Charm nodded.
    “Selene,” Shelly said, addressing a girl with stringy brown hair hanging in her face, “ever get a chance to use a camera?”
    “Naw,” she said, “never did before.” She turned the disposable camera in her hands a few times and inspected it carefully. “I hope yer gonna show us how.”
    “We sure are. How about you, Arturo?”
    The small Mexican boy shook his head. “I never had my own camera. How does it work?”
    “We’ll show you in a few minutes.” She turned toward Marissa. “What’s your experience with photography?”
    “None. I’ve never used a camera…only had my picture taken once or twice, maybe. I have a lot to learn here,” she said, smiling brightly.
    The two women also smiled.
    Shelly said, “Spence isn’t here yet. Hopefully, he’ll make it. And Adam is joining us just for this session. He’s in fifth grade, too, like most of you, but he goes to school in another town.”
    “I’m in sixth grade,” Brad said, raising his hand high in the air.
    “That’s right, we have one upper classman. Thanks for reminding me, Brad.” Shelly then said, “Okay, I think what we’ll do is break into groups. Ms. Savannah will work with half of you and I’ll work with the other half. We’ll show you how to operate the cameras and give you a few ideas for things you can photograph inside the room. After you’ve shot a few pictures in here, we’ll take the cameras outside for a whole different photography experience.”
    Several of the children responded. “Yay!”
    “Yeah, that sounds fun.”
    “I want to take a picture of a butterfly.”
    Shelly smiled. “If it warms up enough, you might see a random butterfly, Selene, but you’ll need to be alert.” She addressed the class, “Those of you with the green cameras—those are disposable. Once you’ve used up all twenty-four of the pictures, you can take one more disposable camera. Make sure we get them back at the end of the day so we can have the pictures developed for you to see at the next class. Be sure to write your name on the disposable cameras so we know who took which pictures. Those with the metal cameras—those are digital cameras—you can take as many pictures as you want as long as the batteries hold a charge. Turn those cameras in to us at the end of the day and we’ll download the pictures for you to see. You can choose which pictures you want printed.”
    “Today?”
    “Today what?”
    “Today, you’ll unload our pictures?” Chuckie asked.
    Shelly nodded. “Possibly we can download one or two of the digital cameras, if we have time. Otherwise, you’ll see your pictures on Friday.”
    ****
    Ninety minutes later, Shelly approached Savannah. “How’s it going?”
    “Great. We have some rather unusual photos of Selene’s ear, a squirrel’s hindquarters, a leftover sandwich, and,” she made a face, “…a pile of dog doo-doo.”
    Shelly cringed, then said, “I think I’ll take the digital cameras and download the pictures before we dismiss everyone. Seeing some of the results of their efforts will encourage the students, don’t you think?”
    “Sure do,” Savannah said. “This seems like a rather creative