another photograph…

Hasimon looked at the video, she only had to press play. She studied it as if it was a photograph. Her daughters jacket was hanging off the adjacent empty chair. She was sitting next to it she was laughing, head slightly thrown back, teeth showing. She looked very happy. She was wearing a soft grey long sleeved tee shirt, a neckless that wasn’t really visible over the cloth. You could only see the back of the man she was with, his right arm raised up above his head, his hand open. She was looking at him, amused, obviously happy to be with him. Him, she wondered who this man was who could make her daughter laugh in a carefree fashion in a cafe in a city across the world. A nice tee shirt she thought, thinking that in all the photos of her daughter that she saw she seemed to be wearing expensive clothing, who she wondered, what brought on this change ? Was it simply that the man smiled at her? She, who might she be? Did she know she was being photographed, under surveillance and by whom? In the background there was a small child standing beside another Japanese woman who was bent over speaking to her, her leg in a support brace. She put in her headphones and pressed play, the noise of the cafe. The sound of her daughter laughing, the sound of his voice saying “and then he said…” The small child, her grand daughter ran to the table… “Mummy, auntie is buying chocolate!” Her daughter pivoted in her chair sweeping the child onto her lap… the other woman limped across the cafe carrying a tray. He says to her “Is your leg hurting Osaka?” “Yes, I think I have been over doing it…” “ Come back with us, I’ll drive your car. You can rest your leg and we can eat…” Ignoring the words which she understood as meaningless she looks at the four people, her granddaughter eating a chocolate biscuit with a serious expression on her face. Her fingers smearing her daughters tee shirt with brown streaks. “Hey Suki…” …. the camera pans to the left showing a pushchair with a sleeping baby in it. “Would that be ok?” Looking at her daughter. Who smiles… The background noise rises as people move, doors open and shut. Light flares as it strikes the glass of the cabinets doors behind the counter. A domestic scene. A youngish man appears from the right and says something. He reaches up and shakes his hand. She marvels at the domesticity.