JPG

Sun Theatre. St. Louis, MO.

I set up both tripods in the cold as a patrol car drives by slowly. I ignore the intruder and soon he is gone. Confused, he returns to pass again but I take no mind of him because he is private security hired to suppliment the city police presence in this area. He has no authority to do anything except call the real police force which is something he is not going to do because he has no idea what I am up to.

I fumble in the dark with my box camera ruining the single exposure. If I had noticed my oversite right away I might have salvaged the effort. The digital camera works its magic but protests the long exposure by regurgitating noise throughout the darkest parts of the image.

I am annoyed with myself for being off my game but that is the way things work out sometimes when you must arrange your schedule to fit other requirements. As the shutter silently counts down the seconds, I stand very still and ponder the value of lighting this relic of better times instead of repairing the windows on the building where pidgeons and freezing rain enter the structure at will.

Perhaps the ghosts of the past come and go as well. Do phantom performers still take to the stage and stare out into the darkness while the sound of fluttering wings replaces the orchestra.

I wonder how much longer this neon sun will burn before the universe around it goes totally black. I laugh to myself when I realize that in this universe, the sun only shines at night. The bare metal on my tripod is as cold as the most barren asteroid in outer space. I load the cameras and head for home to dream until the morning when the sun will cease to shine and will be replaced by another more reliable version. I close my eyes and wonder if it is day or night. Will I wake to an artificial light or an artificial darkness?