I remember that hot afternoon in July. The local news stations had issued warnings and told us that we were experiencing a severe heat wave that was expected to continue through the next week. Water was temporarily limited and regulated, and only to be used for consumption and hygienic purposes. It was the type of heat that left you delirious out in the sun, causing you to say nonsense words out loud to yourself, followed by vomiting, and ultimately, heat stroke. Southern Indiana doesn’t typically see temperatures over one hundred degrees, let alone record shattering temperatures of one hundred and ten.

            We cooked out that afternoon, Tim and me. Tim, who stood a towering six feet six inches tall, had gone to high school with me back in Indiana and then attended college with me as well.

We were going into our senior year during that scorching summer, with dreams of graduation running through our minds as it slowly loomed around the corner. Tim flipped the burgers on the grill that afternoon while I stood along side, slicing onion slices for our extra thick, extra meaty burgers. And do I mean meaty! I remember their thickness because the meat was so round that after they were cooked, the top of the buns wouldn’t stay on the burger without ketchup or mustard, which worked as edible glue.

As I sliced through the last half of the onion, I saw the most peculiar thing out of the corner of my eye. I had seen Tim lay slices of cheese on top of two of the burgers, quickly moving his hand over the fiery grill so not to burn himself.

But it wasn’t what happened as he moved his hand over the grill; it was what happened after he pulled his hand back.

As Tim quickly pulled his hand back, I reached for the aluminum foil, which rested near the plate on which I was slicing the onion. As I reached to grab the box of foil, I saw a bright blue light reflect off of the wrinkled, papery, metal roll as it sat there on the table. Instinctively, I turned to find the light source. After seeing nothing, I tried to think of a light source that would generate such a light as the blue light that I saw reflected in the foil. After a few moments, I came to the conclusion that the sun was too bright for any other light source to penetrate through it, so I must have imagined it in my head.

The only other explanation was that it was a glowing luminance from something very nearby, leaving Tim and I as the prime sources. I quickly dismissed the entire thought and vision of the blue light after that, realizing that it was impossible for either of us to be able to give off any sort of light source. We’re not E.T. after all.

A word was never spoken about my vision. I didn’t mention it to him, saving myself from any chance of embarrassment.

            Tim’s face, which had earlier been so excited about cooking those thick, juicy hamburgers outside on the grill, had turned flush red as he stood still watching the hamburgers transform from a light pinkish color to a dark brown. Sweat ran down his temples and on to his cheek, creating miniature streams, all of them flowing in the same direction. “You take over…for a minute,” he said in two breaths, as if one breath couldn’t say it alone. Exhaustion gleamed from his eyes. He handed me the spatula and turned sluggishly to walk into his apartment.

            That was the last time I ever saw him.

            Exactly what happened that afternoon still isn’t completely clear; one could only contemplate theories. I continued to flip the burgers, although they were beginning to lose their savory juices. I kept thinking to myself that he would be out in a few seconds. He must have gone to get another plate for the burgers, that’s all. Or maybe he needed to wash the plate first and that must have been the hold up. What ever the hold up was, these burgers need to come off of the grill now.

I decided to walk inside of Tim’s apartment to grab a plate, recognizing that this would be the quickest solution rather than waiting for him to come back out. As I walked into the living room, I could see that Tim was in the bathroom. The door was closed and the bathroom light flooded through the bottom of the door.

  I heard or said nothing.

            I walked back outside, a spatula in one hand, a plate in the other. As I leaned over the grill to scoop the burgers on to my plate, I saw a glowing blue light through Tim’s apartment window coming from underneath his bathroom door.  The glow grew quickly until a blinding flash of light illuminated the entire inside of the apartment. Shortly after, the light faded out as quickly as it came.

            There I stood, motionless. I didn’t know what to think or how to react. I stared at the door, not knowing whether I was supposed to ignore it or investigate it. Of course, my curiosity always got the best of me, so I chose to investigate the mysterious luminance.

            As I walked into the apartment, I noticed the smell. It was a smell unlike no other, distinct from any fragrance or foul odor that I’ve ever smelt with my twenty-year-old olfactory system. I could only describe it as a combination of boiling vomit, burnt plastic and singed hair. As I made my way closer to the bathroom door, I noticed a very thin layer of smoke that slowly seeped from the bottom of the door.

            I heard or said nothing.

            I stood outside the door, silently listening for even the most remote sound that might come from inside the room. Nothing. I began to get both anxious and nervous, not knowing what to think and imagining what could have made that luminescent light or that foul smell. “Hey, Tim, are you cool in there?” I said with complete uncertainty. No answer. “I’m going to open the door if you don’t answer me!” I added, hoping for some sort of response or acknowledgement to my demand. Again, there was no answer.

I reached for the door handle, finding it to be cool, with a diminutive amount of condensation collecting on its metal surface. I turned the handle slowly, not knowing what I was about to see on the other side. Slowly, I pushed the door open, first seeing the thin layer of smoke hovering up high in the room, reflected by the window light. The foul stench was originating from the bathroom as well. As the door finished its swing open to the wall, the toilet came into my view. The toilet seat had been completely melted, turning the toilet into a molding of brown, tie-dyed plastic. Small amounts of ashes sat on what was left of the toilet seat, as well as on the floor surrounding the front half of the toilet, creating a semi-circle around the basin. Two large shoes sat parallel in front of the toilet and facing the door, as your feet would be if you were sitting properly on the toilet. In them were what appeared to be bone fragments, blackened and charred.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

There were no windows in the bathroom, thinking for a moment that I had been fooled, while Tim hid somewhere, laughing at me with my perplexed reaction. The only apartment window was located next to the door and facing the front porch, where earlier we stood grilling our hamburgers. There was no escape throughout the entire apartment. After a moment of stupor, I bolted out of Tim’s apartment, tripping over dirty clothes that were scattered carelessly on the floor.

My apartment was right next door, convenient for the both of us. As I scrambled to look for my phone, I was overcome by a feeling unlike any other I had ever felt. Chills ran down my spine while goose bumps crept down my arms. As I reached for the phone, which was lying under a couple dirty shirts of my own, I remember only dialing the first number, nine, before I saw the blue light slowly begin to illuminate my apartment. By the time my pointer finger reached the one, my chills were taken over by a strange heat, which seemed to both scare and comfort me. As I attempted to push the last number on the phone, a bright flash of blue light lit up my room, burning the lens of my eyes.

I had tried to call for help, until suddenly, I heard and said nothing.

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jlaxsalinas@robertmorris.edu

   A couple of days before I left for my trip, I made a stop at Circuit City. I didn't really give myself a limit as to how much I would spend on a camera because I was more concerned about the features that it had to offer. I wasn't going to spend $300 on a pretty nice digital camera that I could only do so much with. I also knew that eventually I would want a really nice camera with changeable lenses and high quality resolution. I looked at all of the features on all of the cameras until finally...I saw it. Ohhh, it was beautiful. Sleek, silver, and beautiful. The Canon Digital Rebel XT 8.0mp SLR.

   A couple of days later I left on my trip to Las Vegas. I came back with over 700 pictures! So I may not have left Vegas with much money, but I definitely found something that I loved to do!

   Fortunately for me, I took a lot of vacations and mini-vacations last year and have a nice collection of photos to show for it. Since then, I've taken over 10,000 photographs, started a free-lance photography business, and sold custom posters. On one trip I even met President Bill Clinton! Here's a few destinations that I was able to make it to in 2005:

• Las Vegas
• Laughlin, NV
• Little Rock, AR
• Indianapolis
• Bloomington, IN
• Houston
• Chicago (many, many, many times)

   So now I'm looking toward 2006. My feet have yet to have left the ground, but I'm itching to go somewhere. I have my sights set on a few destinations in particular:

• New York, NY
• Seattle, WA / Vancouver, BC
• Hollywood, CA
• Minneapolis, MN
• Washington, DC
• Boston, MA
• Yellowstone National Park

   If there is one thing that I've learned since I started getting into photography is that the best pictures come out when you least expect it. I wish I could carry my camera around with me (sometimes I do!), but the camera is fairly big and is carried in a bag that looks like a purse. Need I say more?!? But having a camera with me would allow me to get those 'unexpected' shots. Sometimes good luck comes in handy, as it did when I went to Little Rock.

   You might be sitting there asking yourself, "Why would you go to Little Rock?" Ok, well that is definitely a valid question and I'll explain how it came about...

   It was about two weeks before my planned Las Vegas trip and I was sitting at home watching TV. A commercial came on with Eric Estrada as the celebrity endorser (have you seen the commercial?). Estrada talks about land for sale and development in Hot Springs, Arkansas and how the company that he sponsors will fly you and a guest to Little Rock, put you up in a nice hotel for two nights, all expenses paid because 'they're so confident that you'll love their property and want to buy it'. Estrada then says in his commercial that if you are unsatisfied with the property and choose not to buy, the company will STILL pay all expenses. Now that got my attention! So I called the 1-800 number, set a reservation for the weekend after I returned from Las Vegas, and everything was a go. Turns out, everything the company promised was true and I got a free 3 day vacation to Little Rock, Arkansas!

   The morning after I arrived, I went to the front desk of the beautiful Double-Tree Hotel (owned by Hilton) and asked what the heck there was to do in Little Rock. He told me about the President Clinton National Library that just opened months earlier. So I went. I was there for about 10 minutes when President Bill Clinton walked in the door unexpectedly. He stopped and posed for photographs, shook hands, and then went about his business. I got to shake his hand and get some pictures!

   And so begins my photography career. Within three weeks of buying the camera, I had taken beautiful land shots from the airplane flying over southern Utah. I had taken skyline shots of Las Vegas and Laughlin, NV. I had taken pictures of the Little Rock skyline overlooking the Arkansas River. I had even captured a former president. Which brings me to my challenge...

           WHAT'S NEXT?

   As I said before, sometimes you just have to be at the right place at the right time to get the perfect picture. So it is really hard to set yourself up for it. Patience is the key! I'm open to suggestions for destination or photo ideas. If there is anything local or unusual that is 'photo-worthy', email me your suggestions. For right now, I'm not looking to go out of the country (except for maybe Mexico or Canada). I'm just curious to what others think would make for a great picture.

   Please feel free to enjoy the pictures that I have posted. It is a collection of "The Best of the Best" taken by yours truly. Labeling them would take forever, so if there are questions about any of the photographs that I have posted, please feel free to email me directly. Otherwise, enjoy!

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jlaxsalinas@robertmorris.edu

Unauthorized use of photographs is prohibited.