Challenge #04348-K330: A Returning Memory

Even the smallest photo can bring back so many memories, especially when you're trying so hard to smile again. -- Anon Guest

"We've restored it to its original condition. Honestly, it was a miracle such fragile ephemera made it to this century. A miracle find, considering where it was found." The Archivaas went on and on and on about anaerobic bacteria and all the varied things that ate cellulose and assorted photographic chemicals in a landfill.

Shayde had stopped listening, staring at the copy of the image that had been cleaned, processed, run though a thousand procedures, and returned to what it might have looked like. They were scary close to complete accuracy.

It was a family snap. A polaroid of a group of four at a tourist trap that claimed to be the world's largest rubber band ball. Two adults, a teenager, and a kid who hadn't quite figured out how to fake a smile for photos yet. The teen girl was wearing a Madonna T-shirt and had her red hair done up with a thousand rainbow neon shoelaces. Her jeans looked like they fell through a shredder before being worn. The boy was in a sports numeral and shorts. The parents - her Mom and Da - wore the smiles they wore in every photo, practiced and smooth and false. Tie-died shirts and handmade canvas pants made with practicality in mind. The photo didn't show their practical, steel-toed boots.

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