Shutter Speed
17
It’s a Riot
“Ronda & Christine” by Hank Shiffman, ID17518654 licensed from Shutterstock.com
IT MADE NO DIFFERENCE who was in town or what we had planned. Laundry and ironing were still my responsibility on Saturday morning. I got moving early and was done by a little after ten. As soon as the last shirt was hung, I headed for the studio and got there just in time to let all the girls in. I kissed each one as she entered the studio, spending just a little extra time with Chris and Ronda and Anna and Elizabeth and Patricia. With Judy, Janice, Pris, and Debbie, I now had nine girls in the studio running around to get things ready for the photo shoot.
I sat with Christine and Ronda and listened to their concept. They were going to be daring enough to shock all of Tenbrook. I wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but they were committed. All the pictures would be of the two of them together. They had a careful sequence mapped out that would show them in school clothes as friends, then holding hands. They’d progress to underwear and sleepover nightwear and then to nudity with their hands and possibly mouths on each other. Anyone who saw this series would know at once that they were lovers.
Of course, they were protected from that. I had a model release from Chris that allowed me to display any photo I took of her. But I had no such release from Ronda. She’d paid her $40 sitting fee and intended to buy two copies of each of the photos the girls wanted. And I’d have a copy for myself, but not be able to display them anywhere. I had a feeling Ronda put that strategy together.
We worked all afternoon with the different settings and poses, and I took several frames of each scene. It still only took half a dozen rolls of film to get everything down.
During our party break, I had naked Christine and naked Ronda on my lap, often with a nip from each of them smashed together in my mouth. They’d made it clear to me, however, that they would collect their orgasms on our date later that evening.
Elizabeth was spending the evening with Anna and Patricia, starting at Sweet Treats. So, I was clear to take Christine and Ronda out and to do whatever they wanted. It turned out they wanted dinner in Dubuque, followed by a lovely time in the back of the bus at a new parking spot north of town Ronda had heard about from other cheerleaders.
I almost felt that I was an onlooker as the two girls continued to take their scenario further, ending with each girl licking my come out of the other girl’s pussy. Some of the positions they got into were so lovely, I wished I did have my camera to record them. When I took them home at one, they both went to Ronda’s house and said they were having a sleepover. Unfortunately, I wasn’t invited to join them, but I’d already been milked of three loads and probably wouldn’t have been much use to them if I’d been there.
All five girls went to church with me Sunday morning. I thought we made a pretty good ecumenical statement together with two girls from one of the Lutheran churches, one girl from the other Lutheran church, one from the Catholic church, and one from the Congregational church in Chicago. And me, a Methodist who no longer had a perfect attendance record after eighteen and a half years.
Dad invited all six of us to Sunday dinner and we pretty much ended our weekend together the way we’d begun it: eating with my family. After lunch, the girls all walked to the studio with us and hugged Elizabeth, imploring her to come to stay again this summer if not before. Chris, Ronda, and Anna left us then. Patricia and Beth joined me in the studio.
Patricia undressed and laid her clothes on the table, without using the dressing room. I set up my camera in the usual place and got the lights ready. I saw Beth with her hand on Patricia’s tummy. I knew she wasn’t likely to feel anything there, but when I touched her, I could definitely tell a difference in the tenseness of her stomach. So far, her stomach muscles were holding her in a gentle bulge, but there was definitely something pushing against them.
I took the usual pictures, which didn’t take up a whole roll by a long shot.
“Nate, why don’t you pose with Patricia with your hand on her baby bump. I can push the button on the camera if you’ve got it focused and lit right,” Elizabeth suggested.
I looked at Patricia. I thought she might not want that, but she nodded.
“You need to be as naked as I am,” she said. “Then we can take that picture.”
I was a little unsure of that idea, but Elizabeth immediately began undressing me and my hands sort of strayed over her body removing her clothes as well. Once I was naked, and obviously hard, I got Patricia in position and went to focus. An idea suddenly hit me.
“Patricia, let me get behind you and in position. Then I’ll come back to get the photo ready. Just make sure you don’t move when I leave. I want you in exactly the same position.”
I got behind her and held her tummy as she placed her hands lightly over mine and wiggled her butt against my stiff cock a little.
“Now, you can’t wiggle, sweetheart. When I slip away, I’ll need to come right back here to exactly the same position. Are you ready?”
“Whatever you say, Nate.”
She was a natural model and could hold a pose for as long as I needed, so I confidently slipped out from behind her and went to the camera. After just a minor adjustment, I took a picture and advanced the film. Then showed Elizabeth how to trigger the shutter when I said. I moved back to my position behind Patricia with my hands on her tummy.
“Now, Elizabeth,” I said. I heard the shutter release and Patricia and I both breathed. I had, as usual when the camera was on the tripod, installed the cable release on the shutter button so as to prevent any inadvertent shaking of the camera when the button was pressed, and it was a good thing, since we were all a little shaky.
“I don’t know,” Patricia said. “The positions weren’t exactly the same. I know your cock was more firmly lodged in my crack the first time.”
“Hey, are there more pictures on this roll?” Elizabeth asked.
“Should be another one,” I said.
“Patricia, come take a picture of Nate and me posed together. We don’t need the pregnancy pose, but just a nude photo of the two of us.” She looked at me. “Can we do that, honey?”
Elizabeth was completely naked as well and I had to grin at her as I nodded.
“Go get in position while I make sure we’re framed correctly. Full length?”
“Oh, yes. How’s this,” Beth asked.
“You’re beautiful,” Patricia said. “No wonder Nate fell in love with you at first sight.”
“I don’t think it was at first sight. I really had to work at it. But he was using big words, and that always turns me on!” Elizabeth said.
I nodded to Patricia and she looked through the lens as I got behind Beth. Beth pushed me around a little to get me exactly where she wanted me. I was slightly to the left with my cock pressed against her left butt cheek and just barely concealed from the camera. She pulled my hands up to cover her breasts and dropped one of her hands over the hair of her pussy. She leaned her head back against me.
“Smile,” Patricia said, and I heard the shutter release.
It took us a few minutes to get Elizabeth and me dressed again. I checked out the door and could see Deke out there waiting to drive Beth back to Chicago. We kissed long and hard before she went out to the stairs and I carried her suitcase down to the car.
“Four weeks seems so long,” she said. “I love you, Nate. Call tonight after everyone is in bed to check on me.”
“The time will go quickly, sweetheart. I’ll see you soon.”
She got in the car and I returned to the studio. Patricia was still naked and led me upstairs to our bed where we made love for the next hour.
It was Anna’s turn for a date the next Friday night. I really owed her for having invited and hosted Beth the previous weekend. We went to the game and to the dance after, but we didn’t stay till the midnight close. I had a dance with Chris and a dance with Ronda, but Anna and I took off around ten o’clock. We headed out for the spot near Huffington Kelly had shown me and were there before any other daters arrived.
“Did you bring it?” Anna asked.
“Um… Yes. I decided what you said was a good idea, so I got a flashlight to keep here in the bus. I got one with a magnet on the handle that would hold it in place next to the driver’s seat.” I released the light and shone it around the bus. Anna took it and pointed it to the back seat where both seats were installed. She grabbed the blanket out of the back and handed the light back to me. I turned it off and put it back beside my seat.
Starting with Anna, even though she was enthused about going parking, was always slow. We kissed a little and talked about the latest photos needed for the yearbook and what I should post on the bulletin board next. Then we kissed some more and as we kissed, she allowed my hand to touch her breast. It took half an hour of talking and making out before her shirt was unbuttoned and her bra unfastened so I could play with her bare breasts.
At that point, Anna ramped up pretty quickly and loved to press her bare breasts against my bare chest. I could tell she was near a climax when she pushed away and leaned back against the passenger door. She was panting almost to the point of hyperventilating when she reached under her skirt and pulled off her panties. She slouched down and put her left foot up on the seat, pulling her skirt up to her waist.
“Get your flashlight,” she panted. I was a little confused, but grabbed the flashlight. “I told you that you could look at me as long as you wanted, like you let me look at you. And… um… you can touch me like I touched you.”
“Oh, Anna!” I moaned as I flicked the light on.
She quickly threw the blanket over both of us and the back of the seat like a tent, keeping the light from being seen outside. I got my face down between her legs and shined the light on her pussy. It was completely covered with thick brown hair. I’d felt it the last time we were out, but I’d never seen it. The lower hairs were glistening with moisture.
I reached out a little tentatively and just touched the hair to smooth it a little. Petting her pussy while Anna’s breath continued to deepen and speed up. I let the light lie on the seat and reached out with both hands to part the hair and then the lips of her pussy. And then I was looking right at her inner lips, which I thought were a little thicker and longer than, say, Patricia’s. When I parted them, I could see into the depths of her pussy where thick creamy lubricant was gathering. Twice, I’d looked up at Sandra’s pussy and had seen exactly what the hymen was and where. There was no sign that Anna had that flap of skin across her vagina. I was looking down inside her.
Her clitoris was slightly swollen and just visible between the fleshy lips. I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward and licked through her moisture and around her clit.
“Oh! Oh, my God! Nate, you’re… you did that to Chris and Ronda. They’re really into being licked. I assumed you did it with Patricia and Beth. I just never thought I’d feel your tongue there.”
“Is it okay, honey? Can I lick you until you come?”
“Yes,” she squeaked.
Ignoring the flashlight now, I set to work on her clit with my tongue. I’d verified that she didn’t have a hymen, so I put a finger at the entrance of her vagina. As I moved it around, her hips flexed. I let my finger slide into her a little at a time, feeling her working her hips back and forth to meet my invasion. I loved her slightly salty flavor and musky scent. I bathed her clit with my tongue and worked my finger slowly into her vagina. Her thrusts against me were becoming more and more rapid as she moaned with every breath and my finger went deeper.
Then she was there. She thrust forward against my tongue and my finger sank all the way into her. I curled it forward and rubbed inside her chamber as she panted out her orgasm.
“Oh, Nate. I want to make love to you. I want more than your finger. I want to be naked with you and feel you coming inside me. You make me feel so good!”
My pants were already unzipped and it wouldn’t be that difficult to just crawl up over her and give her exactly what she wanted. I pulled back and looked again in the flashlight beam at her beautiful pussy and my finger all the way up inside her. Her clit was no longer hidden but pushed out beyond the folds of her labia and I just thought it was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. I caught my breath and pulled her into my arms to kiss her. I wouldn’t go there tonight. Nothing was really ready for us. I didn’t have the bed in back. We had no place to go. The front seat was too crowded to make love.
“Soon, sweetheart. Soon we’ll be lovers. I always doubted it before, but I know now that we’ll cross that threshold and be lovers. And I’m so looking forward to it. I will love making love to you,” I said.
“Lie back, babe,” she said. “Let me at least give you yours.”
I leaned back against the driver’s door and Anna fished my cock out of my pants. She stroked my cock and when she decided I didn’t have enough precome, she let a little spit run out of her mouth onto her hand and my cock.
“Sometimes, I use a little saliva to kind of prime the pump when I masturbate. Is it okay for you?” she asked.
“Oh, yes. Oh, Anna. I love feeling your hand on me. I’m going to spray everywhere again.”
“I had an idea,” she said. She grabbed a tissue from the box and just draped it over the head of my cock. “I know it won’t catch it all, but at least it will confine it all to one area.”
I was too far gone to care. I thought about telling her she could catch it all in her mouth, but I figured that was for another day. She’d let me look up between her legs with a light, so I could see her beautiful pussy open enough to let my finger penetrate her while I licked her clit. Just that memory would fuel my orgasms for the next week. With her hand on my cock, come was exploding out of me before I even realized I was ready. She kept stroking until I stopped her with absolutely nothing remaining in my balls.
She was right. The tissue stopped the jet from spraying all over so there was a more limited area to clean up. I wiped her hand as well as my cock and pubic hair. I kissed her fingers and then her lips. Soon we were back to making out and kept it up for another half an hour before we pulled ourselves together and I took her home.
“I love you, Nate. No matter how many you love, save a little for me.”
“I love you, Anna. There will always be some of my love for you.”
I was at the studio at seven Saturday morning to let Sandra in. I made sure all the doors were locked behind us. We walked over to the table and she spread out her two pictures from our previous sessions.
“Am I getting into the same pose for each of the pictures?” she asked critically.
“Yes. I think we did a very good job of matching the poses last time. Just let me get the right backdrop down and we can get started.”
I set up the white backdrop we had used previously and pulled the draped fainting couch nearby so it would be ready when we needed it. I got the lights in position and then turned to Sandra. She was still fully clothed.
“Uh… Do you want pictures like the previous ones or are we doing something different today?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. Just like before. I was wondering, though… I’ve read some of the books Miss Ludwig has for young women in the library. The books seem to make a big deal about the boy removing the girl’s clothes for her. I wondered if it felt different than just taking my clothes off. Would you mind… um… undressing me?”
“Uh… Sandra… taking a person’s clothes off is a rather intimate act. There is never a way to do it without, um… touching you.”
“Oh! I see. So, it is not just the removal of the clothes, but the touching that goes with it that makes it so special,” she said. “Of course, I should have recognized that. Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes. Please take my clothes off of me in as… um… romantic a way as possible. I mean, you know, touching me,” she said.
Oh, wow! Christine and Ronda had both been seventeen when I’d first touched them. Kelly was eighteen. Roxie was seventeen. Vicki had been only sixteen. All of them older than fifteen-and-a-half-year-old Sandra. But she’d invited me to touch her breasts before she was even fifteen. Undressing her couldn’t be that big a step.
I noticed she wore a button-up blouse this morning and tight jeans. I seated her on the couch and started by taking off her socks and rubbing her feet a little. She giggled.
“That tickles a little. But in a nice way,” she hastened to add. “I wasn’t expecting the sensations to begin in my feet.”
“You haven’t worn socks for your other photos, so I assumed you didn’t want them for this one.”
“Yes, you’re right. Please continue. I’m learning something already.”
I was, too. Her feet were quite tiny and delicate. I had to pull myself away from the foot massage. I sat beside her and wrapped an arm all the way around her so I could begin unbuttoning her blouse with both hands. She was startled again, but settled back to enjoy the sensations as I moved down over her breasts, unbuttoning the shirt. I checked each wrist and unbuttoned the button there, then pulled the shirt back and down her arms. There was a slight raising of gooseflesh.
Rather than going straight for her bra, I had her stand and face me as I unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. They were tight and after I worked them down over her hips, cupping her bottom as I did so, I had her sit again so I could pull them off her legs. She faced me with her lower lip caught beneath her teeth as I reached behind her and unfastened the little bra. It was really criminal that the school required all girls over thirteen to wear a bra whether they needed it or not. When I pulled it off her, I spent a moment massaging the crease it made under her tiny breasts. I think she was surprised that I didn’t cup her breasts and squeeze them as she’d invited me to do twice before, but I couldn’t figure out how to justify that as part of taking her clothes off.
Finally, I slipped my hands inside her panties and pulled them down off her hips and her feet. She stood in front of me, fully naked.
“Wow! That is much different than just taking my own clothes off. I’d like to take you home with me and have you undress me every night. It was quite stimulating,” she said.
“I don’t know for sure because I’ve never read Miss Ludwig’s collection of books, but I would guess that what the authors have in mind is something more personal and romantic occurring when a man removes a woman’s clothes,” I said. “I know that when I remove my girlfriends’ clothes, I try to make it not only enjoyable, but exciting.”
“How would that differ?” Sandra asked as she took her position for the first photo—facing straight front with feet slightly apart and arms at her sides.
“When lovers are undressing each other, they are often kissing. Their touches are not confined only to those necessary to remove the clothes, but are intentionally intimate and caressing. And note I said, ‘undressing each other.’ It is usually not a one-way action. If you are undressing with a lover, the intent is that you would both be naked—anticipating lovemaking.”
“Yes, of course. That would make a difference. I should make note of that. When it actually happens that way, I would guess that both parties are too excited to keep notes on what they are feeling. I’ll have to pay careful attention so I can reconstruct the situation later. Do you think my breasts have changed?” she asked taking her profile position with one arm raised.
“Possibly. I don’t have a scientific method of measuring, but I would say this morning that your nipples are stiffer.”
“Oh, yes. I can feel that.” She touched her nipples as she looked at them. I took another picture because the expression of wonder at her own body was so precious. “I have learned to associate the stiffening of my nipples with my level of arousal. I find stimulating them often leads to increased lubrication in my vagina. But my nipples were not touched or stimulated during the time you were undressing me. I must conclude that they stiffen as a result of my arousal and not simply as a cause of it,” she said, turning for her rear shot.
“I think that kind of thing is a loop of some sort. Stimulating them causes arousal. Arousal stimulates them. Your hair is getting longer.”
“Yes, I’ve decided to let it grow out like a California flowerchild. Or are you speaking of the hair beneath my arms and between my legs?” she asked. Sandra had not begun shaving any of her hair, including on her legs, underarms, or pubis. “It has been suggested by the girls in gym that I need to shave my legs and armpits. I suppose I will succumb to the pressure soon. Are boys truly turned off by a girl’s private hair?”
“That’s hard to say. All the girls I know shave their legs and armpits. I think the legs have to do with wearing hose. Chris said that if her legs weren’t freshly shaved the hair gets pulled by her nylons. I think underarm hair gets shaved when girls wear sleeveless blouses or bikinis. Very few girls in my experience shave their pubic hair.”
“Pam often did. I think it was so there was a better view when she exposed herself,” Sandra giggled.
“Ronda told me she shaves it because she likes to be licked there and doesn’t think her boyfriend or girlfriend should need to lick through the hair.”
“Oh! That is an interesting concept! Do… um… Do you lick your girlfriends there? I find that is a very exciting idea.” Sandra helped me move the couch into position for her straight shot up her pussy.
“I like it and am as excited by it as my girlfriends are. I guess not all boys are. I don’t understand why not.”
She laid down on the couch and pulled her knees up, but didn’t make a move to do anything else. I positioned the camera and waited.
“I found the act of being undressed by you to be very exciting,” Sandra said. “Would you… part my hair and lips for this next picture?”
“That is very intimate, Sandra. Are you sure you want me to touch you there?”
“You are the first and still the only boy to have touched my breasts. I am confident that you are the right choice to touch my vulva for the first time. If it disgusts you, then I will retract my request.”
“It does not in the least disgust me, Sandra. I feel very excited to be the boy who parts your pussy lips. You should know, however, that this is also one of those things that is usually done between lovers and I will find touching you there to be very arousing for me as well as you.”
“Don’t you always get aroused when you look between my legs?” she asked.
“Yes, I do. I believe your pussy is incredibly beautiful and arousing.”
“Then please make sure there are no stray hairs that cover me when you part my lips.”
The invitation was clear. I ran my hands up the inside of her thighs and began parting the hair to either side of her slit. She was still closed, but moisture had begun to gather at the crack. I gently parted her outer lips and then separated the inner lips so I could see directly into her vagina. I could also see how much she had lubricated and I ran my thumb through her moisture and circled her clit a couple of times.
“Perhaps I should hold it open while you take the photograph. I believe that if you continue, the stimulation will cause me to have a climax,” she panted. I held her open until her fingers had replaced mine and then looked through the lens. “I have tried to be somewhat less vigorous in my manual stimulation. Is my hymen still intact?”
“Yes. I believe there has been no change in it since last time. Still a kind of oblong opening, but no larger.” I took the pictures.
“I wonder if my pussy changes when I orgasm,” she said. “Do we have film left on this roll?”
“Two more shots,” I said.
“See if you can take a picture at the moment I reach a climax,” she said.
While continuing to hold her passage open, she managed to use her fingers to stimulate her clit. The flow of lubricant definitely increased and rolled out of her vagina and down her crack to her anus. Then, her muscles began to contract and relax, causing both her vaginal opening and her asshole to open and close. “Now, now, now,” she whined as she hit her clit more rapidly. I was able to get two photos in rapid succession as she opened and closed.
“That was beautiful,” I breathed. I placed a hand on her leg and petted her, not trying to infringe on her private area. She began to relax.
“There were so many factors I need to write down. There is the simple stimulation after having been touched by a boy and becoming excited by that, but there was also the excitement of knowing a boy was watching my pussy as I climaxed. You just can’t imagine how that excited me. I may be as much an exhibitionist as my sister.”
She sat up and her legs closed, concealing that delightful vision from my sight.
I pulled the film from the camera and prepared to process it as Sandra padded after me into the darkroom. She continued to chat about her development and what she was learning. She also confided that Miss Ludwig had been providing her with additional materials. I wondered if anyone in town understood what a treasure they had in Miss Ludwig. I was certain the young women in our town were better educated in becoming women than in any other place I could imagine.
“Are you still… um… hard, Nate?” she asked.
“Yes. I expect I will stay that way as long as you are naked beside me and continue to accidentally rub your breasts against my arm and back,” I laughed.
“You caught me out. It is not an accident. I am hoping you will touch my breasts again while the pictures are developing.”
“I was hoping the same thing,” I said. “I find your breasts to be incredibly tantalizing.”
I finished the exposure and put the sheet in the developer, then turned to her. She brought my hands to her chest and I cupped her little breasts.
“May I touch you while you are feeling my breasts?”
“Of course.” I assumed she mean touching my arms or face or chest. She immediately reached for my cock and held it through my slacks.
“I don’t mean to just tease you, but I really don’t know what to do to make you come,” she rasped. I thumbed across her hard little nipples.
“You don’t need to,” I said. “If I come, it would make quite a mess in my pants. We should stop this little exploration now before we get carried away.”
“I have so much to learn! I must make notes about my first impressions of feeling a boy’s penis, even though through his clothes. I can’t imagine how a boy manages to carry around such a huge appendage each day without losing his balance.”
I laughed at that.
“I suppose it is much the same as a boy trying to imagine how a busty woman manages to walk without falling over forward,” I said.
“Yes, it’s difficult to walk and be a woman at the same time,” she chuckled.
“There are times when boys stumble around a little, but it’s usually from embarrassment rather than the weight.”
We finished the project and looked at the images. I used the hairdryer to dry them off and packed everything up for her. I’d found my hand often on her bare back or butt as we worked side-by-side. When everything was ready to go, she finally got dressed as I watched her. Then she slipped out and I went home to get the laundry ready.
The next week was Janice’s birthday, coinciding with the sectional basketball tournament. The team wasn’t anywhere near as good as last year, barely sporting a winning season record at 11-9. After the first game of the tournament Wednesday night, the record was 11-10 and our basketball season came to an end.
That left everyone clear for Saturday’s birthday photoshoot with Janice. She was fun-loving and a little crazy. She brought a collection of Patricia’s Playboy magazines, compliments of Tor, and had them all open to Vargas girls. She wanted a whole set of pictures modeled after the generally overbuilt and shapely women.
It was easy to set the stage, because all the Vargas girls were against a blank background with only what was touching the girl visible. The cartoons were all partially nude and what clothes there were either seemed to have accidentally fallen off or were see-through. There were a lot of surprised expressions. Judy did Janice’s hair and makeup, mimicking the Vargas style.
The poses were fun and the entire session was very sexy. My favorite was one in which she wore only a black gauzy gown and danced joyfully. She held the phone receiver in her hand. I think the caption on the cartoon had been ‘I just got invited to a come-as-you-are party!’ She could come dressed like that to party with me any time.
And that is how she was dressed when we broke for the birthday cake and party with her sitting mostly naked in my lap. She put on quite a show, wanting everyone to witness her birthday orgasm with no doubts about my hand on her boobs and the other up her twat. She also had a hand rubbing my cock the entire time we were playing in front of everyone, and I rewarded her efforts.
Requests were coming in from Chicago again, but now most of them wanted to pose in my Chicago studio. I was considering calling it ‘Attic Allure East,’ or maybe just ‘Attic Allure Chicago,&rsquo as if I had studios in multiple cities. A couple of models still wanted to be in the Tenbrook studio at noon on a Saturday for a full day of pictures and then a return trip to Chicago. In either case, the girls wanted a full set of Attic Allure photos and I worked at trying to make each one into a work of art. I wasn’t always successful. They were all good photos, but not always works of art.
I sandwiched a quick weekend trip to Chicago in the middle of March and had three models during the day and Elizabeth at night. I brought all the film back to Tenbrook with me to process.
I was heavily scheduled in Chicago most of the week of our spring break, the first week of April. I spent special time with each of my girlfriends on Saturday (Chris), Palm Sunday (Patricia), Monday (Ronda), and Tuesday (Anna). Wednesday, I drove into Chicago and picked up Elizabeth at her school. Of course, she didn’t have spring break at the same time I did, but we parked behind her house and climbed in the back of the bus to make love for an hour before she needed to go inside and I needed to head to Uncle Nate’s.
Thursday, I had a full day with a model in the morning and one in the afternoon. They were pretty standard packages, but we got some really good and creative shots. And I got a chance to explore some of the new ‘junk’ Levi had moved into the studio.
I had more work to do developing photos before my next client, but when I woke up Friday morning, Uncle Nate was standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. He was dressed in a suit, and I could see the bulge of a shoulder harness under his jacket. I knew he sometimes carried a gun, but I’d never seen him with it before.
“I want you to pull your van into the garage and I’ll drive you to the Warehouse this morning,” he said.
“Is there a problem, Uncle Nate?”
“Maybe. Probably. I don’t think downtown will be affected, but we might be. Martin Luther King was killed last night.”
“You’re kidding! Damn it! Who would kill him? Damn racists!”
“I just want to know that you’re safe. I’ll be staying at the Warehouse as a precaution. When Malcolm X was killed, things stayed pretty calm because it was between two factions. King was gunned down by a white man in Memphis. I was on the phone half the night getting reports of blacks marching on white neighborhoods.”
I thought about my friends at Calumet High School and the number who were members of gangs. Gangs I seldom had a problem with but that Mom wanted to protect us from by moving west. The Blackstone Rangers had a strong presence in the southern neighborhoods of Chicago.
“I need to make a call,” I said.
I hoped she was still at home. School wasn’t slated to start for an hour yet.
“Who’s there?” demanded the voice that answered the phone.
“It’s Nate Hart. I need to speak to Nancy, please.”
“Nancy! It’s that honky boy you used to hang out with.”
A minute later the girl I’d often gone dancing with was on the phone.
“I thought you got your white ass out of Chicago,” she said as she picked up the phone.
“I just can’t keep away from you. How you doing, girl?”
“Can’t complain. Except for Martin. Y’all had to go and kill him.”
“I’m as ripped up about it as you are,” I said. “I need to know if the guys are planning anything. My uncle says there have been marches on white neighborhoods and the cops are crawling all around.”
“You know Dr. King came here a couple of years ago and talked to the guys. They were still upset about Malcolm X being offed. He made a big impression on the boys and they are walking the streets here all day and all night trying to keep people calm. Nobody south of Woodlawn is making trouble,” Nancy said.
“If they need a token white boy to walk with them, let them know I’m in town and will join them.”
“You’d really do that, Nate? You always were a little crazy.”
“That came from the girl I hung around with.”
“Will you take my picture?” she asked.
“I even have a studio downtown where I’ll do you up right.”
“I’ll have Hammer call you. What’s the number?”
I gave her both Uncle Nate’s phone number and the number for Camera Warehouse. Then I ate breakfast and Uncle Nate took me to town.
I had two clients again and they were fun. For a while we were able to forget about all the crap going on outside the studio. When it was time for them to go home, though, Uncle Nate drove them himself. After the second model left, I went into the darkroom to get as much processed as I could. I took a break to call Beth and make sure she was okay. She was way too far north to be affected by inner city problems. I was glad, but had to tell her I wouldn’t likely see her the next day. My clients for the studio had already called to cancel.
While I was downstairs, Levi called me to the phone.
“This is Nate.”
“Yo, Pinkie. You tell Nanse you’d walk with us?”
“Good to hear you being so eloquent, Hammer. Yeah. I’ll walk.”
“I ain’t no elephant. You get to The Crossing. We makin’ a line on 76th. Nobody goes north of it and nobody goes south. Bring ya damn camera. I want people to know we ain’t rioting in South Chicago.”
“I hear you, Hammer. I’ll get to you as soon as my ride gets here.”
“See ya, Pinkie.”
I packed up my gear and was waiting for Uncle Nate when he got back.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Uncle Nate asked. His big car was respected even when he drove through tough neighborhoods.
“I need to do this,” I said. “Just take care of my Hasselblad for me. I’ll be using the Nikon tonight.”
“Don’t tell your mother I let you do this,” he grumbled. He pulled up at the entrance to Grand Crossing Park and I jumped out, waving him on. Nancy was there to meet me and take me to where Hammer was organizing things in this part of the neighborhood. It was farther north than our school area, but the Blackstone Rangers controlled a pretty big swath of South Chicago. They cooperated with the East Side Disciples and between the two of them the Korean gangs, Puerto Rican gangs, and even the white gangs pledged they wouldn’t compete with them for territory. It was good to see people from all the groups getting ready to march together and block any progress north or south of 75th.
Nancy led me directly to Hammer who was engaged in a lively discussion with one of the Korean guys.
“We ain’t allowing no riots or looting in our territory. If you think that’s what you going to do, go back to your fucking Korean neighborhood and mess it up. I don’t care if folks here are white or black or yellow. No riots in this territory.”
I had my Nikon unslung and grabbed a picture of the two of them talking under the park lights. They were too busy to notice. Eventually, the Korean guy agreed that they’d have a Korean and a Puerto Rican in each patrol of Blackstone Rangers that went out. Hammer was pointing people to lead the patrols and get them organized.
A police car entered the park and pulled up to the pavilion where Hammer was getting things organized. No lights or anything and just one cop got out of the car to come and talk to Hammer.
“Officer Macalister,” Hammer said turning to face him.
“Word is you’re organizing your own march, Hammer. You need to back off. We’re going to have no authority by morning. National Guard and US Army are rolling into town,” the cop said.
“Fuck! Just keep ’em north of this line,” Hammer said. “You got enough trouble with them ghetto niggers. We keeping things cool in the hood down here.”
“You guaranteeing that?” Macalister asked.
“You were there when Martin talked to us two years ago. We ain’t backing down on our word to him. Not now that he’s dead. We got black, white, Rican, and Korean walking the streets from here south to make sure everybody stays cool. But if the fuckin’ army comes marching in here, I can’t promise to keep a lid on it. Just keep them in the north and we’ll protect people down here.”
“I’m going to call that in,” Macalister said. “Daley mobilized all the police and all the firefighters. If you can keep the riot in Woodlawn out of the South, you’ve got a deal. We’ve got more than we can handle. Garfield Park is a war zone. Austin, Lawndale, and Woodlawn are only barely under control.”
I snapped pictures of the two men talking and the cop turned to me.
“You here of your own free will?” he demanded.
“Yes, sir,” I responded. “Hammer invited me to make a photographic record of what goes on down here. I’m taking a lot of pictures.”
“Just remember you can’t shoot back with a camera. You guys keep a lid on it. I’ll do my best to keep the interference down.”
He turned around and went back to his squad car. Once inside he was on his radio for about ten minutes and then lit up his lights and took off out of the park headed north. Hammer turned to me.
“Good to see you, Nate,” he said. When Hammer talked to me, his accent and hood vocabulary dropped. He’d graduated two years ago and was near the head of his class.
“Never expected to be here like this,” I said. “But I’ve got film and I can walk.”
“Two of the things we need. I’m putting you with Nanse. She’s still kind of hung up on you, ya know?”
“We parted a long time ago. I’m just glad she’s still a friend.”
“Okay. Little John is going to lead your team. I’d keep you with me, but if any shit breaks up here, I want you far away from it. You made a good move getting out of here when you did. Too bad you came back.”
Nancy grabbed my arm and dragged me away to join our group, led by Little John. He was another senior and I’d known him for years. He greeted me and we headed west along 76th and then south on South Park Way. When we reached the tracks, we cut west to Saint Lawrence and walked back to 76th. Then we headed west again to Cottage Grove and back north. West to Stoney Island and back south. And then we started again, taking different angles across our territory. Periodically, we passed other teams who were working the area from a different direction. Our route covered about fourteen miles and Nancy was sagging against me when we stopped for some breakfast in the morning.
While we could see smoke from the fires north of us, our territory of South Chicago stayed calm and clear. Troops had moved right down to 75th to block rioters from Woodlawn from coming farther south, but they didn’t infringe on the territory the Blackstone Rangers and the East Side Disciples were patrolling. I took pictures of the peaceful streets and the patrols we passed. The rioters were not members of gangs, but were angry blacks who wanted to do something and attacking whitey seemed like a logical thing. If it hadn’t happened so fast, I’d have thought they must have been organized from outside and been driven to the places they attacked. Of course, if I’d stayed home, I would have heard the television pretty much directing attention to the hotspots and the planned targets of the protest.
I stayed with the gangs patrolling the south side all day on Saturday. Nancy went home to get some sleep. She invited me to join her, but I said I needed be where I could possibly be helpful. She winked at me and said, “Oh, you could help me a lot!” But then she laughed and headed home.
During the day, things were pretty quiet in our part of town. That was the whole idea. I took pictures and got a chance to see Hammer with the leaders of all the other gangs on the south side. They drafted a letter that declared their opposition to violence as a solution to the race problem in accordance to Dr. King’s philosophy. I took pictures of them signing it.
It was time for me to get to the Warehouse so I could get the film developed. I’d taken a picture of the letter all the gang leaders had signed and I would send it with the photos over to the Tribune. I worked as fast as I could and Levi came up to help me process and print the copies that were needed. When we were done, Uncle Nate was there to pick me up and we drove to the Tribune office just off Michigan and Randolph. I found the receptionist while Uncle Nate hovered and I handed off the photos with an explanation of what was going on.
Then Uncle Nate took me to his house and I collapsed for eight hours of sleep. I was up at six. Aunt Grace packed a thermos and sandwiches for me and I hit the Kennedy Expressway out of town. It was a relief to be out of Chicago and I didn’t let any grass grow under my tires as I kept the speedometer pegged as near sixty as I could all the way to Tenbrook. I made town fifteen minutes before church and was in place to listen to Mom’s Easter service, even though I was wearing jeans and a knit shirt instead of my suit.
A few days later I got a letter from an editor at the Tribune who said basically thanks but no thanks. “The quality of your photos is good, but in light of what was happening in Chicago this week, they didn’t really show anything. It’s too bad you weren’t closer to where the action was. Let us know if you get pictures of things of interest to the people of Chicago.”
Stupid people. What was happening on the South Side was the news. People weren’t rioting. They weren’t looting and burning. The gangs of the South Side had united together to keep the peace.
The newspaper didn’t care.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
