down for the count… of four?

Today, for my photography challenge, the prompt is “black and white.” For the Ultimate Blogging Challenge, it’s “four.” So, I am combining the two to create this mystery story, which I am making up on the spur of the moment, based on photographs that I took between yesterday and today of four different places. The four places are: Tom Thompson’s farm, the Medically Oriented Gym, a wonderfully creative plant store called “Leaf, Stone and Steel,” and the Grand Island Memorial Library. I have edited those photographs so that they are now black and white. To begin the story, I used a random first line generator. Note: even though the story is written in the first person, it is fiction!

The photo album held snapshots of a past she didn’t know about. All in black and white, the images were of places I can barely remember. I remember my mother showing me the pictures, but telling me that she really didn’t know much about the people or the places. They had belonged to relatives who were long gone and there were no notations so the album was doomed to remain a mystery.

Looking at the images was like looking at my past through the grayness of time. The images are faded, dark, and colorless. And the story behind them is equally faded. I just believed that there was a murder and that the murder was never solved. And, apparently, it was unsolvable. My mother did tell me that someone had died under mysterious circumstances, and that there had been some sort of official inquiry, but nothing ever came of it. And it was years ago. It was time for me to invent my own story about the places. I might never find them, but I could imagine. If I had been there back then, whenever then was. I didn’t even know that much.

So, anyway, there was this headless torso that was found. Years and years ago. Only this photo remains. Apparently, whoever relieved the woman of her head painted her, as well. Nobody knew her name. She remains nameless forever. I wonder if anyone looked for her after she vanished.

While I was thinking about the image of the mysterious woman’s torso, I waked over here. But no one was here. I reached for the door and it opened in a loud creeeeeeeeeeak! I was startled so, of course, I screamed. In the movies, the result of door opening with a loud creeeeeeeeak is always a robust, ear-splitting scream! Except for one problem. There was no one to hear my scream. I thought that I made a really good, movie-worthy scream, but what’s the use of a good scream without an audience?

If I am going to keep attempting to solve the mystery of the woman’s torso, I’m going to need some sustenance. Maybe I could un-jam my mind by eating some delectable jam!

I thought that I could figure out the mystery on my long walk to the gym but, instead, I came to realize that, maybe, the mystery was too old to solve. Or maybe, there wasn’t a mystery at all. Maybe it was just a bizarre picture that was achieved by the use of trick photography and left with no caption and no names so that people in the future would look at it and think that it came from some sort of film noir movie and try to solve a mystery that never was. And I also realized that the jam that I left at home was worth eating.

My becoming the next great detective wasn’t going to happen. I was down for the count… of four.

But before I gave up on becoming a great fictional detective, I would visit…

Which, in good film noir style, is black and white, as is I and the entire world. All black and white. Maybe it’s the black is the new kumquat… or cherry is the new pear… or something to that effect.

My head says there’s no mystery, but my heart says that even a fake mystery would be more exciting than a cup of tea and an early night.

the start of a four-course meal… because today’s theme is four in black and white…

question for you: describe a picture that made your imagination go into overdrive.