#hm bt

“Hey!” she called out.

The man stood up with a start, mumbling under his breath. He turned toward her. “Yes? Can I help you?” He had the look of one who was being distracted from something very important and pressing, and she could see his patience wearing thin.

“That’s my house you’re taking photos of!”

“Ah, so you’re the one that’s living here now, then.” He put his hands on his hips and stared at the farmhouse a little too comfortably, Claire thought. “It’s definitely a change from last year, I’ll give you that. I can see you replaced some rotting wood. But I’ll have you know the textures of the old wood were amazing to get close-ups of!”

“Why are you here?” she asked directly, unsure of how else to address the issue.

He turned toward her, half indignant. “Why, I’m taking my yearly contracted photos. Would you want to be in any of these shots? I have a few poses in mind that would be absolutely charming!” He walked around her, as if scrutinizing a work of art.

“No thank you!” Claire didn’t mean to raise her voice.

He stepped back from her, scandalized. “Farmers… The old man never wanted to be in the shot, either, if I remember what my father told me correctly.”

“Why is this the first I am hearing about photographs?”

The man turned back toward his equipment, leisurely wiping the lens of his camera. “It sounds like a potential miscommunication from Town Hall.”

“Town Hall?” she parroted, allowing her hands to fall limp at her sides.

“Well, namely, Thomas.” Judging from the smirk he wore, Claire assumed he thought he was dropping a pretty big name. “Although I suppose most people know him as Mayor Schulte.”

Literally no one calls him that.

Claire held her tongue.

“Mineral Town has a lot of historical sites and landmarks. Their Visitor’s Bureau likes to keep their documents and photographs of the sights fresh.”

“Visitor’s Bureau?”