Picture Perfect

Rami’s brought in a draft of the poster for his next channelling event.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“Yeah, it’s good. Can I make a suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“I think maybe you should use a photo of yourself where you can see your face properly.”

“That’s not me, that’s Dhashen.”

Dhashen is the ‘unseen friend’ that Rami channels.

“I know,” I reply, “but it’s Dhashen talking through you. I just think it would be nice if people could see your face.”

“That’s not my face.”

“I get what you’re saying, but -“

“OK. Let me see what other pictures I’ve got…”

Rami starts scrolling through photos on his phone.

“How about this one?”

“You’re in your car.”

“Right. I could crop it. Wait…here, how’s this?”

“I don’t know, you can still see that you’re wearing a seatbelt.”

“I wanted to get my pendant in. I could crop it on my face. No, that’s too big, my face is too big…”

“Do you have any others?”

Rami scrolls on.

“This is me and my friend, Marine. I could cut Marine out.”

“Give it a go.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah. That works. It’s a nice picture. You’re open and smiling. Why don’t you use that?”

“You can still see Marine’s arm.”

“Only just. You hardly notice.”

“I have other photos. What about this one?”

“You look like a film director.”

“This one?”

“That’s your author photo. You look like a writer.”

“What about this one?”

“You look like a spy.”

“I was on holiday.”

“I think you should stick with the one with Marine. Only lose Marine.”

“Use that photo instead of this one?”

Rami holds up the poster with the original picture that shows him sitting in a chair, frowning, surrounded by crystals, waving his arms in the air with his eyes closed.

“It’s more welcoming.”

“I could try it.”

“See if it works.”

“Ok.”

Two days later Rami comes back in with the finalised versions of his new posters.

“You kept the old picture.”

“I kept the picture of Dhashen.”

“But that’s you in that picture.”

“No, that’s Dhashen.”

“But that’s your body and your face.”

“You haven’t experienced Dhashen yet. You don’t understand.”

“So when Dhashen is speaking you don’t smile and you keep your eyes closed?”

“Right. I’m not there.”

“Ok. Well, it was just an idea.”

“Here. You can have this.”

Rami hands me the one copy of the poster he made that features his smiling face and Marine’s arm.

“Thanks.”

After he leaves I put the poster in the recycling. Then I feel guilty and take it out. It is one of a kind, after all.