Polaroids in China

To China, I took an old Spectra Polaroid camera that I bought a few months before on eBay and about eighty pieces of film. I had forgotten about the camera until I was coming down from the Great Wall one day. Remembering it then, I took it quickly from my backpack. A little girl in a red pajama outfit was posing for her parents, and she was so charming, I asked them if I could take a picture. They spoke to her and suddenly she struck a serious Kung Fu pose. Her parents were fascinated by the Polaroid process as were others around us. Soon there was a big crowd and I took another photo of the little girl. The first one came out so well that I left it with her parents. They seemed awfully pleased and very, very proud. It was by far the better of the two photos. I am not a generous person by nature, I think, and I have had to learn the practice from people I admire. It is a good practice and a satisfactory one, but I must admit I still wish I had that photograph back.