Chapter 32
The Photograph
It all started because, on one early spring day and Penny going outside and seeming to see her garden as if for the first time, shuddered as she looked at her garden after the winter had taken it's toll, and then she decided there and then, that they could all work to tidy it up this coming Saturday.
So early Saturday morning on an unseasonably warm spring day, they all gathered together in the garden with tools at the ready, Penny was enthusiastic, Leonard less so,, (but was loathe to upset his Penny), while the girls having no qualms at all over upsetting their Mother, if it meant avoiding any hard physical labour, though little Wyatt was blissfully unaware, as he was asleep in his pram, perhaps dreaming of bunny rabbits.
They then immediately set to work, though the girls would take turns in watching over Wyatt.
Things went well for an hour or so, until Wyatt woke up crying for his feed and a change of Diaper, and as soon as Penny went inside to see to him, the girls began playing, while Leonard took a breather and leaned idly against the Jacaranda tree. And after some 10 minutes had elapsed, as soon as the back door began to open, signaling Penny's return with Wyatt , the girls together with their Father hastily resumed working again, and for another couple of hours or so they resumed working, while one of the girls would watch over Wyatt and keep him amused as he lay on his play mat with his toys. Things went well for a while, Wyatt gradually tired of playing and returned to his slumber, until he was rudely awakened by a cry of pain from his father as Leonard had reluctantly acquired a thorn from a puncture vine in his thumb. Penny removed the thorn and went to quickly check on Wyatt who was still crying lustily on being disturbed in such a fashion.
And after checking that he did not need feeding, Penny changed his diaper and gave him his bottle of juice, but in spite of this Wyatt was still distressed. So Penny asked if all the girls could possibly, take him for a walk in his stroller, hoping that he would soon calm down, and she returned to the garden, but on sight of Leonard leaning against the Jacaranda tree again, she was about to berate him for slacking, but immediately changed her mind as, on nearing him she discovered that he was operating his inhaler and looking more than a little worse for wear after his exertions that morning. Penny decided it was time for a coffee and a bite to eat and pulling off the cover from one of the chaise lounge under the Jacaranda tree, she bade Leonard sit while she fetched the coffees, and on returning she shared Leonard's chaise lounge and sitting close together they ate and drank,.
"It's looking much better now, isn't it?", Penny asked him
"Yep, it certainly does, thanks to the slave driver", Leonard responded.
Penny punched his arm in reaction, "Hey I'm not that bad Hofstadter", she told him, feeling a little miffed.
Leonard's countenance softened, "no of course not, you're wonderful", he told her with all sincerity as he put an arm round her.
"You had better believe it", Penny replied and began to lovingly embrace her husband in return, who then turned his face towards her and kissed her before both fell asleep during this precious moment of closeness.
And 5 minutes later this was the scene the girls stumbled on, upon their return with Wyatt who was now thankfully asleep.
While April, who was now a proud member of her schools camera club and remembering Mr Brewster's counsel to seize the moment and always be ready to take that shot, quickly grabbed her camera and took a photograph of her parents.
the next Tuesday, she showed her photograph to Mr Brewster who suggested April enter it in the club's competition, April had titled her photograph "Resting", but Mr Brewster, so struck by the obvious love shown between April's parents suggested that perhaps she should title it simply "Love is", and on learning that the prize for winning the competition was a Nikon digital SLR, Lenses, flashgun and tripod , April eagerly entered the competition, only to find six weeks later to her astonishment that she was the proud winner of the competition, and the judges were wowed by the cuteness of the subject matter and the title really did say it all.
"You won what, honey?" , Penny asked not quite taking in what April was trying tell her, being distracted as she was, busily preparing the evening meal.
"A Photography competition?, That's clever of you April, Which one did you send in?, Penny asked, while wondering which photo of the local park did April use, as they had taken her there with her camera weeks ago.
April duly showed Penny the photograph she had triumphed with, "This one, Oh Wow!, that's great sweetie", Penny told her with some very mixed feelings as she closely examined the image of herself, messy haired, dirt on her face, no make up, and dressed in her old clothes, but in spite of this, Penny just had to agree, it was the cutest picture of herself and Leonard that she had ever seen.
Penny's embarrassment was later made even worse when the school decided to display all the winning entries in the foyer, with April's "Love is", taking the most prominent position. Which was spotted by Mr Harrison of the Harrison's Garden nurseries chain, and inspiration had struck him immediately.
It was completely by chance that he had stumbled upon the photograph, as his Granddaughter, Elisa, had had a dental appointment that morning and due to her parents working, Mr Harrison had helped them out by taking their Daughter to the dentists.
He had lately been disappointed by the efforts of an advertising agency to produce something that would really draw the public to come to his garden nurseries.
And now Mr Harrison chuckled to himself, "yep, I reckon I can do a better job of advertising, with the aid of this photograph.
So after obtaining the details from the school, and after the school had phoned the Hofstadter's to obtain their permission, for the school to pass Mr Harrison their contact details, Mr Harrison phoned and arranged to meet Penny and Leonard.
"I'll come straight to the point", Mr Harrison told them once they were all seated in penny's lounge.
"I'd really like to use that wonderful photograph of your Daughter's for a new advertising campaign for my garden nursery business. I will of course be willing to pay the full going rate for using said photograph of course", Mr Harrison asked hopefully.
Penny closed her mouth which had opened in shock, "I don't know what to say", she told him.
"Please, with the money I would not be spending from not having to use the advertising agency, I can pay you instead", he explained, misinterpreting Penny's uncertainty.
Soon though, an agreement was reached and the photograph was quickly displayed on billboards all over California, the caption under it read, "Isn't Love wonderful, then love your garden and come to Harrison Garden Nurseries for all your garden needs".
The advertisement quickly became popular with Joe Public, and so Mr Harrison decided to put them on T.V.
And Penny together with Leonard appeared in several advertisements, and even Kay and J.G. also appeared in one of them with Penny and Leonard, the slogan on that one read,
"looking for Stars?, then come to Harrison Garden Nurseries for our Star bargains".
Leonard took a certain amount of teasing at Cal Tech though this quickly died down when it was revealed that Leonard used much of his fee to donate equipment for the science department.
So in spite of her reservations over her disheveled appearance, the photograph became one of Penny's and Leonard's family favourites. As it so clearly showed the real love between them.
