Every November someone tried to acclaim Moss for a photograph he disliked. (acclaim: praise publicly, applaud) In it a woman held up a white card as a market stall burned behind her. The judges admired the brusque command in her gesture. (brusque: abrupt, curt) Moss had never heard what she said.
He took the print to the vestibule of the market. (vestibule: entrance hall, lobby) A fluorescent price tag shone pink under the stall's ultraviolet lamp. (fluorescent: fluorescing, luminescent) Under a different light, the white card in his print had turned blue. A former projectionist recognized the xenon flash unit reflected in the window beside it. (xenon: alternate name Xe, element 54) He offered an unambiguous verdict. (unambiguous: unequivocal, unmistakable) The camera had photographed two things at once.
Moss tried to juxtapose a map of the stalls and his old contact sheet. (juxtapose: place side by side, set together) The geometry held if the woman had stood inside the bakery. (geometry: layout, spatial arrangement) But the offset between the window frame and its reflection placed the fire across the street. (offset: displacement, difference in position) That left a qualified identification. (qualified: conditional, limited) They knew where she stood and still had no idea why she had raised the card.
A baker's apprentice had the wit to turn the print around and hold it to a mirror. (wit: mental quickness, ingenuity) The paper bore a legible word. (legible: readable, clear enough to read) It said YEAST. From the far end of the hall came a yawp of delighted recognition. (yawp: harsh shout, loud cry) An elderly woman brought out a tin in which she kept a card for every ingredient. Her husband had been hard of hearing. On busy nights she would signal what to fetch by holding one up to the glass. (signal: indicate, communicate)
The jury's grand rationale for the prize appeared less plausible with each card she laid on the counter. (rationale: reasoning, underlying explanation; plausible: believable, credible) Yet the picture had lost none of its kinetic force. (kinetic: suggesting movement, full of motion) Its subject was a person who wanted yeast and knew how to ask for it above the noise. Moss made a deliberate choice. (deliberate: intentional, considered) He asked what title she would give it.
She studied the angle of her wrist with the gravity of an expert. (gravity: seriousness, solemnity) They might emend the caption to say which loaf she was making. (emend: revise, correct) She could even hazard a guess at the year. (hazard: venture, risk offering) Then she noticed the child behind the camera reflected in one corner, waiting with his hand on a timer. (camera: in this context photographic camera, photographic apparatus; timer: time switch, timing mechanism) It was Moss, aged thirteen. With zest she offered her title. (zest: relish, lively enjoyment) Two People Learning a Trade. He let the modest words stand, and retired the notion that he had taken the photograph alone. (modest: unassuming, restrained; notion: idea, belief) An impartial observer might have called that a fair exchange. (impartial: unbiased, evenhanded)