— h., at the gate · september
1929 · h. age six · album ii
the boy is six. he has been given a slate and a small loaf wrapped in linen and told to walk the lane to the schoolhouse, which he can see from the gate but has never entered.
the photograph is the gate, not the schoolhouse. his mother takes it before he turns to go. he is not yet a schoolchild in the photograph. he is, for the last half of a second, still in the category of children who do not have to.
field-note the photograph was taken with a borrowed camera. the loaf has been eaten by the time he reaches the door. he never says what happened that morning, only that he was hungry.