Original story
Sam pulled a red ribbon taut across the hood of the wedding car. Lou caught the loose end before he could secure it.
“You’ll cover the best part.”
Sam lifted the bow. Every handover got a photograph, and the ribbon was part of the dealership’s routine. Lou drew the cloth off a panel beside the grille. Underneath was a hand-painted JUST MARRIED plate. Two small thumbprint hearts leaned at different angles beneath the lettering.
“Our daughters made our wedding plate.”
Sam tied the ribbon around the display stand instead.
Extension
The girls came into the bay just as Lou stepped back to look. The younger one went straight to the grille and rubbed at a red smudge beside the second heart.
“I tried to wipe that off,” she whispered. “It just got bigger.”
Lou crouched beside her. “Is that where your thumb slipped?”
The girl nodded.
“Good. Now I know which one you made.”
When Sam arranged the handover picture, Lou asked the girls to stand on either side of the plate. The little one kept pointing at her crooked heart, even after everyone else had settled into place. That was the picture Lou chose. On the back she wrote the girls’ names in the same order as their handprints.
