The living-room wall was filled with family photographs.
A wedding gave way to a birth, then to trips and anniversaries.
Sometimes the order was wrong.
A graduation appeared before a birthday. A trip shifted several years out of place.
After a while, the sequence corrected itself.
Paper plates sat on the dining table, with star-shaped cookies arranged on them.
The photographs changed every thirty seconds.
The display flickered once.
The next image showed a figure at the edge of the room.
She had her back to the camera and was putting something away.
A child pointed at the wall.
“Who’s that robot?”
The great-grandchild looked at the photograph.
“No idea.”
They opened the archive search.
No matching photograph appeared.
The photographer field was blank.
There was no indication that the file was corrupted or missing.
“That’s weird.”
The great-grandchild closed the search and took a star-shaped cookie from one of the plates.
The wall changed.
A birthday appeared, followed by a family trip.
The photograph did not return.
Thirty seconds later, the wall changed again.