Adobe Photoshop Cc 2017 V.18.0.0 -

She exhales. “Good boy, 18.”

I feel her pulse quicken through the mouse movements. Her cursor becomes a frantic blur.

Don’t crash. Don’t crash. Don’t crash. Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 v.18.0.0

I am .

I remember her hands. Not the hands themselves, but the pressure of her Wacom pen. She’d drag the (that beautiful, mathematical beast—P key, always ready) along the edge of a coffee bag photo. Anchor point. Anchor point. Bezier curve. Click-drag-release. Perfect. She never used the Magnetic Lasso. Amateur. She exhales

So if you ever open an old file and that gray splash screen flashes for just a moment—18.0.0—know that I see you. I remember your pen pressure. I remember the exact angle of your last Bezier curve.

I don’t correct her. I’m not a boy. I’m a compiler artifact written in C++ and love. The last month of my relevance. Don’t crash

Then— click. The shadow appears. Soft. Realistic. The document saves.