Stargazing

Thank you Cliff; aka Indigo sky for taking this picture; he held
a Canon Elph at the eyepiece of his 102 mm telescope.

I took this picture from my kitchen window, using my phone;
I liked the reflection it gave off; almost like there were two
moons.

(My $0.02-A full moon can cause a man to turn into a wolf; if wished on, it can make someone fall in love with you. If kissed under it, the couple are destined to be together forever. There is a song by John Denver called Shanghai Breezes; the chorus goes: "the moon and the stars are the same ones you see, it's the same old sun up in the sky. And your face in my dreams, is like heaven to me; like the breezes here in old Shanghai." but I wonder...is it the same? If i look at the fullest, brightest, biggest moon here, would someone half a world away see the same moon in their nightime? Would it have the same effect on them as it does on me?) Hmm...

Turning to her side in the truck bed, Iri propped her head on her hand and looked at Kal, “I thought that went well.”

He looked at her, “Which part? The one where I basically told everyone we were going out? Or the part where I had to give each of the students free star party passes to keep them quiet?”

She giggled, “You could have let him ask me out; I would have let him down easy.”

He just looked at her.

The night had started out well; it just went downhill from there. He arrived early at the place he deemed the “star party” place. As the professor’s assistant (called PA by the students) it was his job to teach the practical part of astronomy. When the students arrived, he handed out the assignments, gave some instructions then let them go. The assignment was to find certain constellations in the night sky; either by telescope or by the naked eye and answer questions about them.

Not wanting anyone to know about his and Iri’s budding romance that began just the other day at the beach, he tried to avoid staying around her. He knew if he stayed by Iri the whole time that people would become suspicious, so he walked around, while keeping an eye on her. He found two boys standing and talking; not really doing the assignment.

He walked up to them, “Do you guys have any questions?”

“Yeah” Kyle said, “have you ever thought about asking Iri out?”

Kal looked at the boy; apparently rumors either hadn’t reached this far or what happened at the beach, stayed at the beach, “No” Kal lied.

“I’m going to.” Kyle shook his head, “I can't take it anymore; she’s all I dream about.”

Leroy snickered, “Tell him about last night’s dream.”

Kal didn’t think he was going to like this; already feeling anger just knowing Kyle thought about Iri, “That’s okay; he doesn’t have to.”

Kal started to walk away, but Kyle put a hand on his arm, “No, you’ll like this.”

‘I doubt that’ Kal said to himself.

“So, I dreamt that I drove this sic yellow Maserati to her house. I knocked on the door and she had on this long coat; kind of like what private eyes in them old movies wear.”

“You mean a trench coat?” Kal could see where this was heading.

“Yeah, yeah” Kyle said, nodding his head, “so we got in the car and I asked her where she wanted to go and she said to drive and she would tell me where to go.”

Kal closed his eyes, trying to calm down; he really didn’t feel like he was up to a fight tonight; especially with a student.

“So, I start to drive and she starts taking off her trench coat.”

Kal held up his hands, “Okay, that’s enough.”

“But I haven’t gotten to the part where she…”

Before he knew it, Kal turned and got into Kyle’s face, “I don’t want to hear anymore.”

Kyle held up his hands in surrender, “Okay, okay, dude, it’s only a dream.”

“Okay” Kal said, taking a step away from Kyle.

“Wait a minute” Leroy stepped between them, “you guys hooked up; didn’t you?”

“No, we haven’t.” Kal said, taking a step away from Leroy.

Leroy closed the gap between them and looked at the taller man, “I don’t think you would get fighting like about Kyle’s dream if you two didn’t.” he took another step towards Kal; the two now stood toe to toe, “am I right?”

“No, you’re not, now can you get back to the…”

Kyle joined in and Kal saw that others were coming near to see what was going on.

“No, I think Leroy’s right; you two hooked up. How far did you get?”

“We didn't hook up; I’m telling you.”

“Come on Kal; give.” The two boys stepped closer which made Kal step away.

“There’s nothing to give, nothing happened.”

The boys caught onto that and ran with it, “So you did hook up with her.” they badgered.

“No, we didn't; we just went to the beach.” Kal realized too late what he had said.

Kyle looked at him, “But you just said that you two didn’t hook up.”

Iri looked up and saw a commotion across the field, “I wonder what’s going on over there?” she asked.

Winchyme stood, “Let’s go find out.”

They walked across and as they got closer, Iri heard Kyle shouting at Kal.

“Just admit that you hooked up.” he and Kal stood and faced each other, both angry and oblivious of who was around them.

Iri didn’t know what the beef was between the two, but she stepped up to see if she could help.

Kal had enough of this; he looked down at Kyle, “Fine, okay; yes Iri and I hooked up; I like her and she likes me. Are you happy?”

All sounds ceased and Kal looked around and saw Iri looking at him.

‘I didn’t just say that out loud; did I?’ he asked himself, but by the astonished looks on the faces around him, he knew it was true.

“Well, you’ll see: everything will turn out for the best.” She lay back down and looked at the stars.

“I hope you’re right.” Kal said, folding his arms under his head.

She moved closer to him; laying her head on his shoulder, “I like the big dipper.” She turned her head to look at him, “that is the big dipper, right?” she pointed to the constellation.

“Yes, just find the North Star; it’s about the brightest star in the sky.” He pointed to the star, “then move to the west” he watched as she moved her hand to the right, correcting her he said, “the other west”

She looked at him as he moved his arm to the left. She blushed, but in the dark, he couldn’t see it.

“If you follow it to the west, the next two brightest stars are the pointer stars; then count the stars; one, two, three” he pointed to each star as he counted, “four, five, six and seven. All seven of them make up the big dipper; also called Ursa Major.

She remembered her father teaching her about the Big Bear; he said was him and the Little Bear was her. She missed him a lot and wondered why she was thinking about him so much lately. She figured it was because Kal liked the same things he used to. ‘What is it that they say; a little girl always looks for a man like her father to fall in love with’ that thought startled her and brought about the next thought, ‘am I really falling in love with Kal?’ she would have to do some deep inner searching to answer that question.

He loved teaching her new things and sharing his loves with her, “You know, there is a legend the stars of the Big Dipper were the seven wise men called Rishis. They made the sun rise and shine. They were happily married to seven sisters named Krttika. They all lived together in the northern sky.

        But one day Agni, the god of fire rose from the flames of an offering performed by the seven Rishis and fell in love with the seven Krttika. But, he knew that they were married. Trying to forget his hopeless love for the Krttika, Agni wandered in the forest where he met Svaha; a minor goddess. To conquer Agni's love, Svaha disguised herself as six of the seven Krttika. Svaha couldn’t pretend to be the seventh sister Arundhati, because she was too devoted to her husband to be imitated.

       Agni, thinking that Svaha was the Krttika, fell in love with her and she had a baby she named Skanda. When he was born, rumors began that six of the Rishis' wives were his mother. Six of the Rishis divorced their wives. Arundhati was the only one that remained with her husband and together they are  the star Alcor; that’s why when you look at the second star of the big dipper it seems like two stars are there.”

“That was a cool story.”

        He shrugged, “I‘m taking a myth and legend class.”

        She yawned.

        “Yeah, it is getting kind of late.” he pulled out his phone and saw that it was eleven thirty, “I guess we should be going back.” He sat up; which made her sit up also. Leaning over, he touched his lips to hers. They broke away and looked at each other. He put a hand to the side of her face, pulled her closer and they kissed again. She pulled away and saw his eyes open slowly.

He straightened, “We better go.” The moon was shining and it was just too perfect here; in the middle of the field, no one around for miles and with the moon so big and bright; sifting its romance spell down on them. He knew if they started something now, he wouldn’t be strong enough to stop. Moving towards the back of the bed of the truck, stood, climbed over the tail gate and jumped down. He helped her down and as she slid down the length of his body, they shared a kiss, then another.

“We could go to the beach house; it’s not far from here.” She tempted.

He shook his head, “I have to get up early tomorrow.” Taking her hand in his, they started walking to her jeep.  The moon kept calling to him. He stopped, pulled her to him and kissed her. He broke the kiss and looked at the moon glowing in front of them.

“Cut it out you stupid moon.” He said under his breath, beginning to walk again.