Forger Events

Things weren’t any better at school. She got called on in the middle of history while she was daydreaming, and she couldn’t get the answer from anyone else’s mind. She bumped into a third grader on the way to lunch. (Actually, in that case it was probably for the best that she couldn’t hear what he was thinking.)

Her last class of the day was science. It hadn’t been that bad this week. Stars were more interesting than the rocks they learned about in the last unit. Then Ewen asked about people going crazy during a full moon and the teacher said the moon affects the tides not people.  Shows what he knew.  He probably didn’t believe in telly-pathy either.

When Anya got home her father was already cooking dinner. “We’ll be eating early today because we’re going somewhere after dinner.”

“An ooting at night?”

“Yes, we’ll be staying out late since you can sleep in tomorrow.”

And ooting and up past her bedtime? The day was looking up.

Papa said to dress warmly, and Mama helped her pick out mittens and scarf.  Anya insisted that Bond needed to dress warmly too. Papa said that wasn’t necessary since Bond already had a fur coat, but Mama helped Anya loop a scarf around the dog’s neck. Then they all piled into the car.  Papa drove. And drove. It seemed like forever.

“Are we fleeing the country?” Anya asked.

“No, we’re just getting away from the city.” Her father replied.

“Is it another vacation?”

“Be patient and you’ll find out soon” her mother said.

Anya pouted. She wasn’t used to her parents keeping secrets from her, at least not successfully. Stupid moon.

Finally, her father parked the car by a dark empty field.  It didn’t seem very fun. Papa went to get something out of the trunk. “A colleague of mine told me about this place, it’s the local soccer field.”

Anya wondered why they’d come so far to play soccer in the dark.

“Anya,” Mama said, “Look up.”

Anya did. “There are more stars out here!”

“We can see more stars, away from the city lights especially since there’s no moon tonight.” Her father pulled a telescope out of the trunk.

“Can I look at the telly-scope?”

“When I get it set up.”

Mama pointed to sky “while we wait, I can tell you how to find the north star.”

Mama told Anya about growing up in the country and using the stars to find north. There was a big bear constellation and a little bear constellation. “Bears in the sky are helpful, but you should avoid bears on the ground.” Mama said.

“There aren’t any bears here are there?” Anya asked looking around. She couldn’t see far in the dark.

“No, Bond would alert us if there were.” Mama reassured her.

Papa had finished adjusting the telescope. “Alright, Anya you can look now.”

Anya looked through the eye piece at the end of the telescope. It took her few seconds to focus and then “It’s Saturn?!”

“Yes, can you see the ring?” her father asked.

She could, “But Saturn is really far away.”

“It’s also really big.”

She looked again.  The planet looked tiny through the eyepiece, and the ring was at an angle instead of straight like in her textbook, but it was clearly discernable. “It’s really real.”

“Of course it’s real. What did you think it was?” Her father gave her a confused look.

“What else can we see through the telescope?”