“I can’t believe they let him drive. He’s as blind as a bat.”
Aster turned around to see Bryon wiping his hands on a red towel. “Yeah, those spectacles were something,” she said. “I wouldn’t be much better at it, though.”
“You don’t have a license yet?”
She stopped short of asking what he meant by license, but realized that would probably make her look like a real idiot. Instead she just shook her head.
He shrugged. “No big deal. I mean, I like driving you around.”
“You’re a good driver. I don’t mind you taking me around either.”
“So, are you ready to go? I just have to clock out.”
She nodded.
“Awesome. I’ll meet you out front with the car.” He dashed inside and tangled his feet on the same chair Aster had been sitting in this morning when she waited for him. After righting himself, he flashed a thumbs-up and continued into the back. A few minutes later, she heard the rumble of his big blue car coming down the alley. When he stopped, she went right for the door before he could get out and open it for her again.
“You like music?” he asked.
Aster nodded. She loved going to the market square pavilion back home to watch the various performers. Of course, she always had to go alone, so she considered music to be a solitary enjoyment of hers, like her drawing, and anything else she liked to do, really.
“Well you’re gonna love this,” he said. He picked up a tiny rectangular device from the seat between them and pressed some buttons with his thumb. A second later, Aster heard the strumming of a guitar followed by the pounding of some drums and somebody singing. Watch out, you might get what you’re after… It had a quirky beat, interspersed with other instruments she had never heard before. The rest of the lyrics were nonsensical, but they spoke to her nonetheless. The song was, in a way, foreboding.
“This is good. But why do you suppose he’s burning down a house?” she asked.
Bryon laughed, but it had a friendly nature about it. “That’s kind of the thing about this song. Almost none of it makes sense. Even the guys who wrote it, they were just throwing out random lines in the middle of a jam session. But in its own way, it has a story. I think that’s why I like it. Everybody can have an interpretation and be right about it”
Aster was reminded of her conversation with Mama Iris earlier. You got to go your own way. It didn’t seem so far from burning down the house. When the song ended, another one came on that was both softer and melodic. “Heart of Gold. Classic Neil Young,” said Bryon, turning up the volume a little. “People gave me crap at school all the time for acting like an old man, but I am what I am. I just can’t get into Lady Gaga no matter how hard I try.”
She had never heard of any of those people, but she liked the music Bryon picked, and if it was considered old-fashioned, she supposed they were a good match that way. “Where I come from, this music would be considered almost alien.”
He glanced at her with a grin before turning back to the road. “Where do you come from anyway? I mean really?”
“Let’s just say my people are a little, um, primitive.”
“Like the Amish? Hey, if you’re a Pennsylvania Dutch runaway, I won’t tell.”
Aster decided to humor him. “I’d really appreciate that.”
“At least that makes some sense now. I’ll try not to overwhelm you with all kinds of technology or pop culture stuff then.”
They rode in a comfortable silence the rest of the way to Bryon’s house, which was a small brick structure surrounded by dozens that looked exactly like it. Aster wondered how anyone could find their way home in such a neighborhood. After pulling into the driveway, he killed the engine. “Dad’s not gonna be home for a little bit. We never really talked about rules for things like this, but I don’t think he’ll mind. I’m eighteen now. That has to count for something, right?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, well… I mean, I’ve never had a girl over before.”
She put her hand on his. “This is the first time I’ve ever been over to a boy’s house, so I guess we’re kind of in the same boat.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “How about we go inside, then?”
They walked up to the door and Bryon let them inside. The house was small inside, but very cozy, with big overstuffed furniture that looked older but comfortable. Framed pictures of cars bedecked the walls, below which sat shelves filled with dozens of books. She was amazed by how much paper this world had. Books in Ellemire were plentiful but precious. There were more volumes here than Aster had handled in her whole life. “You and your dad like to read a lot?”
“Yeah. We don’t have a TV, but we listen to ballgames on the radio in the garage when we’re working on cars or whatever. Dad says a television is wasted time. I do have a computer, though, but only for homework and listening to music. Want something to drink?”
She followed him into the kitchen and watched as he poured them glasses of iced tea. The cubes clinked against the glass as she brought it to her lips. “I like your house. Reminds me a little of where I used to live.”
He laughed. “Does this mean I get to be inducted into the Amish Club someday?”
“What does your dad do?”
“He assembles cars at the GM plant. Taught me everything I know about them. He wanted me to get a summer job working with him, but I turned it down. I love my dad and all, but I kinda want to do my own thing. I feel like, if I went there, I’d be sucked right in and I’d never see NASA.”
“Yeah, being sucked into doing what your family wants is something I know all about.”
He took a drink of his tea. “I think it’s all part of being a teenager. Then one day, we get to have kids and do the same thing to them.”
“Round and around it goes.” In light of all the new information she’d learned from Mama Iris, Aster wondered if she would ever have a family. Of if she’d even see her next birthday. There wasn’t anyone to continue her family line, so the Stargazer name would die with her. What a depressing thought.
Bryon waved a hand in front of her face. “You still there?” he asked.
“Yeah, I guess I was gathering some wool.”
“Well whatever it is, don’t let it get you down. We have steak to look forward to.” He stepped up to her and took her hands. She noticed how long and slender his fingers were. They were also calloused and dirty from his work, but she kind of liked that
He brushed away a piece of hair from her forehead before giving her a kiss. His soft lips took away the rest of her worry, and for those few precious moments, she lost herself in his warmth and forgot about all the dark clouds hanging over her head. Seconds after they broke apart, flushed and dazed, Aster heard an engine out front.
“Act natural,” he said. They walked out to the living room to meet Bryon’s father.
The tall and lanky man who greeted them could have been a perfect composite of what Bryon would look like in another twenty or so years. His curly hair was streaked with a healthy amount of gray, and he had a pair of round glasses perched on his nose. A scruff of auburn beard also covered his face.
“Aster, this is my dad Nick. Dad, this is Aster.”
Nick stepped across the room with his hand stretched out. “Hi Aster. I’ve waited a long time for this boy of mine to bring home a date.”
Bryon rolled his eyes. “All right, Dad.”
Aster took Nick’s hand and shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Kettering.”
“You’re real polite, but you just keep right on calling me Nick.” He turned to Bryon. “Boy, why don’t you go take a shower and put on a clean shirt for cryin’ out loud? You look like you just climbed out of a pit and you definitely smell like it. Sorry, Aster, we’re a couple of grease monkeys that don’t have any women around to remind us when we smell like ass. We’ll fire up the grill in a bit. I’m hungry enough to gnaw on a wrench.”
After the two of them went off
to clean up, Aster went into the living room to browse around. Many of the books on the shelves dealt with nature, especially space. She selected one called Cosmos and flipped through the glossy pages for a few minutes. On the wall behind the living room door, she spied a series of family pictures with Bryon ranging in age from newborn to what must have been just before Bryon’s mother died, judging by the woman’s hollow cheek bones and the pink scarf she wore around her head. Her eyes were both sad and brave, like she had accepted her fate but was determined to live as normally as possible until the end, yearly family portraits included.
“She died a month after that was taken.”
Aster turned around to see Bryon standing there in a green t-shirt and a pair of shorts. His hair was still wet. She had never seen him outside his work uniform, and it was nice. “Was she in a lot of pain?”
“Sometimes, yeah. But the last few days, she was on a lot of morphine and that pretty much made her sleep through most of it.”
She didn’t know whether that was better or worse. In Ellemire, most people died of old age or magical accidents. She wondered why so many people wasted away over here and then died young.
Soon, Nick joined them again and set about cooking dinner. Nick went out to light the grill while Aster offered to shuck the corn and prepare the steaks. “I’d really like to, if you wouldn’t mind. Preparing a meal is a simple pleasure I haven’t had in awhile.”
“If you’d really like to, then I’ll let you,” Nick said. “Maddie was always the cook, and she insisted that I take lessons from a local cooking club before she passed. She never would have settled for us living off of Chinese takeout and pizza every night.”
She grinned. “Well, I grew up in a house full of women and I live in another one right now, so this is a nice change for me.”
“That’s one thing I wanted to ask you about. Why you’re at Oasis.” Nick’s voice dropped to barely above a whisper. “You’re not in any kind of trouble, are you? Nothing that could get my boy into any heat? Because I can’t have that.” His open and friendly face turned serious, and Aster found it difficult to look away from his eyes.
“I’m not in any trouble,” she said. “My family is just…difficult. I had to go away for awhile, but they know I’m here and that I’m safe.”
“Miss Ivy does a good job at that house. If I didn’t believe that, I would have told my boy he could just forget about bringing you home, but my son means everything to me. He’s all I got left after his ma died, and seeing him happy has raised my spirits a lot.”
Aster saw the emotion in the man’s face and she decided right then that she would find another way to fulfill her duties that didn’t involve using Nick’s son.
After Bryon came in from lighting the grill, Aster had him sit with his dad at the table while she seasoned the meat and put the corn on to boil. Then she set about making a green salad with veggies she dug out of the refrigerator drawer. They were wilted and wrinkled, but she revived them with the new trick she’d learned earlier. Next, she dug in the pantry and found some bags of flour and sugar pushed way in the back, along with a box of soda powder. She decided to make a batch of biscuits. The steaks went on the grill last.
The two men sat and watched her with wide-eyed amazement as she whirled around the kitchen like a dervish, her instincts pointing her toward the proper drawers and cabinets with little error. As far as Aster was concerned, a kitchen was a kitchen, and this one was well organized.
With steaming meat, fresh vegetables, and warm biscuits at the table, they dug in. Aster took slow bites, but the men gobbled everything down until there was nothing left but a few biscuit crumbs on the serving plate.
Nick sat back and patted his belly. “I don’t think I’ve had such a great meal since Maddie died.” He looked at Aster. “You’re a real gem, kiddo.”
Aster smiled and looked down at her own plate, from which she’d eaten little. “I’m happy to help.” It had only been a few days since she’d left Ellemire, but it felt like it had been a year since she’d cooked a meal. The act brought her contentment amid the storm of emotions she’d been experiencing lately. She imagined how much simpler and happier her life could be if it were just like this.
This time it was their turn to tell her to sit still while they cleaned up. Her whole life, she’d been taught that men couldn’t do anything by themselves unless it was manual labor in service of women. And helping to make babies, of course. But as she watched Bryon and his dad work in a house they had managed to hold together all on their own for two years without the help of a woman, Aster realized that the women back home weren’t right about everything.
They were also wrong about her.
-19-
The sun was a squished orange blob on the horizon when Bryon drove her to the outskirts of town toward Carpenter’s field, not far at all from where Aster had met Mama Iris earlier that day. The telescope’s big black suitcase lay in the backseat nestled on the blankets they’d planned to sit on while they waited for the stars to show themselves. She saw a house set back far from the road as Bryon pulled the car over and shut off the engine.
“What’s that light?”
“That’s Abigail Carpenter’s house. This is her field. She’s the oldest lady in town, far as anybody knows. She doesn’t drive anymore or anything, but still has her grandson drive her down to the Quick Lube every three months for service. We don’t even charge her for it.” Bryon laughed. “The only miles she puts on the car are to and from Quick Lube.”
Aster smiled. “And she doesn’t mind you hanging out in her field?”
“Nah, it’s cool. Besides, it’s not like we’re out here drinking or smoking pot.” He hefted the case over from the backseat. “This is educational.”
They walked several paces away from the car and they helped each other spread the blanket onto the ground. Aster took a seat as she watched him remove the scope from its black box. It was a wide orange cylinder, a few feet long, with the word “CELESTRON” printed along the side. Its buttons were a mystery, but Bryon seemed comfortable with all of it. He attached the cylinder to its tripod legs with a loving delicacy and gave the whole thing a wipe down with a little cloth. After that, he spent a few minutes pushing buttons and looking through the little eye piece. “I have a lot things programmed in here. Lately, I’ve been tracking a dust storm on Mars for the last couple weeks. Maybe we’ll start with that.”
He spent a few more minutes looking and making a few more adjustments. “Here. Take a look,” he said, stepping back.
Aster leaned forward and peered into the telescope with one eye. At first, she had a hard time seeing anything, but Bryon instructed her to look into it with both eyes open. When the image solidified, she saw a perfect red-orange sphere. A whole other world in all its terra-cotta glory. Striations of alternating orange and brown covered its face, with more brown toward the bottom, which must have been the dust storm. “It’s so beautiful. I feel like I could reach out and touch it.”
“I wish I could. My goal is to see someone set foot on Mars soil in my lifetime.”
“Like you?”
He laughed. “If only. I don’t think a manned flight to Mars will happen for another fifty years, so I’ll be retired from being an astronaut. But I can still help to develop the mission.”
She could almost hear Nanny Lily sniffing her disdain at the thought of someone visiting another planet. Foolish children. They disrespect and ignore their own world and they think they can learn more somewhere else? Aster pushed the negative thoughts away. Bryon’s dream was beautiful to her.
He punched more buttons and the telescope made its own adjustment toward another destination in the sky. “I wanted to show you this because it reminds me of you.”
She put her eye to the telescope again and a marvelous miasma of greens, pinks, reds, and blues greeted her, all suffused with a heavenly glow that rivaled that of any magic she had ever seen. “What is it?” she asked, breathless.
&n
bsp; “It’s the Orion nebula. Millions of years ago, a star exploded, leaving behind these giant clouds of gas. Over time, they form new stars. It’s a place of intense beauty but fiery heat.” He turned to her. “They look like pretty wisps of color from far away, but up close, they’re full of danger.”
She looked at him. “You think I’m dangerous?”
“No, not exactly. I just think there’s more to you than what people can see at first. When I look at you, I think of the stars. So giving and warm, but also a great source of power that I’m not sure I understand completely.” He grinned. “Actually, some of the gases in the nebula match your hair.”
After a little more stargazing, Bryon put down his controller.
“You had enough?” he asked.
Aster smiled. “For now. Maybe we can gaze with our own eyes for a bit.”
“I like that idea.” They sat for a few moments, but eventually they reclined onto their backs. Bryon outstretched his arm so she could rest her head on it. Without the aid of the telescope, the sky looked like needlepoint on black felt.
“Don’t you feel a little lonely looking at things that are so far away? That you could never touch?” Aster said.
“I guess so. It’s hard not to feel a little insignificant looking all the way out there. But I think it reminds me to try and appreciate the people on Earth a little more, you know? We’re the only people we’ve got. It’s even better when you can look at the stars with someone.”
She rolled onto her side to face him. “I’m really glad you brought me.” He looked at her with a longing that matched hers. She saw in his eyes the need to seek solace and comfort in something close, and love it completely. He drew her in for another kiss, only this time there was a new hunger in it, a desire to merge their two bodies the way the swirling clouds in the nebula came together with enough heat to form new stars.
His hands were buried in her hair, tugging gently, sending shivers down her spine. When their kiss broke, she could see a burning intensity in every contour of his face, but it was tempered by something softer. He wanted to please her more than he wanted to please himself, and that frightened her. She thought of Bryon’s father, and the promise she’d made to herself not to hurt him. She hoped she could keep that promise.
The Stargazers Page 15