Wishing Upon A Miracle

Ch. 5: Stargazing

I am finally caught up on all my class work that I had missed for the week. It took all of a day to do. Tonight I'm currently walking to my father's church with my telescope. Behind the church just passed the cemetery is a huge hill. From that hill I have always set my telescope up to see the stars. This spot has the most clearest view of the night sky. A dark green sports car passes by me. Fifty feet away, they slam on their brakes and park on the side of the road. The car door opens and a very recognizable converse hits the pavement.

"What are you doing out here so late?" Hayden asks.

"Walking." I give a short answer.

"With a bag that's bigger than your entire body?" He questions.

"It looks like it." I fire back.

I walk pass Hayden and walk into the church grounds. My silence doesn't stop him, he continues to walk behind me as I head towards the back of the church.

"Isn't it illegal to be on the property at night?" Hayden questions behind me.

"No, but why would you be worried about doing anything illegal? Don't you do that stuff all the time?" I question back.

I head towards the big hill behind the cemetery.

"Here! Let me help with that." Hayden offers.

When I don't hand over my case; he quickly lifts it off my shoulders and takes it. As we get to the top of the hill, I stop which causes him to pause. He lays my bag down when he sees I'm not moving from my spot. He opens the bag and looks from me to my telescope.

"What are you doing?" He questions.

"Star gazing." I answer.

I begin to set my telescope up. Once it's in place I grab my blanket out of the bag and place it on the ground behind my telescope.

"Do you do this all the time?" He asks.

"Yes." I give a short answer.

If I thought it was going to be a peaceful night star gazing. Boy was I in for it. I was definitely wrong.

I adjust my telescope to how I need it. I look through the scope as Hayden begins to talk again. Man! I'm missing when he use to not talk at all.

"What are you looking for?"

"A certain star that's only visible this week." I answer.

"What star?" He asks.

"Delphi. It's near the Gemini constellation but also close to Cancer and Canis Minor." I explain.

"I don't know what any of that is. It's foreign to me." He comments.

"Come here and I'll show you." I tell the jock headed boy.

He slowly comes closer towards me like I'm a wild and skittish creature; he's afraid will either bite his hand off or run scared into the woods. Internally, this has me laughing; externally my face is neutral. No emotions truly showing in my face. As he is snail crawling as walking towards me; I look into my telescope to find the star I'm looking for. When I spot it, I keep the telescope in place while I look back over at my snail companion.

"I already found the star I was looking for. So, if you look into the telescope you'll see it automatically." I tell him.

He bends down and looks into the telescope.

"Holy shi... Shoot. That thing is actually bright." He says shocked.

"Yes it is." I say with amusement dancing in my voice over his shocked features.

"Since I'm now in the constellation club. Can you do a beginners course for me? So, I can at least know the basics. For when they ramble on about something; I know what they're actually speaking of." He rambles out.

"Is Hayden Huxley, the jock asking Katie Alder, the freak for help?" I says jokingly.

"Uhhh." He starts to say while scratching his head.

"You're not a freak. You're just you. You're just unique and yourself." Hayden softly says.

I don't know how to respond to what he's said. So I say the only thing I can think of.

"What do you want to learn first?"

"Uh? What constellations are visible tonight and how did they become a constellation. I guess." Hayden says wary of his answer.

"Orion, the ones boarding Orion are Gemini, Taurus, Eridanus, Lepus and Monoceros." I answer.

"Orion is named after the demigod. The Greek myth is Orion led a tragic life, he stepped on a scorpion and died. The gods felt sorry for him and placed him and his two dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor in the sky." I explain.

I begin to point out each constellation. First Orion.

"Orion the Hunter, you can easily point him out because his belt has three bright stars. The stars are the three kings or three queens. The stars are Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Again the easiest way to find Orion is these three stars." I explain again.

I point out Lepus next. I glance over and see Hayden with an awestruck look in his eyes.

Maybe he's actually enjoying this.

"To find Lepus, it lies under Orion's feet. So look for his feet and bam there's Lepus. A myth for Lepus is, it's usually being hunted by Orion." I start to explain.

I point out Monoceros next.

"Monoceros' name means unicorn. You can find it by looking to the left of Orion and just above Sirius, which is the brightest star at night. There isn't a myth about Monoceros." I explain again.

I point to Gemini next.

"Gemini is the zodiac sign, it's twins constellation. To find Gemini just look for Orion and look slightly northeast of Orion and you'll see it. Myth on Gemini is constellation represents the twins Castor and Polydeuces. These were born from an egg after their mother, Leda, Queen of Sparta, had been seduced by Zeus, disguised as a swan." I begin to explain.

I point out Taurus constellation.

"Taurus is also a zodiac constellation. To find it just look at Orion's Belt and look north east of it. You'll see the face of a bull. In Greek mythology, the god Zeus turned himself into a bull to carry Princess Europa off to the island of Crete." I explain about this constellation.

I turn towards Hayden again after I explained everything. He's face shows shock and amazement.

"Wow!" He states after being silent for so long.

"Wow in a good way?" I ask.

"That's just incredible!" He says with a smile.

"We can always come here on Saturdays if you like." I offer.

"I would love that." He answers.

He helps me pack up all my things. Once everything is packed, he keeps my telescope on his shoulder. He begins to walk me three blocks to my house. Once at my porch, he places it down by my door.

"I'll see you Monday." He says as he walks back down the sidewalk.

Maybe there's a miracle in him after all.

Just maybe.