Stars

“Daddy, tell me another story!” Billy exclaimed bouncing up and down on his bed. Norris sighed, Billy had been pulling this tactic on him for the past two weeks now. He felt like he was running out of clever ideas, and nothing in his head was striking him as particularly interesting.

He stared off into the clear night sky. The stars twinkled bright as if they had something to prove. Norris felt vindicated in his choice to move out to the country. His wife had complained non-stop about the inconveniences of being so far away from everything. But, his front door was unlocked and all his windows were open. He had no fear of intruders or idiots trying to bust into his house and, well, be idiots. City life was good for them, but the breeze pulsing through his house was invigorating. They were miles from their nearest neighbor and the property was so inexpensive.

“Daddy!” Billy cried out, his eyes pleading desperately for more imagery. This snapped Norris away from his reverie.

“Of course Billy,” he started, and then gave the same disclaimer he had been touting for the past fortnight once more, “but this is the last night we get to have a second story. You need your sleep.”

“Yay!” Billy was positively bursting with excitement. Norris shot him a stern glance. Billy snuggled down into his undersized bed. Norris pulled the comforter at the base of the bed and tucked it all around Billy giving a very slim chance of escape, or any movement for that matter.

“Tonight Billy I will tell you the story of the blind stargazer.”

“What’s a Stargazer?”

“A person who looks up at the stars and uses what they see to determine future events.”

“But if he is blind how can he see the stars?” Billy said thoughtfully. Norris was used to this type of questioning from his son. He encouraged it. He felt to many people his age had stopped questioning in general. That they just got as much information as the could glean from what was around them and assumed the rest without really trying to understand anything, or even worse, blindly believing what other people told them, even if it made little to no sense whatsoever. He would not raise a son who ended up like that. That would be his mark on society, or at least bringing up a more sophisticated next generation. He could really only hope at this point.

“An excellent question Billy. You see he didn’t need sight as we know it. He felt the stars in the universe. He knew exactly where each one was at any given time. No one was sure how he did it, or how he even knew in the first place, but sure as the day is long if you asked where a particular star was he would be able to point directly to it.”

“That sounds fascinating!” Billy yawned.

“It is Billy. This world is infinite and there are so many different ways that people can be. It’s just one big wonderful place filled with…” Norris looked down and saw that Billy was fast asleep. His job done for the night he crept out of the room turning off the lights as he went. As he closed the door behind him the story he was building up in his mind evaporated into the aether. It was a long night and he felt sleep pulling at himself as well. He wondered down to his room and was asleep within seconds of his head brushing his pillow.

-V-

Bar Scene

I sat at the bar staring at the drink in front of me. I was so tired of this city. Everywhere I went I was alone. It seemed impossible to make friends around here. Sure it had only been a few days, but I’m one to pride myself on being able to land on my feet no matter where I am. It seems this time I was going to have a few broken legs as well. Or was I already broken before I came here. I’m not so sure anymore.

I decided to play an old game I’d play when I got bored. Watching groups of people, I would write my own personal story for them. Like the hagridden man at the end of the bar, he looked to be in his late fifties. Three empty shot glasses sat beside him, each one a fallen soldier to his misery. By looking at him I decided that his good wife had died three years prior. No children between them. And this was their anniversary night. He would come here every year and add one more shot to drown away his sadness.

He has his wife’s dog to keep him company, a little beagle he never really liked, but it’s the only living thing connecting him to his passed wife. The dog would keep him up nights howling for his missing mistress, never really understanding why she would never be coming back home. And in this anguish they both found solace in each other.

Over in the corner, one couple was fighting at a table by the door. I imagined their conversation something like this:

“What do you mean, we’re breaking up?”

“Well dear.” He said this with a fair amount of venom and sarcasm, “You never really took the time to get to know me. And I think after all this time, I really did get to know who and what you truly are. What’s sad is that because of these two disparate reasons we are going to have the same conclusions. I don’t care that you won’t be part of my life because I do know what you are. And you won’t care that I won’t be part of yours because you have no idea what I am.”

She looked at him blankly, grabbed her drink and poured it over his head. I suppose that relationship truly was over. The only other person in the bar sat behind it, pulling out drinks. The bartender was in her late twenties and had jet-black hair. She had black ink tattoos all over her arms.

For the first time, I had no story to create for this person. I tried many scenarios in my head, but nothing would coalesce in my mind. I again felt tired of being here, in this city, without any friends or people to connect with. I found it was best to leave this bar now. Back into the streets I plodded, smelling the desperation in the air, I decided to head back to my place.

-V-

Flametips

The sun was saying farewell to us as the fire we had just set up awoke grumpily. James was lying on the ground breathing life into it, being careful to keep his face somewhat shielded by his hand. The trees around us slowly snuck back into the shadows, they would get caught in the light every once in a while by a wisp of flame more daring than the others from the blaze. My friends and I had been coming out to the wilds once a year since we were old enough to set up a tent and be trusted enough not to set the entire area asunder in charred remains. We had pulled large logs from the nearby fallen trees and set them up in a circle around the campfire, just close enough for warmth and vision.

It was traditional for us to trade stories at our annual meeting. Generally they were awful tales of debauchery, corruption, and immorality. Perhaps this was our way of cleansing ourselves of the human condition we didn’t feel quite right calling ourselves a part of? Who knows, I was half the mind that most of these stories were made up. In our youth, the stories were usually some sort of horror tale, the scariest one we could think up, but as one ages we tend to know that most of them are a pack of lies and don’t let ourselves fall for them.

Already a few anecdotes and fables had been relayed, it was now my turn, but this year something unusual happened. Before I could even get my first word out an unknown person in the circle began speaking.

“I will tell you a story of Earth Mother and Field Mouse.” We all turned, confused, to our new companion. None of us were frightened by his appearance; there was something very soothing about him being a part of our circle. Without asking I knew his name, Mr. Jeam. Perhaps he had different names in different places or situations, but right now I knew that’s who he was.

“Field Mouse was playing in his field enjoying the summer day. He ran to the edge of his field and stood on a large rock. From here he could see far and wide and he would dream of going out into the vastness before him. ‘Oh how I wish I could go far and see great things,’ Field Mouse said aloud. ‘You are a field mouse,’ replied Earth Mother, surprising Field Mouse. ‘You must stay in your field and live your life as a field mouse.’

“Field Mouse did not like this at all. ‘But if I wasn’t a field mouse I could go anywhere I wanted!’ He yelled back at Earth Mother. ‘Perhaps,’ she answered, ‘but you are what you are, and you must be what you are.’ Field Mouse was unhappy with this. ‘But you are Earth Mother,’ he said back, ‘you can change things. Can’t you help me see the world?’ She stared at him a moment and nodded.

“Father Eagle came out of the sky and plucked up Field Mouse, digging his talons into Field Mouse’s sides, and pulled him up into the sky. From here Father Eagle flew Field Mouse farther than he had ever seen before. In Field Mouse’s dying moments he felt true happiness that he had finally seen the world.”

With that Mr. Jeam stood up and walked into the shadows. We all sat pondering his unusual story. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand what he was trying to tell any of us, but I felt touched by the story nonetheless.

-V-