Moonshadow

"Jesus. This light is killing my eyes."

"I know."

"Is that normal? I mean, holy crap, look at this." Sid pointed to a blazing dot crawling on his jeans. "It's like a laser beam shooting out of there."

"The moon is full, what do you want me to do about it? I used to have a lunar filter to make it dimmer, but it's gone. I have no idea what happened to it. I haven't pulled this thing out in like five years."

Sid bent down to the telescope, and the brilliant little moon slid up his face and onto his eyeball. "That's so wild."

"What?"

"You can see, like, everything. It looks three dimensional hanging up there. Like a ball. I can almost touch it."

"It is three dimensional, you idiot."

"Yeah, no shit! But you can see it. Really see it!"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down, man. Don't wake up my parents."

Sid crumpled a beer can and chucked it into the yard.

"Come on!" Mike said. "Go pick that shit up."

Sid fished in the ice and cracked the lid of another can. "Hey, speaking of your parents, remember that party back in high school? Man, we really trashed your house."

"My mother cried when she got home."

"Yeah.... The good old days."

"I'm sorry to break this to you, Sid, but you're all grown up now. College graduation is the magic line."

Sid ripped out a juicy belch. "Screw that."

Mike pushed Sid out of the way. He took the controls and dialed the telescope back toward the moon.

"That's a pain in the ass," Sid said. "Why is it always moving? How are you supposed to see anything?"

"The Earth is rotating, jackass. Think, man. Think."

Mike chased the glow until the white landscape sprang into view.

God, it was a clear night. He could almost reach out and poke his fingertips into the craters.

What was it about that dusty light? It shined straight through you. The moonshadows of trees bent on the lawn like negatives, the x-ray of something much older.

Mike pulled back from the lens and turned to look behind him. As usual, his shadow didn't feel like his. It seemed to be staring into the night.

Sid was watching.

"You always were weird, Mike. You know that? Sometimes you scare me."

Mike closed his eyes and pulled in some of the dark air. Each breath was different, filled with hidden things.

He let it out. Sid was still staring.

Mike smiled. "You want another beer?"

[Picture: another example of me messing around with my old telescope. This was taken January 3, 2007, the night of an amazing moon.]