Star by Eliza Witte - HTML preview

49

The Parkers gaped. Yet, Alcyone was perfect again, ‘This is a joke between us!’ he explained and then turned to Annie, ‘Don’t you want to go and get a coke or something, sweetie?’ He sent her away and apologized saying that we’d really like to see Annie now. We shook hands with Jessie’s parents and we parted like good friends and not before we exchanged full details. By the way the Parkers got really impressed when Alcyone handed them his business card from NASA.

We followed Annie to a soft drinks stand not far away; we got the coke and sat quietly on a bench nearby. Annie exploded, ‘Now will somebody be kind enough to explain to me what’s going on?’

‘We missed you so much!’ I said and hugged her again.

‘I missed you, too but… True, you told me to think of you if I ever needed you but I didn't expect you’d come.’

I laughed, ‘In fact, do you know what keeps the entire cosmos going? The thoughts! I didn’t expect you’d know about that then because you never came to the choir. You sang about it, you know? It was your thoughts that made you apply to this College to meet Stu. It was your thoughts for me and my thoughts for you that made us come. Be it the Great Cosmic Thought or the thought of the tiniest living soul in the universe, this is what really keeps the Universe going. Apart from that, you addressed us directly in a prayer and it has been heard so our Boss allowed us to come.’

‘You really care about me,’ Annie smiled.

‘Of course we do – we are your parents,’ Alcyone confirmed.

‘Don’t talk like that! Stars don’t have parents,’ Annie snapped at him but did I mention that he was perfect, ‘Do you still dream about stars, my dear?’

‘Yes,’ Annie admitted quietly. She looked clearly puzzled now but I knew that this conversation would help her finally define her own reality. She had become so thoughtful all of a sudden that Alcyone felt really sorry for her, ‘Hey, Annie, we love you! As simple as that!’

I nodded and smiled and then took a sip of my coke, ‘Wow! That’s terrific!’

‘A-ha!’ Annie jumped up, ‘Now, you've given yourself away. Parents, shmarents – I know you from other dimensions! Ha-haaaaaa! But I’m so happy to have you with me now!’

She was beaming with joy.

‘How are the lessons, Annie?’ Alcyone posed his next question.

‘Fine! They say that I’m the best in class but I don’t remember it.’

‘Annie, the lessons?’ said Alcyone in a gentle reminder.

‘A-a-a-ah, THE lessons! Well, we met twice. We talked about music. I work in a bar. I even found him a job there just to keep an eye on him. However, he still doesn’t know.

Honestly, I’m not very successful yet but I’m doing my best and whenever I get into a mess I 50

go to church. The church is a very strange place. If it wasn’t that small it could even be the perfect energy station for space-ships.’

‘Yes, we study this opportunity in NASA too,’ Alcyone said and handed another business card to Annie.

‘NASA? The same guys that actually pollute space? Now you work for them?’

Much later on I shared with Alcyone that I wasn't worried about Annie any more. She had become more practical and she coped with this life even better than us. I was pretty excited to taste its flavor, too. Plus, it was Saturday. Alcyone was to take me dancing. Earth, moon, sky or space – it didn’t really matter.

XXIX

‘Why did you behave like that? You didn’t say a single word. You did that deliberately, didn’t you? It was so rude. It didn’t look right at all!’ For Mrs. Reynolds looks were everything.

When accompanying her husband at meetings, like it was the case today, she knew she was supposed to be just stunning - to smile, to nod politely, to listen and never to open her mouth.

Why? Because it looked right. When leading her feminists’ party she was supposed to be active, aggressive even and talkative because it looked right. When inviting her friends for a coffee at their house she was supposed to be discontent of family life, bored by her husband and worried about her son, because it looked right. Now she was scolding Stu in the corridor after the meeting at the chancellor because he DIDN’T look right.

‘If everything is good here, as the chancellor said, it doesn’t really matter, Bella,’ Mr.

Reynolds interfered but then he addressed his son in a rather stern manner.

‘You don’t overdo it with the girls, do you, Junior?’

‘No, sir!’

‘With the booze?’

‘No, sir!’

‘With the weed?’

‘No, sir!’ Stu looked totally cold-blooded but in fact he was trembling inside. He prayed this horrible day would come to an end at last.

‘Well, that was exactly what I came to hear,’ said Mr. Reynolds content.

‘May I go now, sir?’ Stu asked quietly, ‘I'm currently working on a song and at the moment the rehearsal room is free.’ Mr. Reynolds nodded. ‘Thank you for coming, sir, ma’m,’

Stu managed to utter and after all the rant had been given, he slipped into the maze of corridors as quickly as he could.