Star by Eliza Witte - HTML preview

6

‘He had everything with regards to the Earth order,’ thundered the Boss, ‘He was rich, he was famous and the world was at his feet.’ However, Ankaa was not someone to be yelled at without yelling back in return, ‘The Earth order! Nobody cares about the Earth order. Even the Earthlings don’t care about the Earth order. What about the Universal order? What if he didn’t have something from the Universal order and he missed it. If He missed it badly even!’

(Oh, my!)

‘The Universe graced him with talent and that’s the most he could get from the Universal order.’

‘But in the Purpose of Meaning it is said that love is… Oh, my God!’

‘No need to shout. I’m here!’

‘He might have had everything but love! I mean, he had his fans, and this Dian-girl, but she’s so wrong for him, and… Make me into a girl!’

It was true that I had bitten all my nails while listening to Ankaa’s story and even now, I just get sick when I think of all the nerves this cost me to listen to her. Empathy is a strange thing but even now I can imagine her voice and her dreamy freckled face with one naughty flames-gold lock on her brow, standing there quite alone barefooted and thus fragile and absolutely helpless in front of the ultimate power, answering to His question - Why should He make her into a girl?

‘Because he is unique. Because he is more unique than other people and because…

I love him.’

III

Bellatrix4 and Pollux5 had already gathered around Ankaa in the garden when I arrived after the choir. Needless to say, Ankaa missed it again but this time the Choir Master – Sargas didn’t even bother to get angry. It had become known that Ankaa was to travel and this was the reason for a lot of gossip and speculation that even Sargas gladly took a part in, as Ankaa was only too young. The last star to go on such a trip had been authorized over 50 years ago. This was a small asteroid named B612 and his owner, approximately at Ankaa’s age, was allowed to visit Earth because first, he was known to be of noble origin owning some volcanoes, and second, he also owned a very special 4

Bellatrix - Gamma Orionis - Latin: ‘the female warrior’ - Orion 5

Pollux - Beta Geminorum - Greek: immortal Gemini twin brother - Gemini 7

biological species – a flower, which was considered to have come exactly from the Earth.

Given that his mission was rather exploring.

The crowd around Ankaa was gradually becoming bigger. They were all eager to hear the details and started after her when she finally got off from the swing and headed for a walk, as we had initially thought. The stars were whispering to each other excitedly and all of them were trying to get closer to her in order to hear her words. She, as usual, was willing to talk and it was one of those moments when she felt she was at her zenith. Once she shared with me that if she could be the only one to talk and the entire Universe to listen to her, she’d be the happiest soul in the world. So she went on, ‘I’ll have to prepare myself fast before I go down there. The Boss will prepare things for me. I guess the way He does it here. I’ll have everything the Earthlings have – fear, pain – whatever this may mean – but the best part of it is that I’ll be able to experience hunger!’

The stars couldn’t exactly figure out why she was so excited about that but she decided to put them at ease. Triumphantly she proclaimed, ‘Off to McDonalds!’

They only got even more puzzled at that, but she was too busy explaining the situation further, ‘I won’t be able to sneeze, however, whatever that may mean. When someone sneezes the others tell him ‘Bless you!’ I have been blessed enough already by being created a star so I won’t be able to sneeze anyway.’

Slowly we all approached the World Information Center again.

‘Observing the humans again?’ Pollux came to it first.

‘I told you I had to prepare myself. I have to study. So, see you!’ Ankaa said and quickly slipped inside.

Bellatrix couldn’t hold it any more, either, ‘I wish she was that persevering at the choir, too,’ She murmured, but then added softly, ‘I envy her in a way, though.’

IV

On her last evening among us, I went to visit her in her pannier (or her basket). Like every other star, she had a specific orbit to follow, the common center of the mass of other stars, but then at one particular point of the ellipse, the pannier was put there to serve her as an astronomical home. I wasn’t surprised then to see a beautiful hologram copy of a poster of Stuart Reynolds just above her bed.

‘I snatched it off from the World Information Center today,’ proclaimed Ankaa proudly,

‘And I plan to take it with me,’ she added.