Acreage near Haliburton, Ontario
The moon had already risen low over the pine trees when I, my brother and (with some convincing) my dad got up to watch a scheduled meteorite shower. With city lights miles away, the stars apparently felt that it the area above us was a safe place to hold a huge gathering. I hadn't known that you could fit so many stars in one place!
As we watched, seeing one slip from its place every so often and trail fire across the sky, the conversation went something like this...
Me: Did you see that one?
Dad: That one had a tail!
Brother: I was looking down!
M: You’ve missed all of them so far.
B: I know! I hope I—whoa! There’s one!
D and M: WHERE?!
B: THERE!
M and D: WHERE?
B: THERE!
As you can imagine, it became hard to be specific.
M: There’s a flash!
D and B: Flash where?
M: Over that way!
Silence
M: In that black patch!
Crickets.
A few minutes pass, and Dad goes in to the big, century-old
brick farmhouse to make popcorn
B: What’s that thumping sound?
M: Me.
B: It could be a bear.
M: Bears thump like rabbits?
Dad returns, bearing bowls of popcorn to complement the
full-dome theatre experience.
D: What’s that?
B: We were discussing thumping bears.
D. ???
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