Every Soul a Star: Chapter 7–Epilogues

Now, in five hours, barring the end of the world, the moon will obliterate the sun.

This is where most people will view the eclipse. The huge projection screens are already set up and a crew is testing the sound system.

The painting shows two Asian men, in togas, standing next to an old-fashioned telescope. In front of the painting is a little printed sign that reads HO AND HSI, ROYAL CHINESE ASTRONOMERS, CIRCA 2000 B.C. IF ONLY YOU HAD WARNED THE KING ABOUT THE ECLIPSE. REST IN PEACE. All over the makeshift shrine people have left small gifts.

"...But he said this proves amateur astronomers can play a really important role in confirming exoplanets." His enthusiasm dampens a little. "At least for now. Until those planet-finding telescopes are launched into space in a few years."

He's also in charge of making sure no one is disturbing the peace or littering. For a ten-year-old with a sunny disposition, he can be very persuasive. People listen to him.

Some people have gotten really creative. Instead of worrying about protecting their eyes, they've built these contraptions out of cardboard boxes that project an image of the sun inside of them. Some are six feet long! I see a lot of people with two pieces of cardboard, one brown, one white, with a pinhole through the brown one.

Along the west side of the field some enterprising eclipse chasers have set up booths selling solar glasses, bottles of water, disposable cameras, and other eclipse-related merchandise.

My heart is pounding so fast I bet everyone can hear it, even over the din of voices.

I'm forced to chastise two people shielding their eyes with their hands, but other than that everyone is being really safe.

The light still seems as bright, but the birds must sense something's going on. Their usual gentle tweeting and chirping is becoming more erratic, almost pleading.

The pearly white corona suddenly streams out from behind the dark moon in all directions, pulsing, looping, swirling, glowing, a halo of unearthly light.

People are starting to mill about now, and excitement is thick in the air.

Some are totally manic, jumping around, testing and retesting their equipment. And some are totally mellow, lounging on their chairs and drinking from plastic cups.

I hear snippets of foreign languages and I look around for Bellana, the woman from the labyrinth, but I don't see her.

Ally is in a state of frenzy next to me. She probably doesn't even realize it, but she's sort of buzzing.

I take a quick look out at the crowd, just in time to see a huge wall of darkness push toward us from the direction of the sun. "The moon's shadow!" I hear Ryan shout. "Here it comes!" It zooms through us like a wall of ghosts, faster than I've ever seen anything move. It's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

And then a few seconds later the sun completely disappears, leaving a hole in the sky. I feel its loss in the pit of my stomach. I hear myself scream involuntarily, but it gets lost among a thousand other screams.

David invited me to a pre-eclipse party at their cabin, but I mumbled something incoherent and left as quickly as I could.

“I promise you, it will come back."
He smiles tentatively and says, “Okay, if you promise."

"Have I been wrong yet?"
He turns his head to look at me skeptically.

"Look at the prominences!"
With one more squeeze Jack lets my hand go. I point the binoculars at the sky. Small pink streamers loop out from the darkened sun, one after another, and disappear. It's so crazy to think the sun shoots those out all day long and we never see them.

Kenny and Melanie gather around the white sheet they put down, trying to see the elusive shadow bands.

The diamond ring returns, followed in quick succession by Baily's Beads.

I feel an inexplicable loss as the light of that single beam shining through a crevice on the moon erases the corona from view.

I feel an inexplicable loss as the light of that single beam shining through a crevice on the moon erases the corona from view.

And I forgot to take a single picture.
Before I can berate myself too much, for the second time today someone puts their hand in mine.

“Um, Astrodork," Kenny says. "You still have your glasses on!"
My hand instinctively reaches up and feels them on the bridge of my nose.

"You know, you've really changed since you've been here."
"I know," he says offhandedly.

"So Jack-in-the-box, keep it real. I hope we'll see you next summer for the Star Party. That is, if I make it a whole year around here without going stark raving mad."

She holds it close to her chest and the gravity of her situation hits me fully for the first time. She's completely walking into the unknown and leaving behind everything she loves.