THE NIGHT SKY UNLEASHED

TESSIE

My dog walk started about fifteen minutes earlier than usual. Two of my cats also joined us. The air temp was cool, just the way I like it. There was no to little wind. I felt comfortable in my shorts and red Sanibel Island tee-shirt. We headed into a backyard behind a large Victorian house. Tessie was loping along on her leash. I saw them first: a pair of gleaming eyes, shining low near the ground, and bouncing toward us. I assumed the eyes belonged to a neighborhood cat. Then I saw another pair of eyes zigzagging closely behind the first pair. And then another. These weren’t cats. They were raccoons! I flash-backed my vet visit two weeks ago, when I had to bring Dobby in for bite wounds. The repair bill cost over $300. (Raising kids is cheaper.) Dobby couldn’t join us as usual tonight because the town has order me to keep him indoors for forty-five days until the threat of rabies has passed. Were these raccoons rabid? 

I tugged at the leash to get Tessie to move back. She wouldn’t budge. I called out to Sirius. He was pressed low to the ground by a stone wall. He wasn’t budging, either. The raccoons scrambled around to the side, where there was more tree cover. I heard one of them shriek a warning. Or was it a dare? I yanked Teesie into the front yard. Safe, I thought. Wrong. Now Tessie was on her hind legs barking at something in the distance. Was it the raccoons again? Or was she barking at nothing at all, which dogs are want to do? Slowly, white flashes appeared at the edge of my viewing. Two white-tailed deer were browsing by the road. They lifted their heads in unison when they saw us. I expected them to head off. They didn’t. 

HUBBLE IMAGE OF UNIVERSE

Tessie and I headed west into a large field. We stood on the crest of an hill. The grass was newly cut. I looked at the sky. At first it looked like a huge solid black dome. But then I began to notice more shades of blue, and some lighter patches.  A haze of white clouds imprinted itself against the northern horizon. City lights stained the sky with more haze. Stars were out. Not many. Maybe thirty in total. No moon. I did not recognize any constellations. This disappointed me. Constellations seem to add beauty to the night sky. And meaning, too. This night sky looked terribly average. Two stars formed a straight line. Another set made a small triangle. Some stars were high, almost straight above me. i had to crane my neck to look. Others sat just above the line of looming trees.  One star was larger and shone more brightly than all the others. It seemed like a flawless diamond. Cold Play has a song called “Yellow.” In it Chris Martin sings, “Look at the stars. Look how they shine for you. And everything you do. Yeah, they were all yellow.” But all the stars I saw were white. I also think I saw a planet. I don’t know which one. Its light was steady, golden in tone. When i looked more closely, I detected hints of reds and greens. They planet glowed like an eye. It was its own fortress against the dark. It was easily the night’s highlight. 

My concentration was distracted by a loud, sharp noise. A car engine had back-fired in the distance. When I looked back into the sky, I saw a plane. Its lights shone. It must have taken off from Logan. Where was it going? Was this a red eye special? Were the passengers going on business or pleasure? The plane’s silence struck me as eerie, especially in contrast with the car’s loud noise. The plane soon disappeared from view.

As we walked along, street lamps punctuated the darkness at regular intervals. They lit up the sidewalks, helping us to see, but they also illuminated the bright white petals of the popcorn trees. A mini-oasis of daylight at ten o’clock in the evening. A passer-by  walked abruptly past. I told him about the raccoons. 

It’s odd but the sky makes me feel as though I am looking both into the future, and into the past, at the dawn of creation.  On the one hand the night sky, especially one that is crowded with stars, can make me feel tiny. But it can also make me feel alive.

Our walk over, Tessie and I bounded up the stone steps to our house. We were joined by Sirius and Fleur. We were all safe for one more night.