Odyssey’s Child by John Lockton

Author:John Lockton [Lockton, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Waterside Productions
Published: 2022-01-05T06:00:00+00:00

…

A clear night gave George an opportunity to give Ethan an astronomy lesson, and it was a clear night in Statia harbor. Night was displaying each and every one of its brightest gems to him, a pre-moonrise sky like black velvet, reaching down to him, vying for his attention.

He’d taken an astronomy class at college, and throughout the voyage taught Ethan what he remembered, pointing out stars and constellations, sitting close to Ethan in the cockpit under the silent stars, under the humbling vastness of the Caribbean sky, enveloped by night, any distance between him and Ethan made insignificant, sweet shore breezes surrounding them with flowered land scents, the happiest time of the day for George.

Ethan participated with delight, fascinated by the stars, and he gave rapt attention to George as he carefully named each star and showed how to find it in its sheltering constellation.

Ethan asked, “Are the stars closer here. They sure look closer than at home.”

He replied, “They do look closer. It’s because there’s no light from houses to get in the way.”

Johnson said from the side, “No. It because God is closer on de sea.”

George smiled and said, “Maybe so.”

During the star-gazing lessons, when Ethan’s attention was focused on stars, George would casually put his arm around Evan’s shoulder or his hand on his knee, pointing out this or that, he thought exactly what one would do when instructing one’s son. Ethan would eventually look around, shrug off his arm, and move away, just far enough to avoid contact. By Statia George could see that Ethan had already memorized most of the visible constellations and major stars.

That night George promised something special to Ethan, a meteor shower. The sky streaked and dazzled, lit up every minute or two with brilliant flashes, occasionally at intervals of less than a minute, looking like somebody standing in the constellation Perseus was throwing down fire balls.

George said, “Every meteor shower appears to come out of a particular part of the sky where a particular constellation is located. Showers are named after the constellations where they originate. This comes out of Perseus so is called the Perseid meteor shower.”

A little while later Johnson said, “When I was de child de’ tell me God is de jeweler of de heaven, and dat shooting star be his way of lettin people know dat he up der. Maybe some truth to dat.”

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