stargazer
[ stahr-gey-zer ]
noun
1. a person who stargazes, as an astronomer or astrologer.
2. a daydreamer.
3. an impractical idealist.
4. any of several marine fishes of the family Uranoscopidae, having the eyes at the top of the head.
5. sand stargazer.
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Jenny
flopped on the grass and looked up at the stars. Her friend, Zeke, cocked his head and looked
at her.
“Is
there a reason you are laying down?” He asked.
“Seriously,
Zeke? You have to ask that? We came all this way out here to look at the
stars, and you’re asking why I’m laying down?”
“Can you
not look at the stars standing?”
“It’s
not the same. Come and join me. The grass is really nice and the stars are
beautiful.”
They had
gone as far away from civilization as they possibly could, and the stars were
clearer than Jenny had ever seen. And,
thanks to the warm, cloudless summer night, she had an unobstructed view of the
night sky. This all seemed lost on Zeke,
who simply craned his neck up and looked oddly unimpressed.
“I would
rather remain standing.” He said.
“Oh don’t
give me that. Getting off your feet once
in a while won’t kill you. It’s really
nice.” She patted the ground near her.
Zeke stood
still for a moment and then lay down. He
did so with an awkward, jerking movement that was in no way normal. He did that whenever he had to stop
standing. Even just sitting seemed like
a chore for him.
“You are
such a weird guy, Zeke.” Jenny said. “It’s
like your skin isn’t really your own.”
Zeke
stiffened. “What makes you say that?” He
asked. His eyes darted around as he
spoke.
“Just
the way you move and stuff. It’s like…like
you aren’t comfortable in your own skin, you know? Like it’s someone else’s and you’re just
borrowing it.”
“I
see. That is a silly thing. You are being silly. There is no way that is possible, of course.”
“Well,
yeah, obviously. But you could learn to
loosen up a bit. Just sit back and
relax. That’s why I took you out
here. Just lay back and look at the
stars on a beautiful night like this.”
“I do
not see what is so relaxing about looking at stars. You can not make out any fine detail from
this location.”
“That’s
not the point. Oh hey, look, there’s Orion,
and there’s the Big Dipper. You can see
all the constellations really well out here.
Way better than you can back home.”
“You see
patterns in the stars?”
“Just the
normal ones.”
“I do
not see the use in such a thing. They
are not even in the position they appear to be in.” He pointed to two random stars that were
close to each other. “Those two, for
example, are exactly 245,398 light years apart.”
“That’s…that’s
kind of specific.”
“Specificity
is important.”
“Yeah,
but that was…I mean, it’s like you’ve been there or something.”
Zeke
lowered his arm quickly. “That is crazy. You are being crazy with that line of
thought. I would recommend not
continuing it. Why not talk about more
star patterns?”
“You
mean constellations?”
“Yes. Constellations.”
Jenny shook her head. Zeke was a good guy, but he was so weird.
**************************
Yeah, that guy's totally an alien, as if that wasn't clear enough.
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