Every Soul a Star (23 page)

“It must have been some game!” I say, smiling at Pete. I force myself to raise my head to David.

“You doing okay?” David asks. “We heard about Silver having to go home.”

I nod. “He hopes to be back before the eclipse.”

We stand there awkwardly until a familiar voice says, “Can’t an old lady get some eggs or are you young men going to take all of ’em?”

I turn to find Stella, in a green sweat suit and a straw hat with a purple sash. If I ever draw her, I’d like to draw her in this outfit.

“By all means,” David says, waving her toward the buffet. “Ladies first.”

We all have breakfast together, and I fill them in on Mr. Silver’s project. They listen intently, David often interrupting me with scientific questions I don’t know the answers to. Ryan’s grandfather puts his hand gently on Stella’s shoulder. “Might I join you?”

“Of course,” she says, reddening slightly.

The old man carefully brings his legs over the side of the bench and sits down next to her. “My grand-son is bringing me breakfast today,” he says. “I’m a lucky guy.”

This is the first time I’ve seen Stella act shy. I’m trying to decide if I should tease her or not, when Ryan heads over and puts down two trays.

“Hey, Jack,” Ryan says. “Don’t eat too much. We’re going jogging in an hour. Don’t want you throwing up on my watch.”

“I won’t,” I promise, watching Stella daintily cut her pancakes. I’ve eaten with Stella before. She usually eats like a truck driver. I wonder if Ryan is okay with his grandfather getting friendly with another woman, even though it was his grandmother who did the leaving. I wonder what happened to Stella’s own husband. I wonder why I never asked.

An hour later I’m panting my way across the Moon Shadow. I usually avoid running or jogging whenever possible. It’s not a pretty sight. The only time I’ve run without being totally self-conscious is that time I had to get the first-aid kit. Ryan isn’t even breathless as he leads me past the RV park. I wave at Sam and Max, the little red-haired twins. Their mom had been desperate for someone to watch them a few days ago, and I was the first person she saw who didn’t run away when she approached. All the twins wanted to do was use the sidewalk chalk to draw dinosaurs. It was actually a lot of fun. I might take up babysitting when I get home. If Mike would ever let me live it down. I notice the dinosaurs were washed away by the rain and they’d been replaced by a big yellow SpongeBob.

“I really think . . . I think . . . I’m gonna pass out,” I tell Ryan in between gasps for breath.

“Nah, you’ll be fine. Drink plenty of water when you get back.”

But all I can do when I get back to my cabin is collapse on the bed. Whichever t-shirt guy had slept in it was thoughtful enough to make the bed. Not that it would have mattered to me. The next thing I know there’s a knock on the door. I groggily open my eyes and look at my watch. Three o’clock! I slept for five hours!

I scramble off the bed and hurry to the door. I open it to find Ally standing there, looking all clean and refreshed. I wince as I realize what I must look like. I wish I’d taken a shower after the run. I hope I don’t stink. She holds up a big white paper bag and says, “I’ve got sandwiches.”

I rub my eyes. “Sorry?”

“For dinner tonight. I figured we’d go up early. We need to make sure we can find the right star as soon as it’s out.”

I slept right through lunch! It’s not like me to miss a meal. Those sandwiches smell good. “Don’t you have to give one of your talks tonight?”

She shakes her head. “My mom’s going to do it. She feels so guilty about making us move that right now I could probably ask for a pony and she’d give it to me.”

“You want a pony?”

“No. But don’t all girls want ponies?”

“I have no idea.”

“See, that’s my problem.”

“What is?” I know I just woke up, but I’m having a hard time following her.

“Being a girl.”

“You seem to be doing a good job as far as I can see.”

She shakes her head again. “No. I don’t think I am.”

We each sit down on a bed.

“I’m going to ask Bree if she’ll help me.”

“I’m a little scared of her,” I admit.

“Me too,” Ally says, then laughs. “Maybe it’s because she’s so beautiful. Don’t you think she’s the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen?”

I shake my head. “I’ve seen prettier.”

“You have not.”

“I have.” It takes all my courage to look up.

“Oh,” she says, and blushes furiously.

And then because I can’t believe I said that, I blurt out something even more embarrassing. “When I was ten months old I was in a Pampers commercial for plus-sized diapers.”

“You were?”

I nod, mortified, yet unable to stop talking. “It was SD1’s fault. That’s Step Dad Number One,” I quickly explain. “I don’t remember him at all. But he knew someone who was looking for babies of a certain size. There was me and twenty other fat babies crawling around a park—on the jungle gyms, the seesaws, the sandbox, the swings, all in our non-leaking, moved-with-our-bodies, plus-sized Pampers. That commercial aired for six years. If I manage to get into college, it will be paid for.”

“Wow,” she says. “So you’re kind of famous.”

“I could have done without wearing a diaper on national television.”

Before Ally can say anything we hear, “Dude! What are you
talking
about?” I look up to see one of the t-shirt guys sauntering through the door. He flops down on the bed that Ally’s sitting on. “Mind if I chill here for a little? Kinda got used to the place.”

Ally stands up. She’s still holding her bag of sandwiches. “I’ve got to go anyway. Two hundred more people are checking in today.”

“Two
hundred
?”

She nods. “It’s crazy. I mean it’s great, but just insane.”

“And there’s room for everyone?”

She smiles. “We’ve been planning this a long time, remember?”

“Right.”

“Three more days!” t-shirt guy says, punching the air with his fists. I should probably ask his name. I’m not sure if I should kick him for interrupting my time with Ally, or thank him for keeping me from telling any more embarrassing stories.

I walk her to the door and we agree to meet at the shed at seven. She must have seen me eyeing the bag because she holds it out and says, “Would you like your sandwich now, by any chance?”

“Sure,” I say as nonchalantly as possible. “Might as well save you the trouble of bringing it up later.”

She opens the bag and pulls out a sandwich wrapped in tin foil. “I appreciate that. The bag was getting heavy.”

“No problem.” The sandwich is still warm. I wonder what it is.

“It’s meatloaf,” she says. “Left over from lunch.”

I’ve got the sandwich open and am on my third bite before she walks down the last step.

“Dude,” t-shirt guy says as I chew. “You gonna share that or what?”

I shake my head.

“Fine.” He pulls a pixie-stick out of his pocket, rips the end open with his teeth, and pours it down his throat in one swig.

I leave him chanting “Three more days!” and go sit on the porch step. The campground is really hopping. People dragging suitcases, kids jumping and playing, couples holding hands. Last night’s rain has made the ground pretty muddy, but I can tell it’s already starting to dry up from the hot sun.

When I’m done with my sandwich I go back in, grab my towel, and head to the showers. And if I spend a little more time patting down my hair afterward than usual, I wouldn’t admit it.

When I get to our site the first person I see is Ally. She’s standing at the scope talking to Kenny and Melanie. Bree’s in the doorway of the shed drinking a bottle of water. I quickly look the other way before Ally sees me because I’m suddenly mortified that I told her about the diaper commercial. What was I thinking? I’ll have to remember not to carry on a conversation when I’m still half asleep. I’m putting so much effort into not looking at Ally, that I’m not looking where I’m walking. The next thing I know, I’ve tripped over something and am sprawled on the ground.

I hear a groan next to me and turn my head. “Ryan? Why are you on the ground?”

“Ungh,” he moans. “Raw eggs. Trying to make protein shake. Barfed, like, ten times.”

I get to my feet and brush myself off. “That’s rough. Anything I can do?”

He shakes his head and grabs his stomach. “Go on,” he says in a hoarse whisper. “Just leave me to die. If you find the planet, promise me you’ll name it after me.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Fine.” He turns his head away from me. “Some thanks I get for all I’ve done for you. When you start school next year twenty pounds lighter and fifty percent cooler, you’ll remember you dissed me.”

“I’ll send you a thank-you note.”

Bree heads over and kneels down next to Ryan.

“How’s the patient?”

He groans in response.

“He’s all yours,” I tell her. It’s time to face Ally.

I walk up to the scope as Kenny is explaining how to use the computer that he’s re-attached to the scope. Ally smiles at me and I feel my cheeks get hot, but I manage to smile back.

“The first thing we have to do is synch up the telescope to our exact location,” Kenny says. “I have to plug in the longitude and latitude of the nearest city, which we’ve already figured out. Then we’ll need two bright stars to focus on. The GPS built into the computer will find those stars and then once it has those three points, it can find anything else we ask it to.”

“It can go right to any star?” Ally asks. “Or planet?”

Kenny nods. “Or galaxy, or nebula, or even the International Space Station.”

“So it can do the Messier objects?”

He nods. “If they’ve over the horizon at the time.”

Her face falls and then she sighs. “It’s all changing. What’s the point of holding the Messier Marathon if you can just use a computer to find them?”

“Isn’t the point to see them, not find them?” Melanie asks. “It doesn’t really matter how you get there, does it?”

“I guess you’re right,” she says. “It’s just like those comet-hunting machines Ryan’s grandfather told me about. I feel like I’m being left behind.”

”They’ll need someone to run the machines, right?” Melanie asks. “You could learn how to do that.”

“You think so?”

Melanie nods. “Why not?”

I wish there was something I could add to make Ally feel better, but what little I know about astronomy I learned from her.

“Since we’re just waiting around,” Bree says, leaving Ryan twisting dramatically on the ground, “I thought of some more tips for Kenny and Ally. You know, on how to survive in civilization.”

“Oh, great,” Ally says, clearly suspicious.

Bree smiles and pats her on the arm. “Now these might seem really basic to your average four-year-old, but living out here you might have forgotten them.”

“Should I take notes?” Kenny asks, poised to reach into his backpack.

I’m not sure, but I think he might be serious.

Bree rolls her eyes and Kenny pulls back his hand. “First, look both ways before you cross the street. You’re not used to streets with lots of fast-moving cars and trucks and motorcycles. And most accidents happen within a block of the home.”

“She’s right,” Kenny says when Ally groans.

“Second, always make sure your sneakers are tied so you don’t trip in the hall and drop all your books. Nothing makes you look like a bigger dork than dropping your books.”

Kenny looks down at his sneakers. “Mine are Velcro.”

“Good move,” Bree says, nodding approvingly. “Third. Wash your hands before you eat. Strange kids, strange school, strange germs. You aren’t immune to the same things that most kids are. In fact,” she backs up a few feet, “maybe we shouldn’t get too close to you guys.”

Ally narrows her eyes and then runs toward Bree with her arm outstretched. Bree screams playfully as Ally chases her across the hilltop, around the shed, past the scope, and over Ryan’s moaning form. Even though it’s rapidly getting darker, Bree’s startling blue eyes are brighter than I’ve seen them. I finally glimpse what Ryan saw that first day. When she’s happy, Bree’s really pretty. But Ally’s pretty all of the time.

“What’s the last rule?” Kenny calls out when Bree’s path brings her close by.

“Chew before you swallow,” she yells.

“We do eat food out here in the boonies, you know!” Ally calls after her. “I’m pretty sure we know how to do it without choking.”

Once they’ve exhausted themselves, we pass the time by pointing the telescope down at the camp. It’s too powerful to focus in on such relatively nearby objects, but we can see people everywhere, in the Star and Sun Gardens, in the Labyrinth, finishing dinner in the pavilion. It’s amazing how quickly these places have started to feel familiar. And in only four more days, it will all be over. I shake my head to rid myself of those kinds of thoughts.
Focus on the moment,
I tell myself.
It’s all you have.

Ally’s walkie-talkie beeps and she pulls it off her belt loop. She presses the button in response and then holds it up to her ear. “It’s my dad,” she announces a few seconds later. “We got an e-mail from one of Mr. Silver’s team members. From Scotland!”

I can hear noises coming through the walkie-talkie but not the words. Ally holds it up to her ear again and cups her other hand over it to hear better. Then she says, “over and out,” and clips it back to her waist. By this point we’re all gathered around her, closing in like a pack of hungry wolves.

Eyes gleaming, she says, “The guy in Scotland was able to rule out part of the transit window for sure! The other guy in Florida eliminated part of it, too. So tonight it comes down to us and a lady in Italy!”

This stuff is actually starting to make sense to me. Maybe I’m not as bad at science as I thought. “Mr. Silver said that if we catch a transit, then others will start tracking it to see how long the orbit is. And then a huge telescope somewhere will be able to tell if it’s a real planet crossing in front of the star, or something else, like a smaller star.”

“Not too much pressure,” Kenny says. “But that’s okay! We thrive on pressure, right, Team Exo?”