1 Smith
Elizabeth Smith
The Last Moon
“So this is DXH01, and here’s DFN12, these are really good examples of tidal heating. Did you know that the first letter indicates orbital period, the second is size and--” Emily said, leaning across the kitchen table to hold up the two pictures she was coloring in to her brother, Josh. They were both poorly drawn lumpy gray circles set against a starry black background, colored in with crayon marks going in all different directions. They were a mess, even for an 11-year-old.
“And the third is composition, yeah, yeah, yeah. You’ve told me plenty of times.
Plenty of times today, in fact,” her brother interrupted, not bothering to look up from the glowing video game console in his hands. His eyes stared unblinkingly at the bright [Type text] [Type2 text] [Type text] screen that flashed every few seconds, accompanied by scratchy sounds of gunfire and yelling coming through its speakers. He didn’t see his sister’s childish drawings and that was for the best. Certainly, he would have teased her for them and they would have ended up in another fight.
“Ok, but did you know that the largest one ever found, which surprisingly was only 200 years ago, actually has a composition most similar to our planet. Neat, huh?
Obviously, we didn’t know that until we sent the Milne spacecraft, the 4th mission in the
Satellite Explorer series.” Emily spoke very matter-of-factly, but still with a rapid jumbled pace reminiscent of an excited child attempting to recount the plot of a TV show.
Unable to withstand his sister’s miniature lecture, Josh grabbed his cheeks with both hands, pulling his eyelids down in the process, and let out a loud groan. “Holy shit.
Mom, can you make her stop talking?” Josh said. Emily scrunched her face and stuck her tongue out at him from across the table.
Before Josh could react, Emily’s mom held up both hands in a placating gesture and said, “Josh, remember what we talked about, about being nicer to your sister. I think it’s great that she loves asteroids so much.”
“Moons, mom. Not asteroids.” Emily said. She crossed her arms and looked at her mom with her eyes wide and her eyebrows raised, waiting for an apology.
“Right, sweetie.” Her mom flashed her a quick smile. Emily hated that - it was the kind of polite smile reserved when you haven’t heard what someone said, but don’t want to ask them to repeat themselves. Emily slunk back into her chair and sulked, eyeing her mom as she returned to reading through a thick stack of papers on the table. 3 Smith
Normally, Emily would forgive her family for their nonchalance, but today was different. It was exactly seven hours, twenty-two minutes until moon RXH04 would appear just over the horizon in the early morning. Emily had known this date since it had been mentioned in the news several months ago and had also known that she was going to need to get someone to take her to watch it. Out of all her planet’s many moons, this was the last one she had not yet gotten a chance to see. Emily had been rather unsuccessful in trying all night to get her family excited about moons. It was getting late and none of her previous attempts to launch a conversation had led to much.
She shifted around uncomfortably in her seat, and mulled over how to ask them.
Frustrated with her options, Emily stood up in her chair, opting to go with whatever thoughts came to her. Even with the several feet of added height, she wasn’t much taller than her mom and brother, making her dramatic movement decidedly unimpressive.
“I have an announcement,” Emily said. “Mom, Josh, are you listening?”
It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for Emily to spring one of her announcements on the family, so her mother and brother only looked up at her with mild concern. Not a good start, Emily thought. Even so, she felt she couldn’t stop now and so she charged forward with her request, stumbling over her words as she went.
“As I have reminded you all over the past few weeks, tomorrow morning, or late tonight, you know, same thing, is the first rising of RXH04 and, of course, I can’t get there by myself, aaaaaaaand…” Emily let herself trail off before pulling herself up straighter and squeaking out “I need one of you to take me to go see it.” She drew in a deep breath and darted her eyes back and forth between her mother and Josh, trying to survey their reactions. [Type text] [Type4 text] [Type text]
Josh spoke first. “Uh, Em, no one’s going to do that. First of all, we have like 800 moons-“
“54,” Emily corrected, timidly holding up a hand to protest. She wanted to remind him that they were all important, but felt that sentiment could wait.
“God. And second of all, why can’t you just go outside. Pretty sure you can see the sky from here.” He threw his hands toward the tall glass doors on the other side of the kitchen that let in a grand view of their backyard beneath the just-now-darkening twilight sky.
“I’ve told you this before. There are too many buildings and trees and lights – this moon is so low on the horizon, I won’t be able to see a thing. I have to get outside of the city.”
“Wake up, fishface. No one’s gonna get up at god-knows-when and take you to look at some dot in the sky.” Emily looked hopefully over at her mom, who shook her head no and said, “Emily, ignore your brother, but you know I have to get up early for work tomorrow. I’m sorry, maybe we’ll go see it next time.”
Her words struck Emily like a hammer, leaving her with no words and a sharp stab of disappointment. She wanted to scream at them, but she could feel herself starting to cry and decided to hop off the chair and rush upstairs to her room. They called after her, but she held off her tears for just another moment to yell out a warning to leave her alone.
Emily slammed the door of her room behind her. Then she opened it again and slammed it once more, to make sure they knew how mad she was. She felt disgusted by the colorful moon drawings that lined the ceiling and she jumped and swung her hand to 5 Smith bring down one of the pictures that dangled with a loose edge, but her fingertips missed by several inches. Unsuccessful, she stormed over to her bed, grabbed one of the books strewn out over the covers and climbed up to the wide window ledge above it.
The night sky outside was covered by a pinprick pattern of stars, each one split into dozens of copies by the welling tears in her eyes. Emily wistfully gazed at them, tracing out shapes and patterns in her head. The many moons dispersed throughout the sky served as way posts that directed her through the web of stars. She wondered if Josh and her mom could see the patterns. Probably not, she thought, they didn’t get it.
Emily tightly grasped the book in her hands. It was a pocket guide to the history of space exploration. If they didn’t get it, then they wouldn’t have to come. Emily knew she could make it on her own to see the moon. Looking out the window she could see the quiet street welcoming her, the towering streetlamps and neatly planted rows of trees outlining a path out of her neighborhood.
She just had to run away. It couldn’t be that hard – the edge of the city was only a few miles away. I could be back before anyone noticed, she thought.
Emily grabbed her backpack; a small blue sack embroidered with little yellow stars, and threw in anything she thought was necessary. In went a slew of items – some books, a jacket, a journal, a candy bar, and a pair of binoculars. With no room left for anything else, she plopped down on the side of her bed with her bloated backpack strapped to her back and waited for her family to fall asleep. She sat like this for a long time, mentally rehearsing her plan while staring resolutely at the floor and fidgeting with her sheets.
-- [Type text] [Type6 text] [Type text]
She crept down each of the wooden stairs slowly and deliberately, stopping to wince and peek over her shoulder whenever she heard a creak. The darkened hallway behind her was still each time; she knew that no one would be awake now. Her mother went to bed at the same time each night and her brother never left his room. But when she had finished the painstakingly slow trip down the stairs, she heard sounds coming from the kitchen and realized that she wasn’t the only one downstairs. Emily shuffled quickly against the hallway wall to peek her head around the corner and saw that her mother was sitting at the kitchen table, engrossed in reading the work papers fanned out in front of her.
Emily considered abandoning her plan; she thought if she was quiet, she could simply sneak back upstairs. However, as she turned around, her book slipped from her nervous, shaking hands and hit the floor with a thud.
“Emily? What are you doing up?”
Her mother’s gentle voice made Emily feel relieved to realize that her mother wasn’t angry. In fact, it seemed that she had no idea at all of her daughter’s plans. When
Emily conjured a story about not being able to sleep and moved to retrieve the book that had slid away from her, her mom added, “I know that you’re upset about earlier, but you know its not a good idea to run away like that.”
Emily stopped. She looked anxiously over at her mom before realizing that she wasn’t referring to her plans to run away. Even so, the anxious feeling nagging at her refused to fade, and she struggled to carry on a normal conversation with her mom.
When Emily picked up her book, she saw that it had fallen open to the worn out page that she had looked at over and over. It was a famous picture, called ‘Earthset,’ 7 Smith taken in an era that had long since passed. She had gotten the book on her 10th birthday, just over a year ago, and looked at it every night since. It didn’t have much in it that she hadn’t already known, but she loved all of its beautiful photographs.
“Oh that book is so torn to pieces, why do you still have it? I’ll get you a new one,” her mother said, reaching out to take the book from Emily’s hands and frowning at its condition.
“But look at the picture, Mom. Do you recognize it?” It was a silly question; everyone had seen that picture before. It was the most famous of the last pictures taken of
Earth. Seeing her mom shrug and nod agreeably, prompted Emily to begin rambling on, not wanting to let the room go silent and give her mother the chance to see through her act.
“Did you know that Earth only had one moon? That’s so strange. It must have been so boring to look at the night sky, I would hate to live there.”
“Oh, it doesn’t seem so bad.”
Emily ran her fingers across the thick inky pages of her history book, thinking about what life there must have been like. The place in the picture looked like it could be her own planet’s twin – it was just a little small, perhaps.
“Have you ever been there, Mom?”
“Where’s that?”
“Earth - the planet in the book.”
“No, no one’s been there in hundreds of years.” Her mom let out a tired laugh.
She put on a mock pouting face and asked, “Do you really think I’m that old?” [Type text] [Type8 text] [Type text]
Emily felt herself relax for the first time that night, giggling at the ridiculous mental picture of her mom as an extremely old space-traveler.
Her mom yawned and patted her lovingly on the head. “All right gigglebox, I’m heading back to bed now. Try not to stay up too late, ok?”
Emily watched her mom walk out of the kitchen and into the dimly lit hallway, her arms folded against her thin knit robe and her slippers making a soft scraping sound against the wooden floor. As she left, Emily began to feel queasy and wanted to run after her, to hug her and promise her that she would never do something crazy like run away.
But her mouth stayed shut and her legs planted on the floor. She sat there, frozen in place, arguing with herself in her thoughts.
Don’t go! Mom and Josh would be heartbroken if something happened to you.
Well, maybe just mom.
Look - it’s your last chance; nothing bad is gonna happen.
You have to go!
Regaining this small glint of determination, Emily did her best to stop thinking entirely, knowing that her thoughts would chase themselves in circles all night if she let them. She made her way stealthily over to the sliding glass doors at the opposite end of the kitchen, making exaggerated long arcs with each footstep. She opened the door just enough to allow her tiny frame to squeeze through and then carefully latched it behind her. There’s no time to waste now. Her feet instinctively guided her in the darkness, until she reached the bicycle that had been left overturned in the yard. It creaked as she walked it to the wide black street composed of glassy panels, but she hopped on without 9 Smith hesitation. Up ahead, the dim lights of her neighbors’ houses guided her as she pedaled furiously, desperate to get out of sight of her own house.
Her neighborhood was one of many exactly like it, and Emily could recreate its layout in her imagination perfectly. As she made her way up the street, she felt an icy winter wind burn against her nose and cheeks, and she focused on this image of herself moving up and sideways through the grid of streets in her city to keep her mind off the cold. Looking to her right, she saw the steep cliffs overlooking the black ocean from which the cold came. Her city rested on a narrow, raised island, surrounded by a shallow ocean, though other cities, resting on their own islands, could be seen softly twinkling along the horizon.
The streets were quiet, which was expected this late into the night, and she kept her head down whenever a lone car passed to avoid being questioned. However, this precaution was unnecessary as her small figure passed unnoticed in and out of the long shadows cast by the streetlamps.
She was rather far from home now, and even though she still knew where she was, everything felt terribly unfamiliar. She was now passing the park where she had spent countless hours, but in the dark stillness of the night, its empty grass fields felt anything but comforting. Emily decided this was far enough into the outskirts of the city and decided to stop here. It wasn’t ideal, but it was almost time for the moon to rise and she dreaded the thought of venturing any farther out. She laid down on a patch of open grass, and reflexively hopped back to her feet as she realized it was slightly damp. Wait, what? Had it rained a bit earlier? She looked up, and began to panic. There were patchy clouds creeping across the sky in all directions. She looked down at her watch; the time [Type text] [Type10 text] [Type text] read 3:21, only fifteen minutes left until the moon would appear. She felt sick, and squeezed her eyes shut and repeatedly whispered her wish to the universe.
“Please let the clouds move, please, please, please…”
Emily peeked one eye open to check if her plea had been heard. It had not – the clouds had only become thicker, the sky behind them now impossible to see. Emily checked her watch again. 3:29. She told herself that it was still possible and she searched the sky hopefully with her eyes, like a mother anxiously scanning a busy street after losing sight of a small child. 3:33. It was too late for the clouds to disperse in time, but
Emily obstinately kept her gaze fixed on the horizon. 3:35. 3:36. The impenetrable black sky colored with the faint orange glow of distant city lights loomed decisively over
Emily. Her wish to see the moon had been denied tonight. Emily stood there for a few minutes more, not in hopes of the weather changing, but because she didn’t know what to do. Shivering in the frigid air, Emily looked around the park, wanting to see her family there, wanting to cry in her mother’s arms and have them all ride back together. But
Emily was alone. Other than the occasional sound of the wind rustling through the trees, the only thing that could be heard now was the desperate sobs of a little girl who was too far from home.
Emily slumped down onto the wet grass, doubling over and hugging herself tightly, ignoring how scratchy the ground felt against her knees. When her cries mellowed down to soft, shaky breaths, she realized she could barely make out a low hum coming from behind her. Not fearing what it might be, she turned to see the familiar lanky figure of her brother leaning against his car.
“So are you done or do I have to watch you blubber some more?” 11 Smith
Emily felt relieved and embarrassed all at once. She rushed to wipe her face with her sleeve, as if there was a chance her brother might not notice her wet cheeks and puffy red eyes.
“How’d you know I was out here?” Her voice lacked the standoffish tone she usually used to stand up to her brother.
Josh put his fingers to his chin and pretended to ponder her question. “Let’s see, first, you were loud as fuck when you left the kitchen. Seriously Em, do you not know how to shut a door without slamming it?”
“And B,” Josh said, tapping the face of his watch, “Mom set us up with that family location plan. So, all in all, not too hard.”
“Oh, um, I guess I didn’t really think about that.”
“You know, for someone so smart you sure are a dumbass.” Josh had another insult lined up, but stopped when he saw his sister begin sniffling again.
“Oh shit. Hey, hey, don’t do that,” Josh said, dropping his snarky attitude. He hurried over to where she stood, unsure of how to approach his little sister as she clutched one hanging arm and hung her head down.
Josh put his arm around her and led her to the car, pushing her gently along as she dug her heels into the ground. She entered the car wordlessly, refusing to make eye contact with her brother.
“Come on, let’s go home. That moon sucked anyway,” he said, climbing into the drivers seat.
“Sucked? I can’t see it again for another-”
“Another 6 years?” [Type text] [Type12 text] [Type text]
“What? How’d you know that?” She asked him, wide-eyed with amazement.
“Well, I just wanted to know how long I’d have to deal with you sulking,” Josh joked, but Emily didn’t laugh.
They drove in silence for a while, until Josh pulled the car to the side of the road and turned to Emily. “Hey Emily. Next time that moon comes around… maybe I’ll even let you take my car to go see it.” Emily silently nodded and continued to stare out the window. But as he started the engine, Josh thought he could see a small smile just begin to show on Emily’s face.