Starry Night

I was finally settled into the couch when my brother called my name. Before I could even fully turn around, something soft collided with the side of my head. 

“Would you stop doing that, Owen?” I chucked the pillow back at him, even though I knew he would just throw it again. 

My eyes focused back on the bright television screen. It was finally movie time, and everyone was beginning to settle down in the living room. Izzy and Anna, my cousins, were splayed out on either side of me. 

Today was a rough day. Anna pushed her brother, Alex, into the lake and he made a whole big deal about it. He pulled out all the theatrics, and even started choking and coughing. He wouldn’t let it go, and used it as leverage to pick the movie. I figured I was in for a long haul when I saw that the beginning of The Emoji Movie was playing when I walked in. 

Of course there were protests, but when Alex kept repeating, “I almost drowned today!” while pointing to his chest. We had no choice but to give in to his insipid choice. It didn’t matter much though because I nodded off pretty quickly to the loudness of the movie. 

The Emoji Movie was still playing when I woke up. I almost didn’t realize that everybody, except my cousin, had gone outside. I reached over to the remote to turn the TV down, which earned me a sour look from Alex, and made my way over to the sliding door and cupped my hands around the glass to try and see what they would be doing by the lake this late at night. It was pitch black outside. I could only see what looked like a small fire from where I was standing on the deck.

On my way down the stairs, I heard a chorus of excited whispers directed towards the sky. When I finally made it to the edge of the lake, I couldn’t help but smile. This was the first time this week that somebody wasn’t going for another person's throat. 

I was so caught up in the commotion of today that I forgot there was supposed to be a meteor shower over the next few days. I thought back to what my mom said to me this morning, “You better be down by the pontoon before it's dark, we’re roasting marshmallows and star-gazing. You haven’t even been spending time with anyone! Also today is the only clear enough day to see the stars.” I rolled my eyes. Of course I was spending time with everyone. We’re in a small lakefront cottage with our entire family, it’s pretty hard to not be around them all the time. 

I tip-toed over to the boat, hoping that nobody would see me, but my plan obviously failed when I tripped on the dock and skinned my knee. When I got closer I could see that eleven people were laying side-by-side like sardines on the rotting seats of our rental boat. Izzy patted the few inches of cushion next to her in an invite for me to sit down. The seat was wet and all of the life-jackets smelled like mildew and skinned fish, but I held back my complaints to preserve the quietness that settled around us like thick fog. I knew it was worth it when I set my head on the railing of the boat and looked up. 

Woah. That was all I could think. I was seeing something that my aunt’s and uncle’s hadn’t even seen in their lifetime, and all I could think was Woah. 

When my mom said there was a meteor shower, I was expecting it to be pathetic or boring, like most of the activities that she tells me about. I was sorely mistaken. The sky was unexplainable. It was unimaginable. Unless you looked up “milky way images from earth” on google, because that’s exactly what I was seeing. I was slightly disappointed when I learned that Iphones can’t capture exactly what my eyes were seeing, but you might as well have thrown my phone in the lake at that point because it was hard to care about anything beside what was right in front of me. The only constellation you can see in Grandville is maybe the little dipper, and that was if you were lucky. Our view from the boat away from city lights provided a way to see everything. It was weird thinking about how far away everything was and how big a star really is. Maybe an alien on another planet was stargazing at the same time as me, and saw earth.

“Woah did you see that?” Anna pointed upwards. “I think it was a shooting star!” 

“No, those are only in movies.” Owen scoffed

“Shut up.” Izzy swatted at both of their heads to quiet them down. 

A few moments went by when I said, “Yeah, it was a shooting-” I couldn’t even finish my sentence before I got rudely cut off by none other than Alex.

“Everybody come inside. Now.” Nobody moved. “Why is nobody listening to me? You can’t leave me alone inside, because I almost drowned today!”

One by one everybody made their way to the stairs. I cannot believe this. I really thought that this year would be different, and nobody would ruin all of the fun. Today was anything but boring, I mean how could it be boring when Alex is here? You could always count on him to add a little spice to your life. Eventually I got up to join them upstairs as well. I stopped mid-step when I heard the screams and whines of the little kids who were persistent on not going to bed. Maybe I could stay outside in the quiet bliss a little longer.