Becoming Stars

A bright light jetted across the night sky. It hurtled towards the moon which was emerging from its hiding place and formed a curved scythe in the rich darkness. When the light would cross the luminescent crescent, the two lights would converge and make a great bow and arrow in the sky. Thousands of stars splashed in the black expanse and the Milky Way’s current ran in the southern sky. Peering into the vast expanse above him, thousands of wonders turned before the boy’s eyes.

He couldn’t have been more than 15 and the tale tells signs of puberty raced across his body. A thick covering of peach fuzz spread over his face and he had taken to secretly saving with his mother’s razor. He wasn’t so much ashamed of using his mother hygiene products as much as not knowing how to phase the request for razors of his own, without causing a moment of awkwardness. Of coarse this would be unavoidable either way, for any parent who sees the maturation of their children tend mark of the significant, or less-than-significant, moments of their children’s upbringing; shaving being one of them.

But on this night, the boy not yet a man stared at the night sky, pondering the mysteries of the universe. He wondered what the stars were. He had read tales of how they where the spirits of the gods. In the day time, when there light vanished by the coming of dawn, they would walk among us, causing havoc or bestowing blessings. To other’s they were known as “The Star People”. Once again, when the black of night faded into ocean blue and then fully laminated by the sun, they would walk among the living but hide in the corners of houses and in the attics of barns, not wanting to be seen by humans. Even still, there were tales in the old woman’s books that said that the stars were chewed into existence by a great black mare Her body was the night sky and she tore into her own flesh and she spilled the sliver blood unto her velvet coated flanks. With so many interpretations, and his teacher not exposing her beliefs to him, how could he make up his mind over what these mysterious forces were?

His mother stepped out from the shadows, which was to say that she stopped leaning against the side of the house and stepped towards her son. He heard her approaching, like anyone with ears enough to hear would have but when she had been leaning against the outside wall, he could feel her presence there, though he was not sure if it was his mother or anther person lurking in the night. His senses were becoming more acute and he wasn’t sure if it was his training under the witch or just the simple process of growing up. The detection had been faint and he had hardly needed to concentrate upon her presence to notice she was there. But before he could have contemplated the though farther she spoke.

“What cha looking at?” she said with a air of lightness on her tongue.

He hadn’t needed to turn towards her to know a soft smile formed on her lips as she spoke to him. He took a moment to drink in her demeanor, the moon, the comet, and the multitude of stories regarding the stars and what he felt true in his heart.

“Ma, what do you think the stars are?” he said never turning away from the moon’s gaze.