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| MONDAY'S MOONLIGHT MADNESS |
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My Thrill on Plausawa Hill
They had come from all over, by plane, by bus, by car. I was happy
to see them here, on top of this hill in my small New Hampshire
town. They had come to watch the night
sky - a rare alignment of
planets and the stars that surrounded them.
Plausawa Hill was just a mile from
my house. Small, but treeless on
top and nothing to obstruct our view but a communications tower. The
tower
had a red light on top so places could see it. From the
distance, the eerie sound of yipping coyotes floated
up to us.
I could just make out my friends in the cool darkness. Dorothy was
there, and Jay, Maureen from
a distant land, Heide, and finally
Kristin. How I convinced these ladies to abandon their web sites for
one
night and come to this obscure place, I'll never know. Maybe it
was my magnetic personality. Then I noticed
someone new - a blonde
woman with a bandaged face and hands. Yikes. Anyway, it was time to
begin.
"Are
we all here?" I asked.
"No," answered Maureen. "Julie's late. Should be here anytime. She
doesn't
like aeroplanes, so she's teleporting herself."
"Oh. Oh. Then while we're waiting I guess we can..."
Off
in the tangled brush appeared an odd, yellowish glow. Then a
popping sound, and a thin figure emerged. Julie
had arrived. A few
of us plunged in to help her out.
"Blimey," she said. "I've forgotten my
glasses." Then another glow
around her eyes, and with a smaller pop, wire glasses appeared,
slightly crooked
on her nose. "Oh, good. Never mind."
While Julie chatted to the others, I leaned over to Dorothy.
"Who's
that?" I whispered, looking over at the bandaged blonde woman.
"Oh," she said, "that's Monday Knight.
She's a character from a
book."
I nodded but said nothing. This was turning into quite a night.
"All
right then," I began and the chattering faded. "First, we need
to get our bearings. Does everyone know how
to find North?"
Silence. Then a few arms pointed in different directions.
"Well,
what you do is find the Big Dipper - look straight up and
you'll see it. This time of year it appears upside down."
The
ladies soon found the Dipper and I explained how the end of it
points to the North Star. "That's Polaris - the North
Star. Now
that we know North, who can point West?"
Some arms pointed East, other South. Monday Knight,
of all people,
pointed West. "Very good, er, Monday. Now before we look for those
planets all lined
up, I should explain the Zodiac. The Zodiac is
made of 12 constellations that form a line, more or less. This
is
where you find the planets. Jupiter is now in Gemini, and the other
four, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn
are in Taurus. Going east to
west, we can see Virgo, Leo and Cancer, with Gemini close to the
horizon.
Can anyone find Jupiter? Look for a bright, steady light."
"I see it, I see it!" said Kristin. "It's right
there." And it
was. The others followed suit. "I see it, too." "Oh, it IS
bright!"
"Yup, there it is."
"Now for an even brighter planet, look for Venus."
Venus was even
easier to find, since it was low in the sky and almost as bright as
the Moon. The other planets
were nearby, I told them. You just had
to let your eyes adjust, and they would appear. Only one of us
had
problems.
"I can't see them," said Julie.
"Sure you can," I said.
"I'm cold."
"Look,
Mercury is right there, just right of Venus. See it now?"
"I need a fag."
Jay broke in. "Don, it's
amazing to see all those planets at once.
What else can you tell us about the spring sky?"
"Ah, Jay.
Thanks for asking. Well, the brightest star, the first
one you see when it gets dark, is called Arcturus,
located in the
Herdsman. He's supposed to be a shepherd, sitting and smoking a
pipe. Arcturus has an orange
hue - can anyone see it?"
"Is that the one?" asked Heide. She pointed at a likely candidate.
"Yes,
well done! And there are many others I can tell you about."
"My neck hurts," said Julie.
"You know, mine
does too. One of my star books recommends lying down
so you can look straight up. That's why I brought this
along." I
walked over to a rolled-up wool blanket I'd set aside earlier. I
quickly unfurled it;
several helping hands helped me smooth it over
the level ground.
Julie wasn't impressed. "It's not big enough.
We won't all fit."
"Sure we will. Look, I'll lie in the middle and everyone else can
pile on." The
group soon caught on and in seconds I was being
prodded and squashed by several female body parts; arms, legs, and in
one case, a nice rear end. Altogether, the sensation was not
unpleasant. In the dark, two fragrant heads
found their way to my
shoulders. The thought occurred to me - I should do this more often.
We chattered about
the other sights in the sky - the Milky Way,
unseen now, but out in full force by summer; The Seven Sisters,
comets,
shooting stars. As I mentioned the last one, a brilliant one
shot across the sky and burned out overhead, like a
stray firework.
We all saw it, and it was spectacular.
Sadly, it was getting late and time to go. It had gotten very cold
now and besides, people had long
ways to travel. Julie wrapped
herself in the blanket and waited until all else had left. Something
about
the transporting - she didn't want an audience.
After seeing my guests off, I went back to her. "Okay,
you can do
your thing now. I won't look."
"All right. Byee." Then I waited. No pop.
More seconds went by
and still no pop. I turned around. "What's wrong?"
"Grrrr - won't work.
Bugger it."
I smiled. "That's okay. I'll give you a lift to the airport."
We walked together down
the rocky dirt path, tall pines above and the
spring stars sparkling between them. Julie tripped over a root and
I
caught her, then held her hand tightly as we continued down the
slope.
"Nice night," I said.
"Yes,"
she said. "Bloody nice."
(Written by Don Kelly, a member of The Writer's Life e-group)
| Angel Falls, Venezuela, SA |
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ANOTHER MONDAY SIGHTING
Many years ago, as a young woman, Janet Elaine Smith flew away to Venezuela as a missionary. "You arent even old enough
to vote!" her mother protested loudly. But, she was undaunted. And she practically became a national before long. Such habits
as carrying her accordion on her head and pointing with her pursed lips were as common place as ordering a coke had been.
Life was perhaps strange, to some peoples way of thinking. She lived in the plains, which the Venezuelans called the llanos,
and learned to eat iguana and goat meat. She traveled to the desert, where one woman had painted tulips all around the mud
house after Janet left a magazine there. She went to the little towns in the mountains and up to the coast on the peninsula,
where she actually swam to Aruba (with a boat load of fishermen by her side).
But the ultimate experience came when a
missionary pilot asked her to accompany him down the Amazon to view Angel Falls. As the plane wove it way through the air,
following the twists and turns of the mighty river, they seemed suspended in space as they watched the steam rising from the
mighty falls. The highest water falls in the world. Even above the roar of the engines, the water sounded like thunder booming
in the wilderness. The rain forest. Nobody had even heard the term then. It was not in danger. But it was an experience one
never forgets.
And now it is Monday Knights turn. Yes, it is almost as if she has been cloned. We all know she is still on tour with Smash
Mouth. But then why, oh why, do people keep saying they have seen her on the Amazon? It is as mystifying as the Elvis sightings.
Could it really be? Is Monday Knight somewhere deep in the jungles of Venezuela, following in the steps of her mentor and
creator? How did she get there? Will she ever make it out?
For any of you who check the ratings of your favorite author on amazon.com, you will no doubt have done this. Do a search
for the author by name. When their books show up on the screen, get them listed by "Bestselling" category. For Monday Knight,
this was a fun thing to do. You see, Monday Knight had hardly been born or seen the light of day when Smash Mouth discovered
her. If you had checked the listings for Janet Elaine Smith on that fateful Thursday, you would have seen poor Monday dragging
along as No. 8 on the list of Janets 8 books. But, wait! Another day has passed! Do it againthe day after she left with Smash
Mouth! Hark! Is that? Can it be? Yes, my faithful readers, Monday Knight has suddenly risen to the No. 1 spot on the list
on amazon.com. Monday Knight successfully climbed the Amazon and made it all the way to the top!
Gotcha!!!
A great book is like a great mind; it keeps on giving
over and over and over again!
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