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Comet Hathor
It was late at night on a chilly April. Gerel lay cradled in Jessica's arms as they looked up towards the stars as the expanse of the Milky Way flowed across the horizon.
“Look at this Gerel,” Jessica said, as she pointed to the sky. “There's Orion's Belt and that star is Betelgeuse.” Jessica moved her finger and pointed south. “And there's Rigel. See it, Gerel?” Gerel nodded and squeezed Jessica's waste.177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKGGP7XeU1
Jessica hugged Gerel back. “You want to hear a joke, Gerel?” Gerel nodded again. “Okay, why didn't the dog star laugh at the joke?” Gerel shrugged.
“Because it was too Sirius!” 177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHz6D87yjKs
Gerel laughed a little and then stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. Jessica chuckled loudly; she enjoyed annoying Gerel with her nerdy astronomy stuff.177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiwY5v7Xfp
Jessica raised her hand again and pointed to sky. “There's Polaris and the constellation Hercules.” Jessica squinted and then pointed to a glowing green smudge hanging in the north skyline. “And do you see that green dot, Gerel? Do you know what that is?”
Gerel did not look up but only shrugged. “I don't want to know what that is.”177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnO7EHW4B3
“That's Comet Hathor.”
Jessica pulled Gerel close and looked down at her face. It was completely in shadow except for her eyes visible in the starlight. Her eyes were soft milky orbs glisten by tears.
“How long?”
“Sixty days,” Jessica said. “They'll make the announcement tomorrow. Should be quite a show.”
“Nature's grace,” Gerel said quietly.
Jessica nodded. “Nature's grace.”
They held each other in silence for a long time. Mars and Jupiter traversed the sky.
Dawn was a couple hours away when Gerel looked up at Jessica. “I told work I wasn't coming in for the next few days.”
“What's the point of doing that?”
“I dunno,” Gerel shrugged. “They'd be short a pharmacist and people still need their drugs. Besides, once they do the nightly inventory, they'll find out they're short.”
“Will they suspect you are the reason?”
“Probably,” Gerel surmised. “ I was the only pharmacist on duty at the hospital section.”
“Did they call you?”
“I dunno”, Gerel sat up. “I threw my cell phone in the garbage bin behind the CVS
They sat in the dark silence for a long while. The eastern skyline began to glow blue and gold from the approaching dawn.
“How big is Comet Hathor?” Gerel asked.
“Really Big,” Jessica said and then thought for a moment. “Like Oklahoma City big.”
“I've never been to Oklahoma.”
“It doesn't matter,” Jessica shrugged. “It's way too big to stop or divert.”
Gerel turned away from Jessica and reached into the large paper bag and pulled out two plastic cups and a bottle of cheap wine. She carefully uncorked the bottle and poured the wine into each cup.177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhipQ8zFpL
“Ready?”
Jessica nodded and Gerel reached into her purse and grabbed the sealed container.177Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXsA3fWC6u
