Our scene opens in the present-day, renovated, galley kitchen of a 1920s plan-built home on the outskirts of a somewhat-artsy neighborhood in a large Midwestern city. Two spinsters live in the home. One is cooking. The other enters the kitchen, speaking:
"Isn't the thing supposed to be doing its thing about now?"
[FLUSTERED, AT THE STOVE]: "Wha'? What thing?" [LOOKS WILDLY AROUND AT APPLIANCES FOR EVIDENCE OF MALFUNCTION]
"The thing? The Moon--"
"Oh! I don't know, um..." [SETS DOWN SPATULA, WALKS TO WINDOW AT THE FAR END OF KITCHEN AND PEERS OUT AT A HAZY GLOW IN THE WESTERN SKY] "It's pretty cloudy but the moonlight's not red, isn't the eclipse closer to eight? Maybe there will be less clouds when it's lower." [RETURNS TO STOVE]
"Oh." [LEAVES]
[TO HERSELF] "You know, I'm responsible for a lot of things but the safe and proper operation of the Earth's Moon is not among them."
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
6 comments:
It was bright and clear this morning when I hopped in the car to go down towards the end of the world for work. I was westing a lot so I got to track the progress from 1/10th to 3/4 before I lost sight of it. It was beautiful, you did a great job Ms. Ecks!
To tell the truth Ms. Roberta, without your diligent efforts I'm pretty sure that the moon (not to mention the sun) probably wouldn't operate correctly. We all urge you to keep up the good work.
We just got about 3 inches of snow overnight here in Minnesnowta and I was afraid that the clouds wouldn't clear up in time for us to see the eclipse. But as I was heading into work the moon popped through some clouds about 30% eclipsed. When I pulled into the parking lot just before 6:00 I couldn't see it at all. Went up to the top floor (used for storage and not well lit, so I can see out the windows) and it was about 90% eclipsed; just a sliver of white showing through. Went up 20 minutes later and couldn't see a thing through the clouds.
I'll go back up in a bit to see if it's visible (and red).
My wife and I have been very lucky this year. We drove down to Nebraska for the total eclipse of the sun (not quite as romantic as flying a Lear jet to Nova Scotia, but it's what we could afford) and saw it beautifully. Now, less than a year later, we get a super/blue total lunar eclipse.
Enjoy the sights.
That last line gave me the first chuckle of the morning:)
Of course the Moon is not your responsibility. You have stardrives to maintain.
I know that all will be astonished to learn that it was too overcast here in Puetopolis to see the bloody moon put on it's blue superman cape, or whatever was supposed to happen.
If I _had_ to be responsible for something, I'd pick the Moon.
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