August Contest Submission #5: Tiny Little Crescent Moons
Words: ca. 3,000
Setting: mAU
Lemon: no
Content: none
Tiny Little Crescent Moons
“Long ago, in the celestial realm above, the sun and the moon had fallen in love. They circled and circled, growing nearer and farther. They danced and danced, but they never met. Finally, after so much dancing and so much circling, the moon crossed directly in front of the sun, forming a solar eclipse. For just a moment, the sun and the moon were together. They embraced and shared a brief, sweet kiss, before the moon was pulled along by forces outside of her control. As the crying lovers were pulled apart once more, they each shed a tear, which each formed a shining teardrop, beginning to soar toward the earth like shooting stars. Due to their positions in the cosmos, the moon’s teardrop approached the earth first, but the sun’s wasn’t far behind.
“Each teardrop caused a small disruption in the air, a little rippling wave of lunar and solar energy, looking for a place to find its home. They each found their respective resting place within the souls of a newborn child whose energy matched their own. Within these two children, the spiritual fragments of the sun and the moon will flourish and live a harmonious life, separate but near. And whenever the solar eclipse returns to the skies above, the cosmic droplets will find their way back together, like a magnetic pull. The sun and the moon will be reunited once more in their love.”
When Elsa’s mother finished the story, a quiet stillness settled around them on Elsa’s little bed. The small girl gazed up at her mother. She usually fell asleep by the time her bedtime stories finished, but when it was this one, she always fought to stay awake. It was just too good of an ending to miss.
“They be back togeller soon?” Elsa asked, fighting a yawn.
“Yes, sweetie,” her mother smiled and smoothed back her daughter’s white-blonde hair. “They’ll be back together soon.”
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There’s a solar eclipse coming up. It’s in a month and I’ll be traveling to see it — just a couple hours south. I wouldn’t miss it for the world, obviously; I’ve always been obsessed with eclipses. It’s certainly my mother’s fault, for that romantic bedtime story about the sun and the moon she used to tell me when I was a small child. And yet, I’ve only gotten to witness a total solar eclipse one time in my life. I remember feeling utterly appalled when I found out how rare they are where I live, compared to lunar eclipses and other cosmic events.
But the time I did get to see one — I will never forget.
I was eight and a half. My mom took me to a secluded little park with a good view of the sky. We were early, giving me time to play on the playground until the show would start.
There weren’t many other children there. Or, at least, I don’t remember there being any. Except for her. A girl, smaller than me with red hair and more freckles than I could count, who told me she was six. It was almost hard to understand that “six,” since she was missing three of her four front teeth. What a terrible coincidence for those missing teeth to line up with the year a child has to repeatedly say the word, “six.”
I wish I could remember for sure what her name was. I think it might’ve been Anna, but I can’t be sure that’s not just a memory I made up.
Whatever her name, the girl had more energy than I’d ever experienced. She ran around the playground, just a blur of golden orange as her hair caught the sun’s rays. Her laughter was infectious and when she settled down a little, the two of us sat underneath a section of the playground near a slide. A couple feet above us was a flat floor of that plastic-coated metal mesh with all the little holes, that was so popular for playground material.
It gave us shade from the sun while we giggled and made up entire worlds together.
After some time, everything around us started to dim. My heart rate picked up. This was what I’d been waiting for all my life. As the world got darker and darker I glanced up for a second before I remembered my mother’s instructions not to look at the sky during the eclipse. In that short glimpse, I saw the sun beginning to hide away, behind the moon.
I looked at my new friend, a huge smile forming on my face as my chest heaved with excitement. “It’s starting!” I said.
Things grew even darker as the other girl lifted her head to look up. My hand shot out to touch her arm. “Don’t!” I said. “You’re not supposed to look at it.”
Her brow furrowed. “Then what are we doing here?”
Even though that seemed like an extremely valid question regarding the visual event we were forbidden from watching without proper gear, I took her hands and looked at her with purpose. “We can’t look up, but don’t worry. That’s not where the magic will happen.”
As I spoke those words, the little holes in the playground ‘roof’ above us became like hundreds of little spotlights in the darkness. The little amount of light from the sun that was still reaching the earth was bursting through each small opening and landing wherever it could. Many of the tiny spotlights landed on us.
We both saw them at the same time and right before our eyes, each tiny pinprick of light morphed until a crisp crescent moon shape took its place, shimmering across our bodies in the quiet.
The little crescent moons glowed on her skin, dancing with her freckles. I could only gaze in delight at the way they swirled around her bright eyes, which glimmered in the darkness. I could tell she was looking at me with the same all-consuming wonder that I felt. Those moons — those little glowing, golden moons — were scattered all across us as we held hands and looked into each other’s eyes with that innocent awe of childhood. The moons connected us, like one of those elaborate connect-the-dots — the ones so big, with such tiny dots that you don’t even know what the picture will be before it’s completed. And it was like …if only we could’ve held each other’s hands a little longer, before the moon slivers withered away and disappeared, then maybe those invisible lines could’ve been drawn between the moons by some cosmic, silvery pen. Maybe we could’ve turned into the picture we were meant to be, together as one. Maybe then, we would’ve been connected, impossible to separate even when we were apart, invisible threads of star light pulling us together.
But all too soon, the moons were gone, and the lines were never drawn; our picture was meant to be a mystery. The sky was brightening and the moment was over.
Our mothers came and took us home, and we never met again.
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I like to drive at night. I prefer it, when I have the choice — there’s just something about the energy. I’m awake on the roads with all these other people and we’re all doing something when the world is supposed to be asleep.
If I get too sleepy, I’ll pull off and find some quiet back road, climb on the hood of my car and gaze at the night sky. It always pulls me out of my drowsiness, to feel so alive under the stars. I like to find the moon and stare for as long as I can without blinking, letting the bright spot in the darkness sear into my mind’s eye. Then, even when I do blink, she’s still there, a shifting neon mark on the back of my eyelids. I can feel the moon’s pull like a tangible line connects us and sometimes wonder if anyone else feels as close to her as I do.
I’m wondering that again tonight, as I perform this very ritual on my drive down to the city. The eclipse is tomorrow and I’ll take any excuse to do a little night-driving. But I’m not at my most well-rested self, so it isn’t long before I pull off at an exit for a rural town and find a quiet road to park.
The spot I choose to stop at looks to be at the edge of a small vegetable farm and feels friendly, even in the eerie rural darkness. The place feels… right, and I’m comfortable to spend a little time here in the quiet summer air.
So now I’m here, on the hood of my car, gazing up at our own little personal window to space. I reflect on the moon, reaching in my heart for that connection I can feel. I feel close to her. I always do, but I still long to feel closer.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel closer.
That’s the last thing I remember thinking as I drift to sleep under the stars.
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I’m awakened to the sound of gravel crunching beneath slow-moving tires.
I blink myself awake to bright sunlight.
“Hey, there!” a clear voice calls out to me, tinted with a healthy touch of ‘I don’t know you.’
I sit up with a start, impulsively brushing my clothes off from their rumpled state. The voice came from a pickup truck rolling to a stop, about twenty feet behind my car.
The driver’s side door of the old truck opens up and I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, but it’s definitely not a cute girl around my age in mossy green overall shorts and a backwards baseball cap, with a smile friendlier than I probably deserve.
She waves and walks slowly towards me as I call out a feeble “Hi.” I slide off the hood and stand up, smiling as nicely as I can manage.
“It’s not everyday I see an attractive woman first thing in the morning, curled up on her car not ten paces from my last row of watermelon,” the young woman said, keeping the sun out of her eyes with a hand, since her cap was on backwards.
I glance at the crops I’m parked next to at the side of the road. Watermelons! I hadn’t been able to make out what they were in the dark last night. I turn my attention back to her to stammer out an apology.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am, I didn’t — I never meant to trespass,” I say, feeling my cheeks grow red.
“Hey it’s ok,” she says, in a comforting voice. “First of all, I’m no ma’am, I promise you that! And second of all, you’re not trespassing. Seriously, I’m just glad I didn’t come across some drunk fifty year old man looking to start shit. Why do you think I came over here in my truck?” She laughs. “Anyway, can I ask, why?”
I blink for a moment, taking in all her words. Man, it must be rough to live out here sometimes. “Yeah, uh,” I say, “I was driving late last night — I’m on my way to see the eclipse today — and I got tired, so I just wanted to find a quiet place to rest. I’m sorry to disturb—!”
“—Shit, is that today?” The young woman interrupts. “I heard it was coming up but forgot - damn, I’m just so busy. Shit.” She seems to be talking more to herself now than to me, fiddling with one of her red braids.
“Yeah, it’s only about an hour farther south, if you think you can make it,” I say, hoping she can.
“Man, I’d love to see it,” she says, “but I just don’t know. It’s hard to get away from this; running the farm is a lot of work and it’s just me now that mom — uh… god, why am I telling you this? Hey, listen. I started a pot of coffee right before I saw your car from the window. Follow me back to the house up the driveway? I’m sure you could at least use a bathroom stop before you get back on the road.”
This surprises me a bit. Normally it’s the kind of offer I’d immediately politely turn down, but… I can feel a very friendly vibe coming off this woman, so I don’t think she has any ulterior motive behind the offer.
Also, I have to pee so bad.
“That’s so kind of you,” I say. “You really don’t mind?”
“Not at all!” The woman swatted at the air and turned to walk to her truck. Over her shoulder she called, “Oh, I’m Anna, by the way!”
“Elsa!” I returned.
“Perfect!”
The truck door slams shut as I make my way to my own door. As I open it, visions of a little girl with red hair flash before my eyes, with dancing golden moons. Anna.
Could it be?
No, the coincidence would be wild. Just wild.
And yet it’s all I can think about as I follow the farm truck up the long, gravel driveway.
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I walk out of Anna’s bathroom as she’s pouring two mugs of coffee.
“I have cream and sugar, but you should know the cream is from my raw goat milk. You can thank Daisy on your way out,” she winked.
“Aww, you have goats?”
“Just a few. Any more and they’d eat me out of house and home.”
I laugh. “I’d love some cream and sugar.”
I spoon the sugar into my mug and reach for the glass bottle as Anna hands me the cream. “Oh, the label’s so cute! This is your farm name and logo?” I say, tracing it with my thumb. Celestial Acres. The label is black with shiny gold lettering and dozens of tiny golden moon slivers surrounding a dazzling sun.
I stare at the little moons, unable to see past the clear connection I, and maybe we both, had to the little moons during the last eclipse. But I can’t figure out how to bring it up without seeming creepy as hell.
“Oh yeah,” Anna blushes. “I’ve always been a little obsessed with the whole sun and moon thing. Even before I knew I was gay.” We both laugh. “And I just have these little golden moons in my head all the time. Not super sure where the image came from; it’s like it’s always been there.”
Hmm. So she might not remember enough of it to remember me at all, if she doesn’t know where her moons came from. That should be a good thing, but I find my heart falling slightly.
“Well, I adore your logo. I’m obviously into the whole ‘sun and moon thing,’ too,” I smile.
We sit and chat until the coffee pot is empty.
“So, do you think you might make it? For the eclipse?” I ask.
She wrestled with something. “I don’t know… I really would love to see it. I’ve only ever seen one and I was almost too young to remember it. But this farm is so much work, I don’t know if I can get away today. And I’m not sure Samantha is up for the trip. She doesn’t like the interstate much.”
“Oh, Samantha?” I wonder. “Is your…”
“Yep, my truck. She’s good and faithful, but, like I said. I usually stick to short trips with her.”
“Right, right,” I say, nodding. “That makes total sense.” I wait a moment, then decide to go out on a limb. “Hey, um. So, you’ve been really nice to me, and you didn’t have to be. You’re allowed to say no, but would you like to come with me? To see the eclipse? I’m going anyway, and I’d love a travel companion. I’ll bring you right back here when it’s over, and if you’ll let me, I’d love to help you with whatever work needs done here when you’re back. An extra set of hands should help it go a bit faster, I would think?”
Anna looks flabbergasted. “I… That… that’s too kind of you. Elsa.”
“I insist.”
She lets out a laugh full of wonder. “This is incredible. I would love that! So, so much!”
“It’s a deal, then! I’m honestly excited at the idea of helping with your farm work. I don’t get to experience anything like that in my day to day.”
“What do you do again?” Anna asks.
“Oh, I’m a freelance writer. But it seems like my real talents lie at just burning through my savings account?”
Anna laughs. “I feel that. My mom left me this little farm and I love it, I do. But sometimes it’s just too much for me to keep up with. I’m only one person, you know? So… yeah. It would be really nice to get away for the afternoon. Thanks for this.”
“Don’t thank me,” I say with a smile. “I think the fates arranged this one.”
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The rest of the trip goes very smoothly. Having Anna next to me in my car feels like finding a missing puzzle piece. She’s so full of light and exciting conversation as we pass rolling field after rolling field.
The eclipse isn’t for a couple more hours but I can almost feel the electric tension in the sky as the sun and moon prepare to meet. I imagine it feels for them a bit like the small amount of space between Anna and I in my car. The more I think about it, the more tingly I feel. I can’t help but wonder if she feels it, too, or if I’m just reading too much into a coincidence.
But something in my heart knows it’s her.
And we found our way back together just in time for the eclipse.
As I pull up at a small park, I smile when I see how empty it is.
Hopefully, when the sky starts to darken, I can whisk Anna away under the playground and recreate the moment that’s been on my mind for over fifteen years. Hopefully, she’ll remember the first time we shared a space like this and watched the tiny glowing moons dance all over each other’s face, trying to form that cosmic connect-the-dots.
This time, I’ll be sure to let our little crescent moons connect. I can’t wait to see what picture we might form together.
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