The Stargazers (14 page)

Tonya set down the bags of ice on the porch. “Have fun. I’m going to see if the stuff in my room is all in one piece.”

Ruby frowned at Aster. “What’s wrong? Did something bad happen? You know, other than the obvious earth moving thing?”

In spite of her new bond with Ruby, she hesitated to say
much. The ties to her original duty were
stronger. “Ivy went to check on some other people. Said she’d be back in a little while with some supplies.”

Ruby shrugged. “Well that’s okay, right? Ivy has a lot of friends around here.”

“Yeah, maybe.”
The
words felt hollow
, something to fill the space.

“C’mon,” said Ruby. “Let’s go get those coolers.”

The basement was dark and dank, but it was a
cool relief from the sticky heat outside. It reminded her of
the root cellars back home, but
this space was filled with an abundance of
things that weren’t vegetables
. She recognized fishing poles, stickball bats, picnic baskets, stacks of books. She could have spent the rest of the day
rifling through this stuff, learning everything she could about these people
.

“Got it!” called Ruby from the corner, wrestling with a big blue ice chest. Aster went
to help her by grabbing one end
Once they’d emerged from the basement, they set it down while Ruby put the bags of ice inside. “That should hold for a little while, but if they don’t have the power back on sometime tonight, we’re going to have to get more and
start moving food over
from the fridge. Ugh.”

A
knock came from the front door. Aster went to answer it and was surprised to see Bryon standing on the por
ch, twisting his
work hat
nervously
in his hands.
“Everyone okay here?”

Ruby appeared beside h
er, hands on hips
.
“Come to check on the damsels in distress?” The grin on her face didn’t quite reach her eyes, but Aster was glad to see the girl at least making an effort to be civil.

“
Onyx sent me home early after the earthquake and wanted me to check on you.”
He met Aster’s gaze and held it for a few seconds before looking away again.

Ruby snorted. “That’s big brother. How is he?”

“Everyth
ing’s okay, I think. We got the mess cleaned up, but Onyx wants to get someone to inspect the lifts before he uses them again.
Actually, I wanted to talk to Aster.” He turned his eyes to her
again
. “Can we talk? Alone?”

Aster prepared for a scowl or an acid retort of some kind out of Ruby
’s mouth, but Ruby only gave a short nod
. “Go for it. I have full confidence that Bryon is not a rapist or perv, though if I’m wrong, I’ll happily slice off his balls with a pair of rusty pruning shears.”

Bryon’s grin was cautious.
“Wow. Thanks?”

Aster stepped outside and the two of them walked down t
he porch steps
. “Is everything okay?” she asked

“Oh yeah. Yeah, I guess so. I wondered if maybe you wanted to go get a bite to eat.”

“Didn’t we just have ice cream a little while ago?
Besides… I don’t know that any proprietors will be open after all this.
”

He lau
ghed. “You’re right. I guess my brains are a
little scrambled right now
.
How about just a drive around then? Ma
ybe see if there is any real damage anywhere
. I know a place where we can get an awesome view of the town.”

She eyed Bryon’s car parked on the street. It looked like a huge blue fish, and its shiny metal threw sun flares into her eyes. “Okay. Just don’t drive too fast. I don’t really lik
e riding in these things
.”

Bryon skipped down the steps and stopped at the passenger side door, petting the roof with obvious affection. “Don’t worry. Betty here is a gentle giant.”

Aster mused over how people named their driving machines the same way they name their horses.
Bryon opened the door for her and she slid inside, liking the springy feeling
of the seat. Unlike Ivy’s vehicle, which practically seemed to hug the breath out of her, this one felt almost like a cave inside
. The musky
but clean smell
excited her a little. It was both
masculine and gentle, like its owner, she supposed
.

He got in, buckled his seatbelt, and started the engine. It roared to life like an angry monster and then settled into a contented purr. “Don’t forget to buckle up,” he said.

She fastened her own belt. “This is a nice carriage.”

Bryon smiled. “Carriage. I like that. Betty’s a fine carriage. My dad and I fixed her up together. She’s a 1971 Olds Delta 88. We rebuilt almost everything under the hood, reupholstered the seats, and put in a more modern stereo system.” He pulled the car away from the curb and Aster noticed Ruby waving at them from the porch as they drove off.

She fumbled to make conversation in the way her mother had instructed her not long ago
, when Aster had ventured to ask how she was supposed to interact with boys
.
Ask them questions about themselves. Seem interested, even if you’re not. They like that.
The problem is she took any silence as an indication that things weren’t going well, so she felt compelled to fill every quiet space with words. “So… Do you like working on cars a lot?”

“I like cars, but I’d rather work on rocke
t engines someday. Getting up into
space is my big dream.”

She marveled over the idea of going up to the stars and actually touching them. Peo
ple in Ellemire were unconcerned
with such pursuits, instead reading messages into the patterns and constellations the stars made. “That’s a very big dream.” She gazed out h
er window to see people sweeping up broken glass and other debris
. Several streets were blocked off by giant white vehicles with flashing orange lights on top
.
Most people were just standing around talking with their neighbors, all of them with similar expressions of dazed or wide-eyed shock.

“What about you? What’s your big dream?”

She wasn’t prepared for that question. As much as she complained that no one ever asked her what she wanted, she
didn’t have an answer at the ready
. “I don’t know. When I dream of what makes me happy, it’s usually something simple. I lik
e horses. Or having the time to draw or garden to my heart’s content
. I suppose I just want a quiet life, where no one knows who I am, where I’m free to roam where I want and with whomever I want and make the choices I want to make.”

“I know what you mean. But at least you got part of your wish, right?” He stopped at a red light. “No one knows who you are around here. At least yet, with school being out for the summer.
Or are you graduated? I never did ask.
”

“I am finished with school.” She hoped the vague answer was enough to satisfy him.

“Me too. Well, high school anyway. I’ll be starting college this fall.”
He put his arm up on the back of the seat and seemed to notice how close it was to Aster’s shoulders before putting it back down by his side.

Aster smiled. “You can put your arm back up there if you want. It doesn’t bother me.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

She nodded, realizing she liked having it there. After driving a little further, he pulled onto a narrow roadway that ran uphill for a little ways before leveling out in small paved area surrounded by cut grass.
A very large hill loomed ahead
.

Aster looked around. “What’s this place?”

“This is Indian Hills Park, the pride of the Miller’s Glenn. C’mon, you’ll see.” He opened the door and stepped out of the car before ducking his head back in. “Sit tight. I’ll be right there.” Closing his door, he ran around the back of the car and opened Aster’s.

She giggled as she stepped out. “It’s very sweet of you to open my door
, but it isn’t necessary
.”

“I like doing it. My dad always told me that’s how you treat a lady.”

Aster was unfamiliar with this custom, but she thought it was very charming. And helpful. The door handles in Bryon’s car were different than the ones in Ivy’s, and she hadn’t figured them out yet. “I’m sure your father would be proud.” 

“I hope you’re up for climbing some stairs,” he said. “You can see the whole town from up there.” He pointed to the large hill that she’d seen while
they were
driving in. It had a very long flight of steps scaling up the side of it, and Aster could see a fenced-in area at the very top.
It looked tiny from down here.

“What kind of hill is this?”

“It’s actually not a hill. It’s a burial mound.”

Aster gasped.
While some tribes and families in Ellemire buried
their dead, the thought
of
putting someone in a giant hill of dirt and then attaching stairs to it seemed wrong. She tried not to see it as an omen of death. Nanny Lily was all about her omens, and some of that had rubbed off onto Aster over the years. “Is it okay to walk on that, do you think?”

“Sure, why not? I don’t think you’ll have to worry about any ghosts or anything. Actually, there’s a plaque near the stairs that says there isn’t even a body in it anymore. Maybe it got tired of being walked on and left.” He grinned.

Aster looked
up at it for a few seconds longer,
taking Bryon’s words more seriously than he’d probably intended them. “I guess that’s okay then. Let’s go.”

They m
ounted the stairs and began scaling them at a moderate pace.
They were rough-hewn and shallow, with every twelfth one a miniature landing. Aster counted as she went. By the time they reached the top, they were winded and standing on number 116. She looked out past the little fence that surrounded them and her jaw dropped. “It’s so beautiful!”

The view offered a full panorama of the town and its surrounding land. The buildings and houses of Miller’s Glenn lay nestled amid lush trees and lazy summer sunshine. A few plumes of smoke rose up from between the trees in some spots, indicating that the earthquake may have caused some fires, bu
t otherwise the town looked still and tranquil from up here
.
Beyond the town
, grain silos and little red barns dotted the landscape. The silvery ribbon of a wide river
cut through the land to the east
, which separated the town from a great forest beyond.

She yearned right then for her sketchbook.

Bryon sighed
and wrapped his fingers
around the bars of the fence like a prisoner pining for his eventual release. “Everything looks better from here. I come up a lot to look at the stars and think about my mom.”

“Where is she?”

“She died a few years back. Breast cancer. We cremated her
and scattered her ashes at her hometown upstate
, so she doesn’t have a grave
here
. But I had a star named after her.”

“Really? You can do that?” Aster
thought that was a lovely idea for a tribute
.

“It’s just one of those corny little things you can do on the internet for few bucks, but it’s hers. And I don’t need a telescope to see it. Just three degrees south of Cassiopeia.” He pointed upward and to the left. “Tonight she’ll rise over there.”

“I couldn’t imagine los
ing my mother, but I think she would
probably love something like that.”

“The way yo
u talk about your mom… sounds like you really miss her. What’s keeping you two from mending things?
”

“It’s a lon
g story
. I
do
miss her.”

“What about your dad?”

“I never met him. I suppose he’s out there somewhere.” Then something occurred to her that never had before. What if he was here in this very town? Would she recognize him if she saw him?

“Dads can be pretty great, at least if they’re the kind to stick around.” He turned her to face him. “Maybe this doesn’t have to be such a sad place
anymore
. It can be ours now. I can share my mom’s star with you. You can use it to think of your mom. Or even your dad, if you want.”

“I’d like that.” Hot tears sprang up, both at his kindness and her sudden homesick
ness, but she pushed them back.

“I’ve never brought anybody up here with me before.”

“Why did you bring me?”

He shrugged. “There’s just something about you. I know, I don’t even know you, and this probably sounds like one of those sappy Disney movies. But when
first
I saw you, I just knew I had to get to know you. I can’t really explain it better than that… I hope that’s okay.”