Lament of the Mind

Stars and Dreams

I wrote an extremely short story in a fit of inspiration and wanted to share.

Stars stretched across the sky above them, as far as the eye could see. Twinkling, dancing, the night sky aflame with tiny specs of light.

“Capricorn.”

“Yup. And…that one?”

“Orion, right?”

“Got it.”

This repeated for close to an hour. The first girl would point to a star, or a constellation, and the second would name it.

The night went on slowly, the stars drifting bit by bit, as the two eventually ran out of things to name.

“One day, we’ll go up there, you know.”

“You think?”

“I know. We’ve already got satellites up there, and a space station, and we’re sending more and more up every day. I’m telling you, someday, we’ll see some of those stars up close.”

“I hope so…” She sighed. “Nowdays it’s like we can’t even get our heads out’ve our own asses to see the stars.”

The other looked at her and tilted her head a little. “Well, maybe not all them,” she motioned to the world around her, her arm sweeping the horizon, “but look at us. Right here, right now. We’re thinking about it, aren’t we? We can see those stars. We’re willing to dream about the big picture. And we aren’t the only ones, you know it. People are full of dreams, no matter how dark it gets.”

“Yanno… I think you’re on to somethin’. Yeah, I can see it. People like us, spread all through those stars. We’ll see every one of ‘em up close, and then go chasing after more.”

The first girl rolled over slightly and kissed the second, then took her hand and pointed to the sky with it.

“That one right there. I don’t know its name, I don’t know how far it is… but me and you, we’re gonna go there. I promise.

“You promise.”

“I do.”

They both laughed, and gripped each other’s hand tighter.