Member-only story
Three Cars on the Highway
The telescope had been a birthday present during the summer of 2005. We took it outside to set it up because it was much too large and powerful for inside use. Once on the sidewalk and with instructions in hand I realized I just wasn’t smart enough to figure it all out and neither were any of my family members. I stroked the large main tube. My fingertips encircled the eyepiece. I leaned in so close to the finderscope my nose brushed its side.
Over the years we invited friends and neighbors to stargaze, but almost no one could get this behemoth to cooperate. The ritual became one of lugging the telescope outside on a clear evening and then luring someone close enough in to help us.
Once in awhile we got close to figuring it out; with just the right turn of a knob and focusing of the lens we thought we could see something. The something couldn’t be named or even identified. But the goal was to see the moon or a planet or something celestial that was current news and that we could get excited about because we would be part of the story instead of simply reading about it. Our excitement didn’t wane over the years and our exuberance at the possibility of seeing something amazing in the night sky became the main event.
Then Mario and his family moved in next door. They were from Honduras and he shared the story of how his father had been the one to get…
