Every Soul a Star Read online

  On my way out, I glance up at the huge calendar taped to the wall. It’s easy to forget what day it is, living out here. The first big group of eclipse chasers is due to arrive in three days. Then each day leading up to the one circled in red marker has more and more arrivals. We’ve been living toward that red day for as long as I can remember. I can’t even believe it’s almost here. I take one last glance at the calendar and then lean in closer. Tomorrow is June twenty-fifth? That means my friend Ryan and his grandparents are coming! They usually don’t come until the middle of August, for our annual Star Party. In all the excitement about the eclipse, I’d forgotten about Ryan! His grandparents have been bringing him here for the Perseids meteor shower ever since I was six and he was seven. His grandfather and mine were best friends—they met in the army when they were eighteen. Ryan is the only one who knows that I have friends on other planets. Last year I confided in him that on my seventh birthday, my grandfather pointed to the constellation Cassiopeia and showed me how the bright stars spell out the letter M. He said the star at the end is named Eta Cassiopeia, and that it was the same kind of star as the sun. He said that meant there could be a planet around it just like Earth, with another little girl on it just like me. And that little girl could be looking up at the stars herself, wondering if anyone’s looking back. I decided to call that girl Eta, since that’s the name of her star. Peggy came later when I found out that scientists had already discovered the first planet around a star other than our own sun. The star is called 51 Pegasi, but whoever heard of a girl named Pegasi? Peggy is much better.

  I told Ryan that I talk to Eta and Peggy sometimes, like they’re real people. He didn’t laugh or anything mean like that. He didn’t even ask if they talk back. (They don’t.) Instead he told me about a star called Gliese 581, which has a bunch of planets around it. That night we found Gliese on my starmap in the constellation Libra, and then looked for it using the biggest telescope we could find in the Star Garden. I told Ryan that since he was the one who knew about the planets, he should get to name the person living on one of them. He came up with Glenn. It’s really cool to know that while I’m looking up at Glenn’s planet, so is Ryan, even though he lives hundreds of miles away.

  The tiredness slides off as I run at top speed out of the office toward the Star Garden. On the way I pass Ralph and Jimmy, the two handymen/security guards who work here every summer. They’re outside of the storeroom, unloading crates of water and boxes of frozen hot dogs and burgers in the reddish glow of the streetlight. I like having them here; it makes me feel even safer than I usually feel. One year it was Ralph’s quick reflexes that kept a big black bear from getting into the storage room and eating the campers’ food. He likes to say he wrestled him with his bare hands, but really he just banged his toolbox against a metal pole, and it scared the bear away. This year with all the eclipse chasers coming, Dad had to hire a lot more people, including people to stock and run the dining hall for the guests who signed up for the meal plan.

  “Hey, Alpha Girl!” Ralph calls to me as I start up the hill. “Where ya going in such a hurry? The eclipse isn’t for another two weeks!”

  Ralph likes to tease. I don’t mind. Alpha Girl kind of sounds like a superhero name. The Adventures of Alpha Girl! Visiting the stars in one giant leap! Plus it’s much better than Kenny’s old nickname for me: Astrodork.

  “Can’t tell you!” I call over my shoulder. “Secret Alpha Girl business.”

  “Aw, leave the girl alone,” Jimmy says. “She’s probably hurrying off to meet her boyfriend.” Then they both guffaw like that’s the funniest thing they ever heard. I guess it is pretty funny considering there are no boys my age within an hour’s drive. But once Ryan gets here tomorrow, I’ll have someone to hang out with who’s only a year older than me. Not that he’s my boyfriend. I’ve never thought of him that way. I’ve never thought of anyone that way.

  My three favorite telescopes are lined up in a row, with my stool in front of them, just as I’d left them this afternoon when I cleaned all the optics. I like to look at my three friends at the same time instead of moving one scope between the three of them. Once all the guests start arriving, I’ll be lucky to get any telescope time at all.

  I sit down in front of the first telescope, an eight-inch Newtonian Reflector, and look up. Even though I can easily find Cassiopeia by just looking for the M-shaped stars, I prefer to do it the way Dad taught me. First I look for the Big Dipper. That’s the easiest group of stars to find in the sky. Then I follow the two stars on the edge of the dipper and they lead me to Polaris, the North Star. I love Polaris, because it’s the only star that doesn’t move. As long as you’re north of the Equator, if you can find Polaris, you can tell where you are on the earth. Standing below it makes me feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be. I keep going in a straight line from Polaris directly to Cassiopeia, and to Eta. “Hi, Eta!” I say out loud. Then I move on to Peggy and Glenn, in the constellations Pegasus and Libra. Libra is a hard one to find, even though I’ve done it so many times. I usually go to Virgo first, and then scan to the east until I’ve found it. Once I have them all, I look at each one and give a little wave. I tell them about what Kenny overheard, and about how my parents are acting a little strange. I tell them I’m excited to see Ryan tomorrow, and that I’m a little nervous about what things will be like here when all the people start arriving. They twinkle at me, and I feel that same contentment and peace I always feel when I look at the stars. Like they’re protecting me, shielding me from harm. The vastness of space always puts my problems in perspective.

  By the time I get back into the house, everyone is asleep. I’m not the only one who worked really hard today. I fall back onto my bed and stare up at the glow-in-the-dark stickers of the solar system on the ceiling. Dad put them up when we moved here to help me adjust to life under the stars. I don’t remember ever going to sleep without stars—real or fake—overhead.

  I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know the sun is hitting my closed eyelids and my nose is oddly cold.

  I open my eyes to find a grinning Kenny, clad in his favorite pajamas (green, with giant grasshoppers on them), pressing a purple ice pop against my nose.

  “Why, Kenny?” I croak.

  “Why what?” he asks innocently.

  I roll over and sit up, taking the ice pop from his hand. My mouth feels icky and dry, and the ice pop looks very refreshing. I stick it in my mouth before I have a chance to wonder where the ice pop might have been prior to its arrival on my nose. It is indeed refreshing. I hear Dad and Jimmy outside my window in a heated debate about whether or not we have enough toilet paper for the guests. Dad is saying that as long as everyone uses no more than three squares per bathroom visit, we’ll be fine. Jimmy argues that no one uses just three squares. Dad says, “Well, they should!” Then Jimmy suggests they post a sign up in the bathrooms telling people about the three square limit. And Dad says, “Yes, let’s do that.” Then Jimmy says, “I was kidding, man. We can’t do that!”

  “What time is it?” I ask Kenny, hopping off the bed.

  He points to the watch still on my wrist. I realize I’m still in the same clothes from yesterday. It’s a few minutes before nine. Ryan’s grandparents always leave their house before dawn and arrive promptly at nine. Good thing I’m already dressed. I shove on my sneakers and slide the rest of the ice pop into my mouth before tossing the stick into my trash can. I shiver a bit as the cold ice hits my teeth.

  “Can I come with you?” Kenny asks eagerly. He looks forward to Ryan’s visit as much as I do.

  “If you can keep up,” I reply, running out of the room. The pouch bounces hard against my chest and I tuck it under my shirt. I don’t stop running until I’m halfway down the road that leads from the main house to the front gate. It’s the only road on the property that’s paved, and it always feels weird to have my feet on such solid ground. Ryan’s grandfather’s car pulls through as I round the corner. Right on time!