Me And My Baby View The Eclipse
Me And My Baby View The Eclipse
“A total solar eclipse occurs only once in every four hundred years in any one place. Actually this won’t be a total eclipse, not where we are. If we’d driven over to Greensboro, we would have been right in the center of it.” For a minute, his face falls. “Maybe we should have done that.”
“Oh, no,” Sharon assures him. “I think this is just fine.” She sips her champagne while Raymond shows her how to look through the little box in order to see the eclipse. Raymond consults his watch—one-fifteen. Mrs. Hodges’s golden retriever, Ralph, starts barking.
“Dogs will bark,” Raymond intones. “Animals will go to bed. Pregnant women will have their babies. Birds will cease to twitter.”
“Twitter?” Sharon says. “Well, they sure are twittering now.” Sharon has a lot of birds because of the bird feeder Alister made in Shop II.
“Trust me. It’s coming,” says Raymond.
While Sharon and Raymond sit in her backyard with their boxes on their knees, waiting, Sharon has a sudden awful view of them from somewhere else, a view of how they must look, doing this, drinking champagne. It’s so wild! Ralph barks and the birds twitter, and then, just as Raymond promised, they cease. Ralph ceases too. Raymond squeezes Sharon’s hand. A hush falls, a shadow falls, the very air seems to thicken suddenly, to darken around them, but still it’s not dark. It’s the weirdest thing Sharon has ever seen. It’s like it’s getting colder too, all of a sudden. She bets the temperature has dropped at least ten degrees. “Oh, baby! Oh, honey!” Raymond says. Through the peephole in her cardboard box, Sharon sees the moon, a dark object moving across the sun’s face and shutting more and more of its bright surface from view, and then it’s really twilight.
“Me and my baby view the eclipse,” says Raymond.
Sharon starts crying.
The sun is nothing now but a crazy shining crescent, a ghost sun. Funny shadows run all over everything—all over Sharon’s garden, her house, her pine trees, the basketball goal, all over Raymond. His white jacket seems alive, dimly rippling. Sharon feels exactly like somebody big is walking on her grave. Then the shadows are gone, and it’s nearly dark. Sharon can see stars. Raymond kisses her, and then the eclipse is over.
“It was just like they said it would be!” he says. “Just exactly!” He’s very excited. Then they go to bed, and when Margaret comes home from school he’s still there, in the hall bathroom.
“Hi, honey,” says Sharon, who ran quickly into the kitchen when she first heard Margaret, so as to appear busy. Sharon moves things around in the refrigerator.
“Who’s that?” Margaret drops her knapsack and points straight at Raymond, who has chosen just this moment to come out of the bathroom waving Sharon’s new Dustbuster. Margaret is a skinny, freckled little girl who’s mostly serious. Now she’s in first grade.
“What’s this?” Raymond waves the Dustbuster. He’s delighted by gadgets, but whenever he buys one, it breaks.
“I’ll show you,” Margaret says. She demonstrates the Dustbuster while Raymond buttons his daddy’s white pharmacy jacket.
“See?” Margaret says gravely.
“That’s amazing,” Raymond says.
Sharon, watching them, thinks she will die. But Raymond leaves before the boys get home, and Margaret doesn’t mention him until the next afternoon. “He was nice,” Margaret says them.
“Who, honey?” Sharon is frying chicken.
“That man who was here. Who was he?” Margaret asks again.
“Oh, just nobody,” Sharon says. Because it’s true. Her affair with Raymond Stewart is over now as suddenly and as mysteriously as it began. Sharon aches with loss. When she tells Raymond, he’ll be upset, as she is upset, but he’ll live, as she will. He’ll find things to do. He has just been given the part of Ben in the Shady Mountain Players production of The Glass Menagerie, for instance, a part he’s always wanted. He’ll be okay. Sharon plans to say, “Raymond, I will never love anyone in the world as much as I love you.” This is absolutely true. She loves him, she will love him forever with a fierce sweet love that will never die. For Raymond Stewart will never change. He’ll grow older, more eccentric. People will point him out. Although their mothers will tell them not to, children will follow him in the street, begging him to talk funny and make faces. Maybe he’ll have girlfriends. But nobody will ever love him as much as Sharon—he’s shown her things. She knows this. And oh, she’ll be around, she’ll run into Raymond from time to time—choosing Leonard’s new business cards, for instance, when Leonard gets another promotion, or making up the Art Guild flier, or—years and years from now—ordering Margaret’s wedding invitations.
---Lee Smith
Originally shared by Anne-Marie Clark
Great links for Eclipse 2017 info -- 21 Aug 2017
This link allows you to zoom in to locations in Oregon to see exactly how long the eclipse will last in each spot. A quick drive from Portland or Washington State.
http://eclipse-maps.com/Eclipse-Maps/Gallery/Pages/Total_solar_eclipse_of_2017_August_21_files/Media/TSE2017_poster1_Oregon/TSE2017_poster1_Oregon.jpg
(It doesn't show up as an image on G+, so I included the link it came from)
For other states' zoomable maps:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2017/TSE2017.html
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2017/TSE2017.html
“A total solar eclipse occurs only once in every four hundred years in any one place. Actually this won’t be a total eclipse, not where we are. If we’d driven over to Greensboro, we would have been right in the center of it.” For a minute, his face falls. “Maybe we should have done that.”
“Oh, no,” Sharon assures him. “I think this is just fine.” She sips her champagne while Raymond shows her how to look through the little box in order to see the eclipse. Raymond consults his watch—one-fifteen. Mrs. Hodges’s golden retriever, Ralph, starts barking.
“Dogs will bark,” Raymond intones. “Animals will go to bed. Pregnant women will have their babies. Birds will cease to twitter.”
“Twitter?” Sharon says. “Well, they sure are twittering now.” Sharon has a lot of birds because of the bird feeder Alister made in Shop II.
“Trust me. It’s coming,” says Raymond.
While Sharon and Raymond sit in her backyard with their boxes on their knees, waiting, Sharon has a sudden awful view of them from somewhere else, a view of how they must look, doing this, drinking champagne. It’s so wild! Ralph barks and the birds twitter, and then, just as Raymond promised, they cease. Ralph ceases too. Raymond squeezes Sharon’s hand. A hush falls, a shadow falls, the very air seems to thicken suddenly, to darken around them, but still it’s not dark. It’s the weirdest thing Sharon has ever seen. It’s like it’s getting colder too, all of a sudden. She bets the temperature has dropped at least ten degrees. “Oh, baby! Oh, honey!” Raymond says. Through the peephole in her cardboard box, Sharon sees the moon, a dark object moving across the sun’s face and shutting more and more of its bright surface from view, and then it’s really twilight.
“Me and my baby view the eclipse,” says Raymond.
Sharon starts crying.
The sun is nothing now but a crazy shining crescent, a ghost sun. Funny shadows run all over everything—all over Sharon’s garden, her house, her pine trees, the basketball goal, all over Raymond. His white jacket seems alive, dimly rippling. Sharon feels exactly like somebody big is walking on her grave. Then the shadows are gone, and it’s nearly dark. Sharon can see stars. Raymond kisses her, and then the eclipse is over.
“It was just like they said it would be!” he says. “Just exactly!” He’s very excited. Then they go to bed, and when Margaret comes home from school he’s still there, in the hall bathroom.
“Hi, honey,” says Sharon, who ran quickly into the kitchen when she first heard Margaret, so as to appear busy. Sharon moves things around in the refrigerator.
“Who’s that?” Margaret drops her knapsack and points straight at Raymond, who has chosen just this moment to come out of the bathroom waving Sharon’s new Dustbuster. Margaret is a skinny, freckled little girl who’s mostly serious. Now she’s in first grade.
“What’s this?” Raymond waves the Dustbuster. He’s delighted by gadgets, but whenever he buys one, it breaks.
“I’ll show you,” Margaret says. She demonstrates the Dustbuster while Raymond buttons his daddy’s white pharmacy jacket.
“See?” Margaret says gravely.
“That’s amazing,” Raymond says.
Sharon, watching them, thinks she will die. But Raymond leaves before the boys get home, and Margaret doesn’t mention him until the next afternoon. “He was nice,” Margaret says them.
“Who, honey?” Sharon is frying chicken.
“That man who was here. Who was he?” Margaret asks again.
“Oh, just nobody,” Sharon says. Because it’s true. Her affair with Raymond Stewart is over now as suddenly and as mysteriously as it began. Sharon aches with loss. When she tells Raymond, he’ll be upset, as she is upset, but he’ll live, as she will. He’ll find things to do. He has just been given the part of Ben in the Shady Mountain Players production of The Glass Menagerie, for instance, a part he’s always wanted. He’ll be okay. Sharon plans to say, “Raymond, I will never love anyone in the world as much as I love you.” This is absolutely true. She loves him, she will love him forever with a fierce sweet love that will never die. For Raymond Stewart will never change. He’ll grow older, more eccentric. People will point him out. Although their mothers will tell them not to, children will follow him in the street, begging him to talk funny and make faces. Maybe he’ll have girlfriends. But nobody will ever love him as much as Sharon—he’s shown her things. She knows this. And oh, she’ll be around, she’ll run into Raymond from time to time—choosing Leonard’s new business cards, for instance, when Leonard gets another promotion, or making up the Art Guild flier, or—years and years from now—ordering Margaret’s wedding invitations.
---Lee Smith
Originally shared by Anne-Marie Clark
Great links for Eclipse 2017 info -- 21 Aug 2017
This link allows you to zoom in to locations in Oregon to see exactly how long the eclipse will last in each spot. A quick drive from Portland or Washington State.
http://eclipse-maps.com/Eclipse-Maps/Gallery/Pages/Total_solar_eclipse_of_2017_August_21_files/Media/TSE2017_poster1_Oregon/TSE2017_poster1_Oregon.jpg
(It doesn't show up as an image on G+, so I included the link it came from)
For other states' zoomable maps:
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2017/TSE2017.html
https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2017/TSE2017.html
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