Stars

Part III (continued) - Sol

"Robert, look at that!" Robert slowly shook the sleep out of his eyes and tried to figure out what it was that his excitable girlfriend was looking at. She seemed to be pointing up. But then, that made sense. She was always looking at the stars.

"What is it Dawn?" He could barely focus on his hands (which he was grinding against his eyes), never mind the sky. "What are you looking at?"

"Damn it! Look! Something just happened there!" She was already half way to the house.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my telescope. I want to take a better look." This was out of the ordinary. She hadn't bothered with that childhood toy for years. It only took her a couple of minutes to find the unit and return to the clearing where the two had been lying. Bob was on his feet now.

"You're right, some thing's going on. What do you think it might be?"

"I don't know. That's why I got this!" She was already spreading the legs of the tripod. "Here, hold this." She handed over the large tube, while she pressed the foot spikes into the soft ground. In no time she had the entire unit set up and was trying to find the something in the view finder.

Robert tried to get a better look by cupping his hands over his brow, squinting, and any other useless action he could think of. Meanwhile, Dawn got her bearings and focused in on the action.

"Well? What is it?" Robert was getting anxious. All he could see was a bright light, expanding in the night sky.

"I'm not sure. It looks like some kind of explosion. Here, tell me what you think." She stepped aside and let her young man take a turn.

"Well... you're right, it looks like an explosion." He looked across the telescope at Dawn, a confused look on his face. "What could have blown up out there?"