Mars Hill Ch. 01

"Haven't had one since I got here."

"That's good. Are you doing the breathing exercises?"

"Yes. You don't need to nag me, Mom."

"I know. I just miss you. I can't wait till you come home."

"Yeah, me, too," I said, but I was lying.

"Ok, Jer. Talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you, too. Say hi to the girls for me," I said and then hung up. I would have to remember to demand my aunts stop telling my mom everything that was going on with my life.

Becca. She was haunting me. I pictured her in my mind's eye, and my heart skipped a beat at the thought. I stood smiling for a while, just thinking about her. Then I shook myself and made lunch for the next day.

The next day was not a great day, though, because Becca was not there. Her telescope time had arrived. For two weeks, she worked vampire hours with my Aunt G.

I would get an occasional text from Becca asking how things had gone at the museum and how things were going with me. When I asked how things were going with her at the telescope, I never got more than a one-word reply. I will admit to being a little bit heartbroken about it, but I knew she had things to do and was bound with Non Disclosure Agreements regarding her Thesis, so that it could be published one day without someone else publishing first. I straightened my shoulders and knew that this would pass eventually and I would see her again soon, so I carried on with my tours and waited for her return.

But she didn't return. I didn't see her again except for a brief wave every once in a while when she and my aunt carpooled. I asked my aunt what was going on.

She just said, "Something exciting for Becca. I hope it goes well for her. Let her have time, and she will hopefully have good news soon."

The next Monday on the late shift, Beth cornered me.

"Hi Jeremy, I have a task for you."

"Hey Beth, What's up?"

"I need you to pack up one of the 8 inch telescopes that we use for our observation nights. You and I are going up to the Reservation to be the Lowell outreach staff for an event with the Hopi and Navajo peoples. We are going to be up there late, so I'm giving you the morning off tomorrow so you can sleep in."

"How late are we going to be?" I asked, thinking that I had better let my aunts know I would be home late.

"Oh probably 4 or 5 am once we get back and unpacked. And don't worry I already told Gillian that I was going to snag you for this, so she knows you will be out late."

"Ok, sounds good Beth," I said with a grin, turning to run up the hill to grab one of the telescopes and some educational material that Beth called out for as I was turning.

We packed up all of the stuff in Beth's personal SUV, the large barrel of the telescope lying across the back seats. I jumped in the front seat as Beth climbed into the drivers chair and started the engine. We smoothly made our way down the hill and out of Flagstaff.

Beth asked me lots of questions about live in Chicago, what my life was like growing up there, about the twins and my parents, Favourite books and movies. University. My degree and what I hope to do with it, Esperanto. Cancer.

When most people find out I almost died from cancer they usually get uncomfortable and change the topic. It's like having cancer makes you unspeakable. Not Beth though. She asked me very methodical questions about the diagnosis, what my treatment had been and what my prognosis was.

In a way it was cathartic to talk about all of it.

Eventually the conversation turned toward Becca.

"So how are things going with you and Becca?" Beth asked.

I shifted a bit uncomfortably. I liked Beth, a lot, but she was still technically my boss and I didn't want to say anything that would get Becca into trouble. Not that there really was all that much to say other than the fantasies I had in my head each night. Or whenever I saw her. Or pretty much any time my mind wandered off.

"Well she is a great trainer. I learned a lot from her, not only about what to do for Work, but also about Astronomy and other stuff," I replied, minding my words.

"Yeah but how about after work?"

I shifted in my seat.

"We hang out. She showed me around the night sky after we closed on my first night here. And we've hung out a bit but nothing too serious or often." I said cautiously.

"Well judging by the amount of talk I hear about you from her I would have guessed that you were doing more than just hanging out."

She glanced over to me with a smile.

"No we haven't..."

"Like I said the first day, as long as you keep it professional at work," she said, cutting me off. "I really don't care what you do on your own... Officially that is."

"And unofficially?" I asked, immediately regretting it.

"Well," she laughed. "I think you would be a cute couple. And I suspect she likes you."

"Hmm."

"And don't even pretend that you don't like her in that way. I saw the way you looked at her when you saw her for the first time that morning. I may be fun, but i'm not dumb."

She laughed a loud and braying laugh, and after a while I joined in, relaxing and laughing with her.

We got to the reservation and pulled in front of what looked like a sports field, with rusty bleachers on either side arranged in a circle. A fire pit had been dug in the middle of the circle of bleachers and wood had been stacked in a pyramid shape in the pit. Barbecues and coolers were set up in an area just outside of the bleachers between a squat brick building that was identified as 'Park Office, Washrooms in back' by a sign over the front door, and a set of swings . Looking around I couldn't tell where the park began, it just seemed to be in the middle of the desert. There was next to no grass, but long stalks of straw and scrub surrounded it for miles.

"Unpack next to the swings," Beth instructed gesturing toward them. "But not too close. I don't want kids kicking the telescope." She shifted her hand. "About there," she pointed.

I did as she asked and soon had the telescope set up. It was still too bright to align it with anything, but the sun was well on it's way down.

Beth had gone and spoken to some people who looked like they were in charge. She hugged some of them and pointed over at me. They all laughed, and Beth turned and started walking toward me.

"So Jeremy, Trial by fire," she said when she got over to where I had set up. She nodded at how I had arranged the telescope and ladder so people could look through it, and at the table I had filled with educational materiel with our Lowell Observatory branded table cloth underneath.

"How so?" I asked. I had after all done public viewings plenty of times in the weeks I had been at the Observatory.

"I wasn't talking about you." She said. "This is a big annual gathering between the Hopi, my people, and the Navajo. We haven't historically been the best of friends, and recent politicking have strained relations again. We gather here though on the night of the solstice to tell stories about the stars and the return of the darkness. I always bring out a telescope and man it myself. But this year I've been invited to the joint chief's council, so you will have to stand in for me."

"Ok," I replied, taking that in. "Anything in particular I should be looking at through the scope?"

"Start with Vega." She replied

"Vega?" I asked. "Just a simple star?"

"The Hopi tell tales of the Blue Star that will come at the end of the world. Vega is a bright blue star and people will want to see it. I don't think anyone really believes it, but since that will be one of the stories told around the campfire tonight it will be nice to show it to people, in fact they will expect it, and will ask to see it, even if just to keep an eye on it," She laughed "After everyone is done with Vega just show them interesting stuff. Ring Nebula, Andromeda, Whatever you can explain in an interesting way. I know Becca has been teaching you stuff, time to put that to use, kid."

She grinned at me, and turned to walk away.

"Don't forget to get some food and be sure you are at the campfire at midnight so you can hear the stories too. Educational and all," she called back over her shoulder.

A warm win blew as the sun set and Vega, being one of the Brightest stars was visible quickly. Soon I had a long line of kids, with a few kids and even some teens and adults who wanted to see the blue star.

As things got darker I shifted from Vega to the nearby Ring Nebula, which through the telescope looked like a faint green smoke ring, it's circular shape helping it to stand out from the background darkness. I made sure to let everyone know they were looking at what happened when a star such as ours explodes, and I borrowed liberally from Dr. Tyson's 'Most Astounding Fact' YouTube video for its poetic description of why something like this matters to science.

Around 10 PM the drums began to beat around the now lit fire. The last glow of the sun had slipped away and the sky was a sea of stars. As soon as the drums began everyone who had been waiting to look through the telescope turned and ran to the circle around the fire. I saw Beth in the distance and she waved for me to come over. I put the cover over the aperture of the telescope so nothing would crawl into the giant tube and followed the crowd toward the fire.

The circle around the fire was crowded with people dancing, some in traditional costume and others in street clothes. I saw a man walking toward me and with a grin he pulled me into the circle of people dancing. Instantly I became the most clumsy and uncoordinated person I had ever met. I tried to learn the dance as we revolved around and around the circle. I passed Beth who was grinning and instantly knew that she had set me up and arranged this. So I decided to not care anymore. I used my counselling techniques to know that I was feeling self concious and clumsy, but that's not really a bad thing. I let go and began to enjoy myself. Once I did my dancing improved and I enjoyed myself more. By the time the dancing was done I was covered in sweat. Several of the dancers came up and clapped me on the back or shook my hands.

"You suck, but you look like you had more fun than the rest of us combined. Thanks for participating," one of the ladies said, ushering me out of the circle before the next dance began. I was guided over toward Beth who shifted over on the bleacher and opened up a seat for me.

A few dances later in different styles with different drummers Beth leaned over.

"They are going to start telling the stories now," she whispered.

The Hopi and the Navajo traded stories of creation and history for a few hours. All of them were fascinating to me. Not just in a historical or anthropological way either. The storytelling of these men and women was vivid and throughly sucked me into the stories. Finally after midnight an old man stood around the now smouldering fire and began to speak.

"This is a story of the end of the world," he said with a rich baritone voice. The crowd leaned forward with anticipation. "It is the story of the Blue Star Kachina. To understand the end we must return to the beginning. You have already heard creation stories, but indulge an old man who want's to cover the stories best told by the young. In the beginning of time Taiwa, The Creator made his Nephew in order to build places for life to live. The Nephew's name was Sotuknang. He made nine worlds. One for the Creator, One for himself, and seven worlds for the rest of life. And when life was created it thrived. But as has always been we grew corrupt. We grew wicked. The first world, Tokpela was destroyed to wipe away the corruption, but it festered on the next to worlds, Tokpa and Kuskurza as well, and they followed into destruction. Each time a world is destroyed, the faithful Hopi are saved underground."

The man slowly began to walk around the circle, addressing parts of the story to people in the audience.

"Yes, those who are faithful, who are good and honest, who are not wicked, not corrupt survived to populate the next world. And we sit here on the fourth world. The next to be destroyed by the wickedness of men. Tuwaqachi we call this world, and it is poised for destruction. How will we know when this time will come?" He asked the crowd. "How will we know the last sign of destruction? We will hear of a dwelling in the heavens that will collapse and appear to us as a blue star. Very soon after that time the ceremonies of our people will cease. The end of our people will come when a caching removes his past during a dance before uninitiated children. We do not know how the world will end, it could be war, famine, disaster. Shortly after that day of purification the True White Brother will come to earth from the heavens to search for Hopi who still adhere to the ancient stories and ancient lessons. And he will search the whole world for them. But if he finds none he will return to the stars and the earth and everything on it will be destroyed forever. But, as long as there are Hopi still alive who still remember the teachings and stories and believe in them, who follow our true way of life, the world will be created anew and all the faithful will be saved from the destruction."

When the story was over everyone wanted to see Vega again, but this time a bit more reverentially. Soon though people began to drift away towards their homes and sleep, and Beth and I packed up the telescope and headed back toward Flagstaff.

Finally, after another five weeks, Aunt Gillian snagged me in the kitchen while I was making lunch on my day off.

"Jeremy, I have some good news!"

"Oh yeah? What's up Aunt G?"

"You're cooking dinner tonight!"

I sighed. I cooked dinner a couple of times a week because I did enjoy cooking, and people enjoyed what I prepared for them. But I was planning on going to see a movie this afternoon. Possibly having a few minutes to text Becca. Not working in the kitchen.

My aunt slipped me some cash with a wink. "Cook for four. And it's going to be a celebration, so here is $200. Get the best steaks and the best wine you can find. Our guest will be here at seven."

That was slightly more interesting than cooking a random dinner at home.

That evening, I was just finishing the salad while the meat cooked when I heard our guest pull into the driveway. Aunt Gillian and Aunt Sam popped into the kitchen.

"We are going to entertain our guest in the living room. Let us know when dinner is ready. Also, she doesn't know it's a surprise, so don't tell her it's a celebration dinner," Aunt Gillian said.

"Okay...Who is our guest?" I asked.

"Never you mind, Jeremy," Aunt Sam said with a grin. "It's a surprise for you, too."

My heart leapt. It had to be Becca. I quickly finished the meal and went to the living room. Aunt Sam smiled when I walked in. Sure enough, there she was.

Becca looked happy. Becca looked at me and gave me a huge smile, her eyes lighting up at seeing me.

"Dinner is ready, everyone," I said, my heart racing.

"Did you cook it, Jeremy?" Becca asked.

"Yes, he did," Aunt Gillian said before I could reply. "Jeremy cooks really well, and tonight he wanted to make a nice meal. I figured I'd invite my favorite student to eat my favorite nephew's cooking."

"I'm your only nephew," I said with a smile, a slight tremor in my voice at being so close to Becca again.

"And I'm your only student," Becca said, jumping on the bandwagon.

"Let's eat," Aunt Sam said, pulling my Aunt Gillian towards the living room hand-in-hand.

Shyly, Becca took my hand. When our bodies touched, it felt as though they were held together with static. She leaned her head on my shoulder. When we got to the dining room, both of my aunts looked at us and gave us grins from ear-to-ear.

"Wow, Jeremy!" Becca said when she saw all of the food on the table. "This looks fantastic."

As we ate and made small talk, Becca kept rubbing her foot up and down my leg.

While we were finishing dessert, my Aunt G said, "I have an announcement everyone."

We all turned and looked at her.

"As you all know, Becca has been working hard on her paper about finding exoplanets. She took extra time off to finish the edits to her paper. I found out today that the paper has been accepted by the IAU without edits. You did it, Becca! You're going to be published! You will present your paper at the conference in Colorado Springs in three weeks."

Becca's foot stopped mid stroke. Her fork fell from her hands. My aunts beamed with pride and pleasure.

"Congratulations," I said, turning to her with a smile. She looked completely absent and shocked. I reached out with a bit of concern at her continued silence. I placed my hand on her shoulder.

She turned to look at me. Our knees touched now. Her brown eyes were so wide and bright. A tear fell from her right eye.

"Are you OK?" I glanced over at my aunts who were still smiling and acting unconcerned at Becca's silence.

"I'm...I'm being published?" Becca asked me, looking right into my eyes.

"That's what Aunt G says," I nodded.

"But grad students don't get published. Not on their own anyway," she objected, stammering.

"Well maybe you should take that as a sign of how good your work is and be happy," Aunt Gillian said calmly.

Suddenly, her shock broke and a rush of feelings played out across her. Then she leaned over and kissed me. I don't think anyone expected that.

As our lips touched for the first time, sparks raced up and down my spine. The first kiss was just a peck. My hand went on its own up to her cheek. We pulled apart a bit, and our foreheads rested together while we breathed. Then we kissed again. Longer, deeper, more passionate.

"It's about time," Aunt Sam whispered to Aunt Gillian, who I could see nod in reply out of the corner of my eye. Okay, maybe it wasn't that unexpected then.

I got up after we had finished and put the kettle on for some tea and grabbed a plate of cookies. We all moved to the living room for tea and conversation. After a few minutes of talking about Becca's upcoming trip and what she would need to do to get prepared my Aunts left us under the premis of those who cook do not clean. It also left Becca and I on our own for the first time in weeks.

I wondered if the kiss that we had shared was just a fluke, a momentary bout of excitement. I tried not to get hard thinking about it and re living it over and over. Becca slid closer to me on the couch, our legs touching, and rested her head on my shoulder. Yep I was definitely hard now. I just hoped she didn't notice.

"I really missed you Jeremy," she whispered.

"I missed you too," I replied, the words getting caught in my suddenly dry throat.

She took my hand in hers.

"It was really lonely. Weeks at a telescope monitor at night and then getting 5 hours of sleep before waking up to write my thesis before that night's telescope time. I had finally finished collecting my data and was working on my Thesis and getting ready to come back to work when Dr. Gillian told me she wanted me to do edits on one of my papers. It must have been to reply to issues that the Peer Review found, but she never told me that she had submitted it for publication! God I still can't believe it. So I did lots of re writes and tuning on it and handed it in to Dr. G, and now... well here I am."

"Sounds like it's been a busy couple of months," I said. "I wish I could have seen you but, just wow. You did so well."

Being in an academic discipline where publish or perish is also very much a factor I understood her joy at getting published on her own, very rare for a student to be published without their professor's name on the paper as well, it was a remarkable achievement and many post doc placements or even jobs could come from it.