STARDUST

When the girls were very young, maybe nine and thirteen, Roberto got a job working the night shift at Kaiser. We used to stay alone in the house, only with Colochito to guard us. This was back in ninety-three, when there were no houses in front or back of ours, and the ones to the east, before the corner, were boarded up, since we were barely coming out of that recession. Well, here in the Mojave Desert, it is still pretty dark at night, but in those days it was much, much darker. We were fearless. Several times a year, and in the middle of the night, we would move the car to the very entrance of the driveway, and between it and the garage door, we'd put sleeping bags and pillows on the ground, turn off the outside lights, and lay down to watch shooting stars. We had it down, in August, we would watch the Persiads and in November the Leonids, and a host of others in between. (We have been very devoted to the Persiads, since they happen in the dead of summer and it is always nice to be outside at night, where its cooler.) The girls, Colochito, and I, would stay out there for hours, watching the sky, counting falling stars, making wishes, and telling jokes, singing show tunes in hushed voices and finally sharing heartfelt thoughts. Colochito, that doggie, would lie between us, calmly resting, and every once in a while, he would get up and patrol the yard, always the protector. When the celestial show would subside, we picked up camp and went to bed. It was especially fun in school nights, since we all knew we weren't supposed to be out there, but since I am the mommy, and I could not bear the idea of any of us, missing such beautiful display, it was okay. The next morning, we were sleepy but happy. My girls never resisted getting up in the morning to go to school after one such night, they knew we had shared something special and that made everything else simply fall into place.

Years later, in the spring of ninety-seven, Valen went to prom that was the time when comet Hale-Bopp made its spectacular appearance. On prom night, Natalie and I, went to see Valen enter the dance (of course she did not know we were watching...) and afterwards, we drove twenty miles outside town, and in the middle of the desert, turned off the car and laid down on its hood, to watch Hale-Bopp in all of its splendor. And there, quietly, we talked about how magnificent Valen looked entering the ball with her date, surrounded by her friends; and wondered if the three of us, were ever going to dedicate another night to watch the stars together again.