EXCERPT FROM SARA’S JOURNALJanuary 11, 1999
Huerta Santa Maria
Near Galaroza
The night is a starry dome. The night is so black it’s
like the Planetarium. City folks go to the Planetarium so they can see what the night
really looks like. What the night looks like without city lights.
Here’s my introduction to Orion’s bow. The sky is so black
and we stand on the little patio, looking up beyond the tile roof. Beyond the tile roof is
the cosmos. Millions of glittering stars, already dead in their own time zone. Already
long gone, millions of light-years away. They sparkle in miniature formation. I’ve
never seen these stars before.
The Big Dipper is upside down. Orion has a bow and an arrow and a sword
hanging at his side. There’s a tiny, faint little pot. It’s the Little, Little,
Little Dipper. The Milky Way is the Creamy Way. The little stars go deep, and the bigger
stars come forward. The dome is a three-dimensional sea of flickering diamonds. Hoot owls
call from their hollow beds.
