Banning, is skeptical when I apply for the strongman job. He’s got a strongman, he says, and I say I know. I also know his guy is getting long in the tooth and suffers from asthma, or emphysema, or whatever. Banning tells me to hit the bricks, he’s a busy man, blah, blah. I walk over to the lion cage and tear the door off its hinges—naturally, I try to make it look casual, but the effort does me in for the day. The owner picks up his jaw. He sends one of his flunkies to break the news to poor Cleo. He doesn’t even mind that it takes Armand the better part of two days and the assistance of local animal control to corral their lion and get him into his cage.
I knock on Lila’s trailer door. A monster storm cloud is massing in the north and that could be good or bad. It certainly sets the scene. My hair is standing on end. Lila screams and throws her arms around me. She’s crying a little and there’s snot in her beard.
“Hey, this is for you,” I say and give her a small wooden coffer I bought off a guy at a garage sale where I also scored some dumbbells to get in shape for my strongman— strongperson —audition.
“What is it?” She lifts the lid and gasps. An eerie golden light plays over her face.
“Stardust.”
“Stardust?”
“I hope it’s not radioactive. Maybe we should get a Geiger counter.”
“You’re yanking my chain.”
I smile. “Never happen.”
“Well…my God. Look at this. Where…?”
I take the folded, spindled, and mutilated piece of paper with the Dreyer entry for galaxy N1168 from my pocket and give it to her. Lightning parts the red sky like a cleaver. It reflects twin novas in her eyes. I grasp her free hand and press it against my heart.
Three, two, one. Boom.
I knock on Lila’s trailer door. A monster storm cloud is massing in the north and that could be good or bad. It certainly sets the scene. My hair is standing on end. Lila screams and throws her arms around me. She’s crying a little and there’s snot in her beard.
“Hey, this is for you,” I say and give her a small wooden coffer I bought off a guy at a garage sale where I also scored some dumbbells to get in shape for my strongman— strongperson —audition.
“What is it?” She lifts the lid and gasps. An eerie golden light plays over her face.
“Stardust.”
“Stardust?”
“I hope it’s not radioactive. Maybe we should get a Geiger counter.”
“You’re yanking my chain.”
I smile. “Never happen.”
“Well…my God. Look at this. Where…?”
I take the folded, spindled, and mutilated piece of paper with the Dreyer entry for galaxy N1168 from my pocket and give it to her. Lightning parts the red sky like a cleaver. It reflects twin novas in her eyes. I grasp her free hand and press it against my heart.
Three, two, one. Boom.
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