The Stars Are My Friends

the stars are friendly tonight. they greet me with a wave. falling
through the sky in a right to left direction. i'm crazy about the little
dipper. i've had a crush on it since kindergarten. i used to pull its
handle to get attention. i'd reach my hand into the night sky and
spill its contents into my mouth. i've held conversations with the milky
way every night from my bedroom window - sometimes staying up
till the dawn's made the sky turn blue. in the milky way's vast
repository of veils and chemicals i've discovered the secret of the
universe. the big bang theory is a cover-up conceived by the
government to keep them in power. the universe was conceived by
a court jester in thirteenth century england. it happened one
afternoon while he was entertaining the king and queen but they
didn't want him to get the credit so they turned him into a eunuch
and made everyone in the kingdom throw rotten apples at his
head. i've begun a long correspondence with the constellation of
orion. sometimes it sends me long letters about grabula's epic
battles with the peg legged beggar and has sent enough gifts
of starlight to illuminate my entire bedroom. someday i'll be able to
generate enough power to build my own rocket ship to go visit all
my friends in the universe's outer reaches. until then i'll work at my
job at the planetarium turning knobs and switches so all the kids
will continue to be astonished by the mysteries lurking out there in
the great unknown above our heads.

Bruce J. Weber

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