Siriusly Dewed

Can we receive the message we want to hear or need to hear, or will we hear it at all?

The stillness of the long, dark hallway was suddenly intruded upon by two youth, dodging and weaving their way to a particular door. They opened the door and peered in. 

"Professor Darron? Hello? Professor! Hey!"

"I don't think she's here, Varquon."

"Well, we supposed to look, so let's look."

"Classroom looks creepy at night, don't it?"

"Classroom is creepy during the day, too. Let's hurry up and get out of here."

"Wait a minute, Sederro. Look here."

The fellows approached the telescope set up on the far wall in the room.

"What you wanna do? Look for the cheerleaders changing?"

"Nah, man. Football field is on the other side of school."

"Then let's get out of here."

"Hold on, man. I always wanted to look longer in this thing, but Darron wouldn't let us. We had to always 'take turns.' "

"What are you wanting to see, man?"

"I don't know yet. See where this . . . "

He turned a couple of knobs on the side. 

"You know what you're doing?"

"Gotta get it focused."

"Professor Darron finds out you've been messing with her telescope, . . . "

"Just a bit more, . . . there. That did it."

"What do you see?"

"Wow," he said quietly. "Lots of stars."

"Man, who cares about stars? Let's get out of here."

"So bright and so far away." 

"Seen one star, . . . "

"You can all but see them twinkle. Like seeing them move."

"What? Let me see."

"Hold on."

Varquon stepped away from the eyepiece to let Sederro see. While Sederro peered through the telescope, Varquon approached the second story window and looked up into the night sky. 

"Yea, man. Allright. We never get to look this long during classroom hours."

"Stars are so far away," Varquon whispered. "And all we can do is watch them like this."

"Look at this bright one here, man."

"Which one?"

Varquon stepped up to the telescope again and steadied himself to view Sederro's reference. 

"Yea, that is bright. Like a spotlight."

"It's called Sirius," Sederro said. 

"How do you know?"

"Says so here on this star chart."

Varquon looked up to see the chart as well. 

"Where's . . . . Sirius?"

"Right there."

"There?"

"Right there." 

Varquon followed along to other named stars, then looked through the telescope again.

"Yea," he said, squinting. "There it is."

"It makes a dog," Sederro said.

"What?"

"The picture has it as part of a dog."

"Yea, okay. I could look at this all night long."

"Well, let me see again."

"Here." Varquon said, again walking toward the window while Sederro used the telescope. 

Varquon stared into the sky once more, seeing what he could still make out with the naked eye. He had picked up the chart and began looking into the sky, seeing where the stars would be located. There's Sirius. And Orion. Heard of him before. Varquon continued to look at the chart and the sky, then noticed something. 

"Sederro."

"What, man?"

"Come here."

"Yea, hold on."

"Sederro, you got to see this."

"I can see it through the telescope, man."

"No, you got to see this."

Sederro stood upright from the telescope and made his way to the window. 

"What, man?"

Varquon was looking at the chart. 

"Look at where the stars are, here according to the chart."

"Yea, I was seeing them in the sky."

"No, wait. Look at the chart, now look at the ground."

"The ground?"

"Look at it, Sederro. Look at the night reflection on the ground."

"Man, what are you . . . . you're making this up."

"Look, Sederro."

Sederro studied the chart, then looked at the grand patch of ground outside the building. He'd look to the chart, then look outside again. There seemed to be definite similarities. 

"What is that out there?"

"Dew on the grass."

"What's causing the reflection?"

"There's no streetlight around," Varquon said. "I guess reflection off the moon? Or the stars?"

Sederro was still studying the ground to the chart. 

"But to do that on the ground, causing the moisture to almost sparkle like the stars in the same arrangement, how is that possible?"

"They're all there. Look, you can follow this one here. That makes this, . . . this Orion's boot."

"Belt."

"Okay, belt. Orion's belt. Then here's these stars making this . . . dog here. That's supposed to be a dog."

"Don't look like a dog."

"Doesn't matter. Look, all the twinkles are there. On the ground. Doing just like the sky. And that bright one is Sirius. This one here. There it is on the ground."

With his words, the two boys stared at the perceived image of Sirius they had designated to be on the land below. 

"Varquon, that's not morning dew. That's not water."

Varquon looked intently at the ground. 

"What is that?"

"There's somebody down there," Sederro said and rushed to the door to get outside and see who the person lying on the ground might be. Varquon stood at the window and watched. In no time, Sederro was on the ground and making his way toward the form. Once he got to it, he yelled up to Varquon. 

"It's Professor Darron!" 

Varquon watched as Sederro helped the woman to her feet and began coming inside with her. He looked back at the land to see how the stellar arrangement might have been altered. The white lab coat they took to signify Sirius was now a dark spot. Varquon looked at the chart, then up to the sky, to see if there had been some altering of Sirius above. At that moment, Professor Darron came staggering in. 

"Oh, Varquon," she said. 

He made his way over to her. 

"Professor Darron, are you okay?"

"I'm . . . I'm fine. I just slipped going . . . . out to my car."

Varquon brought her a chair, so she could sit down.

"How long had you been out there?"

"I don't . . . I don't know. Is the football game still going?"

"The game's over, Professor Darron. Mr. Carruthers asked us to come find you and let you know he was leaving."

"Oh, mercy. I'm so tired," she said, putting her hand to her head, then continued, "well, if the game is over, I must have been out there for almost an hour. Not quite an hour."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. I was walking to my car and suddenly slipped and fell and don't think I hit my head, but seems the fall just knocked the wind out of me, so I blacked out."

"You slipped?"

"Uh-huh. Must have been on the wet grass."

"The dew," Varquon said quietly, as he straightened himself up from leaning over the Professor to make certain she was okay. He walked back to the window once more and picked up the chart. 

"Professor Darron," he began, "there's something strange going on here."

"What kind of strange?" she asked. 

"Professor, when we looked at the chart of the stars, we noticed sparkling moisture from the dew on the ground was arranged the exact same way as the stars."

"Boy, what are you talking about?"

"See? See, here. You can compare them."

Professor Darron had stood and made her way to the window. 

"Professor, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Now what are you talking about?"

"Look here, on the chart. See the stars. Here and here. and now look outside at the ground."

The Professor looked a bit.

"And see, you were Sirius, with your white lab coat. We wouldn't have noticed you if you hadn't been in the exact spot that represented Sirius."

She looked at Varquon a bit puzzled. 

"So who was supposed to set the ground up to reflect the stars?"

"Well, I don't think it is a reflection. It was like a map, . . or, . . or a message as to where you were located. We would have never seen you, . . . "

And with that, Varquon now realized Sederro was not in the room with them. 

"Where's Sederro?"

Professor Darron looked around as well. 

"I don't know. He helped me up off the ground and got me to the door. After that, I don't recall. Suddenly he just wasn't there."

Varquon ran to the classroom door and looked into the hallway. 

"SEDERRO! SEDERRO!" 

There was no answer. Varquon stepped back into the classroom. 

"Where could he be?" Professor Darron asked. She looked at the chart and stared outside at the ground, then cast her eyes upward to the stars. 

"What does this all mean, Professor?" Varquon asked. 

She furrowed her brow beneath her spectacles. 

"I don't know what to make of any of this. The glistening dew on the ground . . . is mirroring the arrangement of the stars in the sky."

"Yea," Varquon started, turning to the telescope, "Sederro and I were looking at the stars through the . . . . GODD--!"

Professor Darron looked to see what caused his shocked reaction. 

The form stood there, shoulders back, posture straight, head tossed back, eyes near-glazed, staring ahead. 

"Sederro," Varquon gasped. "Where have you been, man?"

Sederro didn't answer. 

"Sederro?"

"Sederro, what's wrong?"

"Professor, what's happened to him?"

"I don't know."

Professor Darron moved closer to him. She was almost to him, when suddenly he spoke, startling both Darron and Varquon. 

"We tried," he bellowed. "We tried to contact! We tried you contact! You! You sent messages! You! Not You! We sent messages!" 

The duo looked at Sederro. 

"Professor, is he . . . ?"

"Quiet, Varquon."

"We tried! To speak you!"

"What is it you want to say?" Professor Darron asked. 

"Speak! You! Sent messages! Sent directions! Never responded!" 

"Directions?" Varquon questioned. 

"The dew resembling the stars," Darron said. "What did you want us to know?" she asked of Sederro. 

"Try! No answer! Try! No answer!"

"We didn't understand," Professor Darron spoke. "We didn't understand what you were trying to say."

"Try! We try! No answer! No answer!"

"We are listening now," Darron yelled. "What do you want to say? What do you want us to know?"

"Tried! Tried! Hear us! Tried!" Sederro said, then grew quiet. 

"What is it you want us to know?" Darron repeated. 

"Oh, no!" Sederro yelled. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again. 

"Professor Darron? Are you okay?"

"Yes, Sederro. I'm fine. Just knocked the wind out of myself when I fell. Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine. I'm fine. What's going on?"

"You were speaking in another voice. someone else's words," Varquon said. 

"Who? Who was it?"

Professor Darron and Varquon looked out the window with stars sparkling in the sky and glistening dew on the ground below. 

"Who was it?" Professor Darron repeated. "I think we may never know."