Eric--Part Thirty-Seven

Splog # 163

Thirty-Seven

   "From the time she was fairly young, Mae had a drive in her that defied any attempts at assuaging. When we studied, she always wanted to learn more about our subjects, sometimes more than anyone could explain to her. When we played, she always wanted to run faster or jump higher or swim longer than she could. This led her to develop into a person who strove for excellence in whatever she attempted, but found it difficult to be content with whatever excellence she achieved. She had no interest in any kind of competition because the only person she was interested in besting was herself. But that's not exactly true. She didn't want to best herself. She wanted to go as far as she could possibly go, and then discover a way to go farther. But maybe this isn't the important part of the story."

   Cor gave a rueful little chuckle and Bev took a drink from her cup. Eric started to peel an orange and waited patiently.

   "One of the things Mae was most passionately interested in was astronomy. Possibly it was a way for her to let everything go. She'd talk about the stars with me and Bev or anyone who would listen. They were so out of her range that she could contemplate them without wanting to do anything about them, fixing them, or cleaning them or changing their positions in the sky." He and Bev both laughed a little. "She even said that if she could do something about them, she thought maybe she wouldn't. I think she said, 'They aren't perfect but then again, they are. They're perfect.' So she studied their names and positions and distances and navigation and things that I couldn't tell you anything about myself. And although the daytime Mae could be frustrating and impatient and overambitious and implacable...generally at night, she was a person who it was a pleasure to be with, even for a sister."

   Cor drifted off for a moment and Nol said, from the other table, "Mae was a lot of fun. Even during the day."

   Eric looked over to find Splog and Nol with their attention focused on Cor. Bev spoke softly.

   "She loved to jump into the branches of a tree from a galloping horse. I almost lost an eye trying that stunt."

   "About six months ago - is that right, six months?" The other three nodded absently.

   "It seems so much longer...But six months ago Mae came to breakfast one morning and asked if I'd look at something in the sky that night. I said I would and asked what it was. She didn't reply for a while. She seemed lost in thought and even a little worried. I asked again what she wanted me to look at and she just said something about an unusual phenomenon. I thought that if she'd found something new in the sky that she'd be excited and asked her if she was feeling ill or unwell. She didn't reply and just sat at table occasionally taking a bite of something without seeming to know what it was. Before she left, she turned to me and said, 'Cor, what would you go to the other side of the world for?' I was still trying to think of some kind of answer when she left the room.

   "That night I went to the platform in the tree where her observatory is. She wasn't there and while I waited for her I indulged in some stargazing. I could see why she loved it so much. Those tiny sparkles...I tried to think what made them so beautiful. Their immeasurable distance? Their permanence? The contrast of the miniscule spot of light in the immense darkness? Whatever it was, they certainly provoked a response of humility and appreciation for the beauties of nature. But I began to wonder what was keeping Mae. We hadn't appointed a time but when Mae asks you to be somewhere, she's always there before you are. And lost in my contemplation of the heavens, who knew how long I'd been waiting? But having told her I'd be there, I decided to lie down and relax until she arrived. I lay there with my eyes open and then I saw what had so upset her."