The Observatory - A Short Story by Alex

I really wanted to go to the museum. The Yanford Museum is one of the world’s greatest museums in myriad ways. It has a world-class number of fossils from many eras, a wide array of rare animals, multiple original Easter Island moai, and an excellent 3-D theater. But none of those were why I wanted to go to the museum. I wanted to go to its observatory, which all the reputable astronomy magazines said was the best in the world. I would have toured it on hundreds of occasions, if not for one final feature. It was a ten hour drive away.

I beseeched my parents almost constantly from the time I was five until the time I was twelve, but all for naught. We didn’t have that kind of money; there were things we were saving up for. All my failed arguments, though, made me smart. I could tell what almost worked, and eventually found the answer. A few weeks before Clyde, my little brother’s, third birthday, I spoke to him. “You know what Mom and Dad and I have just been talking about?” I said in what I was fairly certain was an inviting way.

“What?” he asked quite excitedly.

“A really cool museum. It’s got all sorts of things, like minerals, animals, dinosaurs…”

“Dinosaurs?” My brother loved dinosaurs. Everyone his age does.

“Yeah, but we’re not going.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too far away.”

“But I want to go!” He was extremely predictable.
“Well you should ask Mom and Dad then.”

“I will,” he said indignantly and marched off. I knew that victory was mine. My parents would know that I had talked Clyde into it, but there really wasn’t much they could do about it. In any case, his birthday was coming up. However, my parents did get their requital. Clyde’s admission, and mine, plus the cost of whatever he wanted from the museum’s gift shop, would be paid by me. The important thing was that we were going. Once I saw the observatory, it would be well worth the potentially exorbitant cost of whatever huge stuffed dinosaur my brother laid eyes on.

Two excruciatingly long weeks later came Clyde’s birthday, and we went to the Yanford Museum as expected. Obviously, the telescopes wouldn’t be working until it got dark, so most of my day was spent taking care of my brother as we went through the still fairly intriguing lesser exhibits. My brother started to become quite bothersome as he asked me to read most of the signs in the museum to him, but after a while I began to ignore him and thought of what I’d see through the amazing telescopes. The reviews described them as ‘incredible’, ‘revolutionary’, and one other word that I couldn’t quite remember. Through all my imagining, the day passed swiftly, and soon the observatory was open.

“You go on by yourself,” said my dad. “Your mother and I aren’t quite as interested in it as you are, and I think Clyde would like to see the dinosaurs again.”

“I’m fine with that, Dad. I’ll meet you at the dinosaur room in about an hour.”

“Just half an hour. You don’t need to spend that long looking into a telescope.”

I groaned. Even now my parents were against me. But there was no arguing it. I dashed to the observatory as quickly as I could so I wouldn’t lose any time.

There was no line at the entrance to the observatory, and I went right in. I couldn’t believe what I saw! The telescope was tiny! Well, not tiny, precisely, but much larger ones are available in most of the magazines I subscribe to. It wasn’t a museum-size telescope at all. Still, I remembered what the reviews said and decided to give it a chance. At least the museum attendant was nice enough to let me tell him where to aim it. I thought Mercury would be nice.

I looked through the view piece. It was an excellent picture, with extremely good focus and nice zoom. I really underestimated it. I moved it around smoothly and easily, and found other planets and astronomical points of interest with ease. It did seem both ‘incredible’ and ‘revolutionary’. But what was that other term they used?

I don’t remember when I realized I was doing things that one usually can’t do with a telescope. But eventually I couldn’t feel my body. I looked back at the Earth, which made me kind of nervous. Number one, I was definitely not on it anymore, and secondly, it was spinning around like mad. Days and weeks had to be passing there without me. And could I breathe out here? I wasn’t dying, obviously, but how?
I watched my planet spin for what I estimated was more than a year down there; a few hours for me. I missed my parents. I really did. I missed Clyde, too. I wanted to cry, but couldn’t, as my anatomy was… What was I? I tried to look back at myself, but then…

Whoa, what was that? I opened my eyes, and took them away from the telescope’s view piece. I shook out my hands, which were definitely there, and stepped back. “Did you like the telescope?” asked the attendant.

“Oh yeah, sure,” I mumbled, and then continued, “How long was I out?”

“A little over 20 minutes”

“Oh. Felt longer.”

“So what did you think of the view?”

“It was…” I suddenly remembered the third term the reviews had used, “Life-changing. Have you ever seen it?”

“No, people seem, well, different after they look into that thing. I don’t want to change that much”

I admired his logic, but remembered Mom, Dad, and Clyde, so I told him goodbye and left. When I saw my dad, I ran up to him and gave him an enormous hug. I hadn’t hugged him in far too long. Dad said they were ready to go after we stopped by the gift shop. Amazingly, Clyde didn’t want anything, but I bought him a bag of magnetic rocks anyway, just for his birthday. Clyde yawned. He was really kind of cute sometimes, especially when he was tired.

On the way home, my dad and I conversed while Mom and Clyde were asleep.

“You were really nice there, son.” My dad hardly ever used that pleasant tone with me anymore.

“Thanks, Dad. I hope Clyde likes me enough.”

“I’m sure he does. I don’t think I ever asked how the telescope was.”

“Pretty nice, but not really what I expected.”

With that, my dad quieted down, and I closed my eyes and went to sleep. It had been a long day.