She must have really loved him. Kentucky girl,settling on the banks of Troublesome Creekwith a French orphan. Long beforeroads, before the mineswould bring in trains, she is miles from Hardshellor Dwarf or Fisty with a man whose skinis as blue as the summer berries. Eventually, scientistswill discover one of the rarest objectsin the galaxy, the product of two sun remnantsmerging and reigniting themselves. In the meantime, what to dowhen grandfather is French and blueand the girl next door is your cousin? You kiss herin a misty glade illuminatedby lightening bugs, you marry her in the strung debris fieldsof two collapsed stars and then you hide, a roguecreation, because you give off the wrong light. But time
is on the side of everything in the cosmosand big ol’ nurse Pendergrass will find youwhen she sees to Aunt Luna, lipsas dark as a bruise. They’ll be tests, machinesthat spin famished tubes with eyeslike steam engines hanging in space, and no matterhow deeply infrared you are, no matterhow many mean dogs you put out frontto keep away the crew from That’s Incredible, the hostilityof your stellar winds betrays how you burnthough your solitude, your heavier elements.You’ll collapse, yes, after generations,the blue remnants of your ancestorare now in only your fingertips, your faceis a neutron star, a profile pic everyone can seebut no one will look at. And no matter. You’re happyto have the chance to be ignored; just youand your girlfriend, your dorm-room smilesand your fingers tucked out of sight.
Photo by Simon Wilkes on Unsplash