The Stargazer

There is a man with a telescope in the parking lot.

Her feet ache and her sleeve is caked with dried ranch dressing and table 11 complained and she hates talking to strangers so much it feels like her skin is unraveling.

She is unable to resist the temptation of Telescope. She makes up an excuse to step outside after the dinner rush.

The girl thinks the stargazing man looks like a picture she saw on her mother’s deck of Tarot cards - The Hierophant - a man attuned to the deep vibrations of the cosmos. He motions for her to step in front of the contraption of mirrorglass.

She peeks through the aperture, and there! The luminous red planet. Her chest thrums like a swarm of nectar-eating insects. Suddenly, her senses are overwhelmed; the sweet snap of fresh-picked tomatoes, the earthy scent of wet hay.

To her eye, the markings on the surface look like roads.