Suzi Moonlight

I once saw the Milky Way. I don’t know how that’s possible.

We’re in the Milky Way. I guess I saw the edges? Standing near the edge, looking out?

It was a beautiful, clear sky over the ocean. I was with a bunch of friends, but went for a walk, alone, to stare at the sky without people babbling. One of my friends followed me out. He came across the sand and stood beside me. I looked up at the huge wash of condensed, tiny lights in the sky.

“What do you think it is?” I asked.

“Looks like the Milky Way,” he said.

“Is that possible?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

We stood in silence, staring up. A wind blew in from the ocean. I pulled my arms around myself. He stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on my head. Though he was much younger than me, it felt like the arms of a protecting, older brother.

We stared at the sky, each of us lost in our own thoughts for a time, then returned to our laughing, raucous friends in the house.