Short story – “Moon Light”

“Moon Light”

With her four-year-old son Jason half asleep on her shoulder, Lenia Davidson walked out into her backyard.  As with any four-year-old, getting him to go to bed was a challenge, which would only be even more challenging in the days ahead after waking him in the middle of the night.  But he needed to see this.

Between the neighbor’s lights, the glow from Houston, and a nearly half-a-moon, there were only a couple of stars visible.  Although, Lenia thought one of them was supposed to be Jupiter, but she couldn’t remember which one.

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Commander Sean Davidson quietly counted down, “Three, two, one.” At zero, the only thing that happened was a change on his computer screen.  After glancing over everything for a few seconds, he transmitted, “Houston, everything on our end indicates Moon Light is working and running its first program.”

A few seconds later came the reply, “Copy Armstrong.  We can see that it’s working.”

Sean turned to his crew – in various stages of making dinner – and announced, “It appears Project Moon Light is a success.”

His crew nodded and applauded, then went back to work.

Sean checked the displays again, then looked up and smiled.

#

After a few minutes of trying to keep Jason awake by pointing out the fireflies or the distant hoot of an owl, Lenia finally saw what she was waiting for.  She turned him around so he could see the moon.  Half was lit by the sun, but in the dark half was a point of bright, white light.  “Jason, look.”

Jason yawned and rubbed his eyes.

 “See that point of light on the moon?”

Jason stopped rubbing his eyes, and looked up at the moon.  After a second or two, he nodded.

“That’s where your daddy is.”

Jason turned to her, then back to the moon with his mouth open.

Lenia explained, “They have a really bright flashlight that they can turn on for a minute at a time, so everyone on Earth can see that there are people on the moon.”

Whatever tiredness Jason had was replaced with awe, and he waved at the moon.

By now, the light had turned red and was starting to shift its way through the rainbow.

Lenia kissed Jason on the top of his head, then waved at the moon with him.