In the Planetarium

I read the palms of the other kids on the field trip to see which ones would grow up to be astronauts. The lifeline on Betty Lou’s beautiful hand ended the day after tomorrow, so I told her how the rest of our lives is vastly over-rated, even in neighboring galaxies. When she asked me how I knew so much, I said I watched War of the Worlds six times and, if she went with me to the double-feature tomorrow, I’d finish explaining the universe. I smiled winningly. The Halley’s Comet lecture by our teacher whooshed in my one ear and out the other.