Eternal Elements

I stood in my kitchen at the stove, scrambling some eggs while talking on the phone with my mother. We were having our normal discussion about how she thinks I should find a nice boy to settle down with before I got too old. Apparently being nineteen was old to her. I sighed and stabbed at my eggs with the spatula, venting my frustration on them instead of getting into an argument with my mother before I had to go to work.

“Mom, you know that I don’t want to settle down right now. I just want to travel and see the world, once I have the money that is.” I turned the stove off and scooped my eggs onto a paper plate waiting nearby with a piece of toast covered with butter and honey. “No, I don’t want to take a nice boy with me. Why? Because then it would be a romantic trip and not an educational one. I want to go learn things, not sit around with a guy all day talking about “cute couple” stuff.” I shoveled some eggs into my mouth while she started talking about some boy she met. “ No, I am not going to come meet him. Do you listen to anything that I say?” I sat my plate down and plopped into the chair, leaning my elbows on the table. I rested my head in my free hand and closed my eyes, slowly counting to ten.

“Look, mom stop crying. No, stop. I... Fine! I will come meet the damn boy!” I stabbed at my eggs with my fork while my mother lectured me. “Sorry mom, I didn’t mean to swear at you. Look, I have to go. I have work in a bit and I still have to get ready. Alright? I love you too, mom. Bye.” I hung up the phone and sighed. How does she always get me to agree? I shook my head and devoured my eggs and toast, washing them down with some orange juice. I glanced at the clock and swore. Running to the bathroom, I turned the shower on and hopped in not even waiting for the water to warm up. I quickly washed my hair and body. The water was just starting to get warm as I turned the water off. I stood shivering as I dried myself off. Standing in front of the mirror, I wiped at the surface of it to wipe away the condensation. I attacked my bright orange hair with my brush and then started drying it with the hair dryer. Once it was all dried, I pulled it back into a tight pony tail. Applying deodorant and spritzing myself with some perfume, I rushed into my bedroom and grabbed my uniform. It was a black shirt with a baby blue poodle skirt and a white apron. There was a matching baby blue car hop hat. I worked at Sal’s Carhop, so we had a 1950’s style outfit. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wear roller skates to the vehicles. I just wore plain white tennis shoes. Looking in the full length mirror on the back of my door one last time, I smiled, grabbed my purse and headed out the door. I took the bus to work since I still don’t have a car. I waited at the bus stop, glancing at my cell phone every few minutes. I was going to be late. A pair of white tennis shoes entered my line of vision as I was glaring at the time on my phone, willing it to move slower. I glance up to see my boss, Annie.

“I thought I would find you here. Bus has been delayed due to an accident. Figured I would come and give you a lift. Come on, sugar.” She smiled at me and motioned for me to follow her. I grabbed my oversized purse and took off after her.

“Thank you so much Annie. What happened?” I asked her as I got into her baby blue convertible 1967 ford mustang. Starting the engine and then putting on her seatbelt, she pulled into traffic before answering me.

“Well, from what I hear, a driver fell asleep while driving and ran a red light. The bus was coming through the light as the driver ran it. Didn’t have time to stop or nothing. Still haven’t heard about any deaths, but I heard that the car flipped over seven times before landing upside down and sliding into a telephone pole. The bus driver had slammed on his breaks, causing the bus to swerve dangerously and tip. I don’t think the driver who fell asleep made it though. It would be a miracle if he did.” I let out a whistle and we changed the topic. When we finally pulled into Sal’s, we were talking about new uniforms.

“Honestly Annie, I think they should be red. Sal’s entire decor is based on red. The only blue here is your car and the uniforms.” I decided to inform her. She huffed at me.

“Sugar, your eyes are blue.” She shot back. I rolled my eyes at her.

“That doesn’t count.” I laughed and went to clock in. It was ten minutes to eleven, which is when we open. I started working on my “before opening” duties. When it was ten past eleven, cars started to pull in by the barrelful. It was going to be a long day.

“Here comes the cattle, Annie!” Dorothy, a small blonde girl with pretty green eyes called cheerfully. She said that the customers reminded her of cattle heading to the watering hole on a hot day. Annie laughed and shouted something to the cooks in the back. Bells started ringing. It was time to work.

Eight hours later, I was holding a wad of cash and counting it out. We didn’t have a cash register, we used money out of our pockets to break down bills and give change back. We carried around at least a hundred to begin with in our aprons. At the end of the day, you count out the money that belongs to the restaurant by doing your payroll. Whatever is left over, you get to keep as your tip. So far, I had made over a hundred in tips. I handed in my payroll to Annie, who was busy going over paperwork.

“Night Annie. See you Friday.” I called to her. She saluted me, not looking up from her paperwork. I said goodbye to the girl who was relieving me and walked out. Walking down the street a little, I came to the bus stop and waited. I took out my phone. I was surprised to see that I had six missed calls and a million messages. Turns out it was all from my mother, which was not so surprising. I sighed and called her up.

“Hi mom. No, I didn’t check the messages. I figured I would just call before you gave yourself a hernia. What, tonight? No, I told you I have plans tonight. I told you the other night over the phone. I don’t care if he is cute. What am I doing? Sitting at the bus stop. Oh, tonight. Well it’s a very rare occasion indeed, it’s the annual Lyrid meteor shower plus, Saturn is about a week from opposition so it’s rings will be able to be seen from a telescope. Cancel? No, I have been waiting for this all year. I didn’t get to go last year because you tried hooking me up with that one boy. I don’t know his name. The one with the blue eyes, big nose, and nasty attitude. Yes, that one. Of course you liked him mother. Still no. No. Mom, stop. I will hang up. Oh my god! You are impossible! No! I am not cancelling and that is that!” I hung up and shoved my phone back into my giant purse, ignoring the vibrations that meant my mother was calling me back.

The bus pulled up and I got on. After paying the toll, I took a seat near the front and rested my head on the window. I watched the buildings rush by, waiting for the bus to pull up near my apartment. Finally, the bus slowed down and stopped in front of my bus stop. I got off, saying goodnight to the driver as I dug out my keys from my purse. Unlocking my door, I ran to go get my stuff. The park where I was going to go watch the meteor shower was about fifteen minutes from here, so I was going to walk. Grabbing my telescope and journal, I went into the kitchen to make a small picnic for myself for later. One fried peanut butter and banana sandwich, a small cup of peaches, a thermos of coffee, and a bottle of water later I was ready to leave. It was already pretty dark by time I got to the park. I say park but it’s more like a state park. So lots of wilderness and not a lot of people at this time. It was another ten minutes before I got to the spot I had found a few days prior. I laid my blanket on the ground and set up my telescope. I sat down and took out my thermos filled with hot coffee.

I glanced at my watch, hitting the button to light up the screen. It was about eight p.m. I sighed and leaned back, staring at the stars above me. I had another half an hour before the meteors started falling and then Saturn’s rings won’t be visible until nine. I laid back on the grass and stared at the stars while waiting. I thought back to the conversation with my mother earlier. Why was my mother constantly trying to hook me up with men? And all the men she tried to hook me up with were... well to say they were pigs would be an insult to the animal. The last guy she had tried to hook me up with tried to take advantage of me in one of my mother’s closets. I had shoved my knee into his groin and got away. Never told my mother about that, just walked out of the house. I doubt he told her the truth. I felt my eyelids getting heavier and the stars started to become blurry. I let out a relaxed sigh and let myself drift asleep. It has been a long day.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I jolted awake, glaring at my watch. I had set it earlier that day to go off at eight forty-five. I clicked the button on the side, silencing the obnoxious beeping. I sat back and looked up, scanning the dark sky above me. I saw a streak out of the corner of my eye and quickly turned towards it. A meteor zipped across the sky, disappearing within seconds. I smiled and grabbed my journal. I always record things like this in there as well as my feelings during the time. I was busy scribbling away when my watch beeped again. I stopped writing and glanced at the lit up screen. Nine p.m. I pushed the button again to stop the beeping. I put my pen in the journal and sat it down to scooch towards my microscope. I peered through the lens, swinging it around until I was able to see Saturn. I grinned and looked up from the telescope. That’s when I saw it. A bright streak heading down towards the earth. I stood up, watching it. It zipped past me and landed a few miles or two somewhere behind me. I grabbed my things and took off in the direction that I saw it headed for. Twenty minutes later, I was seeing signs the signs of something that had fallen through the trees. Broken branches, some of them smoldering a bit from the heat of the meteor. I finally made it to a small clearing. It looked as if everything had been burned when the meteor crashed, for the grass around the meteor was singed and smoke was rising from them. All the trees surrounding the meteor had scorch marks up the trunks. I started walking even closer towards the meteor. There was so much smoke that I couldn’t see it properly. Finally I knelt right next to it, seeing it clearly for the first time. It was unlike anything that I have ever seen before. The meteor was about the length of a large loaf of bread and as thick as the roundest part of a football. The stone was dark in color, and being night I was hardly able to see it. I picked it up gingerly. It was lighter than I imagined it to be, but still had weight. I wrapped it up in the blanket and gently tucked it in my bag. I looked around trying to figure out where I came in. I picked a direction and started walking.

An hour later I came to a conclusion. I was lost.