Dark Moon

THE CALIFORNIA NIGHT WAS PERFECT. NOT A SECOND OF IT passed without the complete appreciation of Marcus Stiller. The cold gnawed at his ebony cheeks and ears, but it was a small price to pay for the joy of doing what he loved. Not even the dull ache that hovered just over his kidneys, the result of several hours of stooping, could take the luster off the evening, nor could the brisk breeze that shook the needles of the nearby pine trees. Above him the black dome of the evening sky hung inverted like an obsidian-colored bowl. Stars shimmered like sequins on a black evening gown. Even without the benefit of his telescope, the distant specks of light seemed close enough to touch. To Marcus, they begged to be caressed by someone who knew them, some-one who understood them, someone who loved them. Pressing one of the four direction buttons on the electronic controller he held in his gloved hand, he waited for the Orion 200mm telescope to change the direction of its unblinking gaze. "I'm freezing," Terri Lynn said, slapping the sleeves of her heavy coat. "Don't be such a wimp," Jason Coogan shot back. "Where is your sense of scientific adventure?" "Tucked away safe and warm in my head," Terri retorted. "Not that you'd know anything about having stuff in your head." Jason sighed melodramatically. "Just like a woman." "All right, you two," Marcus said, looking up from the eyepiece of the telescope. He chuckled as he looked at his two students. Jason Coogan was a brash twenty-year-old with a genius-level IQ. His friends called him "Whiz," as did Marcus when they were outside the college classroom where Marcus taught physics and astronomy. Whiz stood just two inches shorter than Marcus, which made him five-foot-eleven. He wore his hair greased back and a two-day growth of stubble on his Mediterranean chin. Rounding out his carefully orchestrated rebel image was his ever-present white T-shirt and leather vest. Since the temperature was in the low forties, Jason's getup was hidden beneath a thick down coat borrowed from Marcus. Whiz was bright, but common sense was a stranger to him. It hadn't occurred to him that the mountains were colder this time of year. "Scientists don't criticize one another's gender, Whiz. They make fun of their research. Try to get it right." "You're not taking his side, are you?" Terri asked, her face forming a pout. Marcus knew it was an act. Of all his students, only she could keep up with Whiz's academics and wit. Despite appearances the two were fast friends. Like Whiz, Terri was a student enrolled in one of Marcus's classes. Her chestnut hair hung on each side of her face. "Of course not," Marcus replied. "I'm just trying to fill out the conversation a little. Oh, and Whiz, you're lucky my wife didn't hear that 'just like a woman' crack. She'd throw you off the balcony without a second thought." "Who needs to be tossed off the balcony?" Lucy Stiller asked as she stepped through the sliding glass door that separated the expansive redwood deck from the warm rooms of the Stiller's mountain home. "Whiz," Terri said. "And it's not too late. I can give you several reasons. I might even pay to have the deed done." "No need," Lucy said with a broad smile. She was carrying a tray with four mugs. Diaphanous steam floated skyward. "I would be happy to do it for a friend." "You gonna let them threaten me like that?" Jason asked Marcus. Marcus turned to his wife and winked. She was a tall woman, an inch shorter than he. Her chocolate-colored skin was a shade lighter than his own. A striking woman, she had modeled while in college to earn money for tuition. She had been told many times that she could have made a career in front of the photographer's lens, but she had declined. Medicine was her calling from childhood, one to which she had listened faith-fully. Now as a senior resident of Fontana Municipal Hospital, she was living the life she had always known she woulGansky, Alton L. is the author of 'Dark Moon' with ISBN 9780310235583 and ISBN 0310235588.