Squisy
Today I was at the museum, looking at some painting s and honestly, utterly bored. That dorky kid, Dean came up to me. He has hair the color of rabbit fu, like those wild rabbits you see that are grayish-brown. He had eyes like a bunny, too, and even some rabbit mannerisms; Jittery movements and a careful walk.
"Ello Squisy!" he said with a strong English accent, "What are you looking for?"
"Um… Just looking for something… interesting. Hard to find interesting stuff in this place, isn't it?" I said carefully, trying not to offend him.
"Oh no! Not at all. Come upstairs, and I'll show you my favorite place!" He cried excitedly. Oh joy. This is going to be fun, I thought sarcastically.
He led me up a small marble staircase. The room we stepped into was small and circular with books lining the walls and a huge telescope by the open window. It had gotten dark while I was in here, boring myself to death, and the sky was inky black.
"This is the observatory," he said proudly. I gave him a blank look.
"You look at the stars," he explained. I rolled my eyes as he turned and began fiddling with the telescope. I needed an escape plan, and fast!
"Wow, that sure is cool. Um… what's your favorite constellation?" I asked distractedly, proud of my vocabulary but also frantic trying to think of an excuse. It was far past dinner time, it was summer so no homework, Teeny was out fishing so she couldn't need me for anything…
"Oh, definitely the Ormang! (a/n: dunno anything bout astronomy, so I just made that up. Sorry!) See? It's the one all the way to the right, in the shape of the diamond with the criss-crosses inside it?" he led me to the telescope and reluctantly I looked through. I gasped. I saw it! A mass of jumbled stars became a clear picture and suddenly I could see them everywhere! There, toward the bottom, was a goat! On the left, a flying horse! It was like looking at clouds, but more substantial, more real.
"I see it!" I cried.
"Good job! Most people can't see them for a while! See, this one only comes out from July to early September. See that other one, that one about halfway along from Ormang, to the left? That's the Dancers," he asked.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" I sighed. I meant it, too. It was a glittering picture in the sky, prettier then a city skyline or the neon signs of Main Street.

"The ancient Greeks first began looking at the stars and recording their movements," he explained.

"Wait, so they move?" I asked. He smiled and explained. I found myself listening intently about these burning structures, light-years away.

"Yea, so in late October an interesting cluster of stars appear off that way," he pointed, "and I think the name originated from…"

He continued and, unlike his usual white noise-droning, I was listening and even understanding. Names and movements and seasons filled my head and I enjoyed it. I soaked up this knowledge and felt something click in my brain. I knew this was important.

"So, do you want to chart some of the constellations?" he asked. I smiled and nodded. He handed me a complicated looking piece of paper with marks and scribbles all over it.

"Just tell me what section the constellations are in each night and graph their movement," he said.

"All right. But tomorrow I get to teach you something," I replied.

"And what might that be?" he asked.

"How to dress," I laughed and ran down the stairs and out into the night air. I glanced down at the chart. Maybe I could keep track of a couple of these stars… Maybe just for a while… I walked home and sat at the kitchen table by the big window, staring at the sky and scribbling notes the best I could. I had no idea if I was doing this right.

You're not going to be a natural at this right away I reminded myself. I was glad that I could still see, faintly, the Ormang. It wasn't as clear without a telescope.

"Let's see… the brightest star of that constellation is over on this square and…" I went through the graph, slowly figuring it out.

Up until now the only stars I ever thought about were the movie ones.