I've written this a while ago, but I was a bit too embarrassed to share it. Then my sister punched me in the arm for being such a downer.

So here it is. This is probably the most Carl has talked in these drabbles. I don't even know where I was going with this. I was just thinking about stargazing coupled with the end of summer. It's not even poignant. It's not even long.

I'm running out of ideas for young Carl and Elie, so I'll probably start touching on teen Carl and Elie. Yay.

"That one's Pegasus."

"Huh? Where?"

"Over there…the horse with wings."

"I got no idea what you're lookin' at. 'S just a bunch of dots."

"No look, those are the wings--"

"Then those are small wings!" Carl shifted, his arms feeling all tingly from the grass underneath. The hill the two children lay on was the highest they knew, a place that was quite a hike away from their houses. It was the best place for star gazing.

"No, you hafta, well, it's something you imagine. You imagine feathery wings…"

"Well, then can't it be something else? How do guys decide these things?"

"It says it's Pegasus in all the books I've read. Scientists and stuff say it's Pegasus."

"Well I say they're dumb." Elie squinted at the night sky, attempting to find a picture that made sense. "That's nothin' but dots."

"Well…what about Orion? There's his belt…that's his sword…"

"Oh, I see that! Why's he headless?"

"He's not."

"Well, I don't see a head." Carl realized that their conversation was starting to circle back and decided to not pursue the subject.

"Up there's the North Star."

Elie nodded solemnly. "That's pretty north alright."

"Yeah. And then if you look a little beyond it there….that's the Big Dipper."

"What's a 'dipper' supposed to be?"

"Um, kinda like a ladle. Except square, I think."

For a few seconds, the only sounds were the rustling grass and unseen crickets singing the night away. "Reminds me of a wheelbarrel."

"Oh yeah? Where're the wheels?" asked Carl teasingly. He giggled when Elie threw grass at him. The redhead grew silent once more as he spat out the weeds and shook the strands of grass from his glasses. Finally, though she seemed reluctant to, Elie started up a different subject.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

"…You finish summer homework?"

Carl had finished it ages ago. But something told him to say, "No."

She relaxed beside him and taunted, with relief in her voice, "Schools tomorrow, y'know. How're ya gonna finish?"

Carl chuckled. "I dunno." And they both fell back into a satisfied silence, wiggling their bare feet in the cool, fresh grass, gazing at the sky on the last day of summer.