"Granddad come on."
"Ben, there's no rush, its not even dark yet." The seven year old crosses his arms.
"We need to get everything ready Granddad. Otherwise we'll forget something. And then what? You said it had to be tonight." James smiles down at his grandson, once the boy has a plan, there's no stopping him.
"Alright, we'll get it all sorted. But then, you go and do your homework."
"Granddaaaaad."
"That's the deal kiddo. Take it or leave it." Ben huffs out a breath and scowls.
"Only the spellings. Not the maths."
"Only the spellings then, but you have to promise you'll do the maths tomorrow mate."
"Promise. Can you help me with the spellings Granddad? Dad needs to sleep for work and he doesn't like doing spellings."
"Yeah I'll help. Let's go and get this stuff ready for tonight then eh?" The kid runs out the room and opens the back door, heading down the garden to the shed. James grins, picking the keys up from the keyhook as he follows.
"How did you think you were gonna get in without keys Benny?"
"Knew you'd remember 'em."
"Oh is that right," James says, fighting back a grin at Ben's nod. "Have you got the list then fella?" Ben nods again, and pulls a crumpled list from his pocket. Hathaway would be willing to bet that he's been carrying it around with him all week.
"Got it right here Granddad. We need a plastic cover." James limps over to the back of the admittedly small shed, and pulls it out, sticking it on the floor outside.
"One plastic cover, check." Never mind that it's the cover for Holly's bike, it'll do.
"And we need pillows and blankets."
"Yeah, we'll get them after your spellings. Otherwise they'll get all damp and cold. One more thing from the shed I think Ben."
"The hand warmers! I know where they are." The kid clambers over the lawnmower and a rake to get to the box the hand warmers are in. They get the rest of the things that they need, except for the food and the pillows and go back in side.
.
Once the spellings are done, Hathaway and Ben stand in the kitchen making sandwiches, filling them up much more than is strictly necessary. Add a few packets of crisps and a flask of tea, and they were good to go. Juat as they were ready to go outside, Sam appeared in the kitchen, dressed for work.
"I'm off Dad. See ya Benny."
"See you son, stay safe."
"I will Dad."
"Bye Dad!"
"You two have fun." He leaves and Ben is soon tugging on James' sleeve.
"Come on Granddad. It's dark now. We need to go set up." Hathaway grins and lets the kid lead him into the garden. They lay the plastic bike cover on the ground, and Ben immediately springs up. "We forgot the pillows Granddad! I'll go and get them!"
"I was thinking about that. I think we should use the deck chair mate."
"'Cos of your knee?" James smiles softly at the way the boy picks up on things.
"Yeah, Granddad's knee isn't going to like lying on cold ground is it?" Ben frowns like he's trying to work something out. "It's a big deck chair mate. We can both sit on it. But we might need a blanket. It'll be cold."
"I'll get one!" Ben shouts, racing back to the house. James shakes his head and grabs the deckchair, complete with cushions, from the shed. He places it on the cover, along with the sandwiches and flask of tea. He's been looking forward to this for ages. Holly is in Liverpool for a few nights, visiting one of her flatmates, and Sam is working a night shift. And he and his grandson are going to indulge their love of astronomy, spending some quality time together in the process. James can't think of another way he'd rather spend an autumn evening. He sits back in the deck chair, grateful that its long enough for him to rest his legs on, and drops his walking stick on the floor next to it.
Ben comes running back down the garden, holding his duvet, and grinning.
"We ready now Granddad?"
"I think we are mate. Up you come, this deck chair's plenty big enough for the two of us." Ben does so and James puts the duvet over the boy. He himself isn't cold yet, but he's not taking any chances with his grandson. The last thing they want is for him to get ill and end up with a fever. Fevers and epilepsy just don't mix. They'd found that out the hard way the year before.
He feels the child snuggle against him, and he puts his arms around Ben's shoulders.
"When we gonna see one Granddad?"
"You have to be patient mate. Why don't you tell me about the stars eh?" He stares up at the night sky as his grandson tells him all about the constellations he can see. Its a breathtaking night, crisp and clear and the sky is lit up with tiny pinpricks of light, each one millions of light years away. Ben is talking in hushed tones, clearly awed as well, although not awed enough to stay silent. Not that James would have it any other way. The kids thirst for learning is a pleasure to see, even if it doesn't extend to his maths homework.
Suddenly, a flash zips across the sky, and Ben squeals in delight.
"Granddad! Did you see that too?"
"I did indeed mate. There you go. Your first meteor."
"There gonna be more? How fast was it going? Why did it have a tail? Did it land? Can we go find it? We can leave a note for Dad so he's not worried in the morning."
"Hold on. I can only answer one question at a time kiddo." He grins up at the sky, pleased that his grandson was as enthusiastic as he's suspected. "There will be more. This is called the Geminid Meteor shower. There should be one every few minutes, if we're lucky. But even so, we'll definitely see more."
"How fast was is going though? Cos it was like a flash, it musta been going really fast. Like five hundred miles an hour."
"Waaaay faster than that. It was going at about 71 kilometers per second."
"But how fast is that."
"Fast enough to go round the whole earth in three point eight seconds." Ben sits up at that.
"Blimey" he breathes and James chokes back a laugh. Ever since he'd over heard Sam use the word, it seemed to have become Ben's favourite. James supposed that they should all be thankful he hadn't picked up so readily on some of the other frequent...exclamations that were thrown around the house.
"The tail is caused by bits of it breaking off. That's what we can see. A bit like aeroplane trails. Although that's not bits breaking off. That's engine vapours." Another meteor hurtles across the sky and Ben falls silent, watching it. James can see his head jerk left and right every time one crosses his vision.
"Does it land?"
"No. Well, sometimes. The reason we can see it, is because its on fire. That's why its all lit up."
"Like how we can see stars cos they are big balls of fire and the light takes aaaages to get here."
"Yeah like that. Once the meteor hits the Earth's atmosphere, it starts to burn up. By the time it gets close to the ground, its in tiny pieces. Sometimes people do find bits though."
"Like in the science museum. They had bits didn't they Granddad?"
"That they did."
"So we can't go on an expedition to find a piece?"
"Not really kiddo."
"Suppose that's good really. We don't have nearly enough sandwiches."
They sit, quietly watching the meteors streak across the sky for the net hour and a half. Ben's attention doesn't waver, except to munch on a cheese sandwich and a packet of crisps. Soon enough though, James realises that he's stopped looking around, and the boy's breathing has settled into steady rhythm.
He gently picks the slumbering kid up, taking him inside and lying him on the sofa. He then goes back outside and clears everything up, locking the shed door behind him.
When he returns, Ben is sitting up on the sofa and rubbing his eyes, blinking at his Granddad in the light.
"Are they fin'sh' Gran'ad?" James smiles; whenever Ben is tired, he reverts to the mumbled half words he used when he was five.
"There's still a few more Ben, but I think you need to go to bed, don't you?" He nods, and holds his arms out to be carried upstairs. James lifts him with a groan, its not going to be long before the boy is too heavy and his knee is too buggered to do this. But nonetheless, he carries his grandson upstairs and puts him to bed, making sure that he has Rabbit, and a drink of water.
James sits downstairs for another half an hour, smiling softly to himself as he considers the little excursion to have been a success. Maybe next time he'll they can pitch a tent or something. Ben'd love that.
James reckons he probably would as well.