Lessons in Planetology
To say that Neil had always dreamed of taking his child stargazing would be a bit of an overstatement. For much of his life, having kids wasn't something he gave a great deal of thought to, and even impregnating Eva had, at the time, felt like it was more about making his wife happy than anything else. That line of thinking changed after Grace was born—from the moment he first saw his newborn daughter and held her in his arms, it seemed insane that there was ever a time when he would've been okay with never taking his kid stargazing, let alone never having a kid at all.
He bought the best, most expensive telescope he could find when Grace was only six months old. Eva was livid when she found out the exact price he'd paid for something their daughter might not even want to use, especially since they had a baby to take care of, but Neil was certain that Grace would love watching the night sky as much as he did. With this belief in mind, he stored the telescope in the garage's closet, kept it dry and free of dust and scratches, and let it wait for the day when his little girl was old enough to appreciate looking at stars.
Grace was four years old when that day came, and just as Neil thought, she was absolutely enraptured by the countless tiny, sparkling lights that dotted the evening sky. At present, Neil and Eva were sitting on a picnic blanket with Grace between them and looking through the telescope. Beneath the family was the green grass of the hill they were on, and above them was the never-ending, dark blue expanse of the starry sky.
"I can see the moon!" Grace exclaimed.
Neil grinned as he glanced up at the silvery half-moon. "Can you see a rabbit's head and feet, too?"
"No, why?" Grace took her eyes away from the telescope's eyepiece to give Neil a curious look.
"Daddy's just joking, Grace," Eva told her, fixing Neil with a pointed gaze. "And not being very funny, I might add."
"Funny's in the eye of the beholder, doll," Neil quipped. He scooted forward to adjust the telescope's position until he found a reddish, dusty-looking celestial body. "Hey, Grace, come look at this."
Grace resumed looking through the telescope. "What is it? Another moon?"
"Nope," Neil said. "It's Mars, one of the planets in our solar system. It's called the Red Planet, you know."
"But Daddy, it looks orange," Grace pointed out, frowning at him in confusion. "Shouldn't Mars be called the Orange Planet?"
"People living thousands of years ago looked at Mars and thought it was red because they didn't have a word for orange."
Grace's frown only got bigger. "But we have the word 'orange' now. Why's Mars still called the Red Planet?"
"It's been called that for so long that no one wants to change it."
"Oh."
"Want to check out some other planets?" Neil asked Grace after a momentary pause. "We won't be able to see all of 'em, but I can show you Jupiter or Saturn if you want."
"How many planets are there?" Grace wanted to know.
"Nine," Neil answered.
"Eight," Eva said at the same time.
"Hey!" Neil protested, furrowing his brow at his wife. "If Mars can be called the Red Planet when it's actually orange, then Pluto totally gets to still be a planet."
"Pluto's not a planet because it hasn't cleared its orbit of debris," Eva reminded him.
"Neither has good ol' planet Earth, but no one's demoted that."
"Earth is big enough to dominate its own orbital space. Pluto isn't."
"Oh, so now you wanna pick on Pluto just because it's little?"
"Look! A shooting star!" Grace cried.
Neil and Eva both started at their daughter's sudden outburst, then looked up just in time to see a long streak of light finish its course across the sky.
"So pretty!" Grace gushed, turning to her parents excitedly. "Will there be another one?"
"We'll have to watch and see, hun," Neil said. He gave Eva a cheeky smirk. "I've got my wish all set for the next shooting star."
Eva rolled her eyes. "If it has to do with Pluto being redefined as a planet, that's one wish that won't be getting granted."
