The morning arrived slow for the teenagers, something they were thankful to have during the long weekend. Sam went for an early hike before the others awoke, returning just as the kettle chirped. Tucker poured her a cup of instant coffee and she added a drop of creamer into her cup. She walked around to the fire pit to sit watching him make his own drink while listening to the sounds of waking nature around them.
Settling into her blue lawn chair, she moved to place the to-go cup in the right hand cupholder, but something inside it brushed the side of her hand. Sam shifted her hold on the drink and investigated, catching the boy's attention as he walked over to the chairs.
"What's that?"
"Uh, it's a reel of film." She held it up slightly, squinting at one of the pictures. While she couldn't tell what it was, she could see something white and black in the center, and some strange green filling out around it.
"It's already used. How many photos did I take yesterday?"
"A few, I think."
"But not a full reel. Hang on." She pocketed the film roll and headed to the tent. Tucker shrugged and sat down, placing his cup in the holder, only to find something in his cup holder too.
He placed the coffee down and pulled the rectangular piece of metal out, flipping it over and running his hands over the ridges.
"What's that?" Sam asked as she climbed out of the tent with her camera. Tucker shrugged, still prodding the little machine.
"I have no idea. This part looks almost like a speaker, but it's not one I've ever seen. And I don't know what this little slot is. I think something could go in it. Maybe a floppy disk."
"No, those are bigger than what could fit in there". She walked back over, carefully opening the back of her camera.
"I still have the majority of my film left. Unless. Did I take that many photos?"
"I couldn't tell you."
Sam stepped in front of tucker, crossing past the chairs to hers. She stopped, looking at Jazz's red chair, and then looking again. Reaching into the cup holder, she pulled out a rock, too large to have been kicked up in the dirt and too out of place to belong to the desert. She held it out to Tucker who examined it, while still fiddling with the metal in his hands.
"That almost looks like the rocks Danny used to show us. The meteorite ones."
"Huh, yea it kinda does."
"Why are you holding a rock?" Jazz asked, stretching halfway through the tent flap. She climbed out and beelined for the kettle, brewing the last of their instant coffee while she watched them.
"It was in your chair. And this was in mine." Tucker held out the odd machine. Sam held out her film.
"And there was camera film in mine. Did we black out and have a whole other night last night?"
"No, Jazz's parents knew we were coming out here. Maybe they found something of Danny's and brought it out to surprise us?"
Jazz hummed, unbelievably. "I wouldn't put it past my dad, maybe, but they won't go in his room yet. I suppose if he left something somewhere else in the house…"
"What are we, in a scooby-doo movie? We must have just had a long night. It's been a rough week, you know?"
"Well theres photos in that film. Get it developed, maybe it will clue us in."
"I have the equipment at home, i'll do it next weekend."
"Yea. Tuck's right, it's been a long week. We're tired, and our brains are a little… not fried, but.."
Sam burst out laughing, "no, no, that was good. That was so Danny, right there."
Jazz reached her chair and sat down, taking the rock Sam held out to her.
"I can take this to that crystal store downtown. They might know what it is."
"It's certainly something strange, but I get the feeling you should keep it too. Don't sell it."
"I think so too."
—-
Jazz walked up the staircase, ready for a hot shower and to be back in her bed after their weekend in the desert. She ascended slowly, rolling the odd rock in her hands. Reaching the top she stopped next to her brother's closed bedroom door, a thick foreboding chill waving through her mind. She turned her head, eyeing the photo on the door.
"Our Star, Never Forgotten"
Six-year-old Danny— in his first astronaut Halloween costume stared back at her, smiling up at the camera.
He was so curious and joyful— how did that become something bad?
Biting her cheek, Jazz put her hand on the doorknob, disrupting the six-month layer of dust that adorned it. She turned the handle and pushed the door in, looking to the room like she was on a mission. On the shelf to the left sat Danny's space memorabilia, his model rockets and moon rocks. She stepped close and picked one of the rocks up, holding it next to the odd one she brought home.
Similar, but not the same.
Saturn.
Jazz shook her head, relieving herself of the memory. She put the moon rock back in it's place, feeling uncomfortable with touching her brother's stuff. It needed to be cleaned – dusted – but not disturbed. Not yet.
Jazz made it back to her room without incident and collapsed onto her bed. She rolled onto her back and brought the rock to her eyeline, examining it again. She could dream it was from Saturn. That he brought it to her.
He promised he would.
