ASTROLABE
Granny turned a golden
astrolabe slowly in front of her
face, her eyes calm and curious. I wasn't sure what she was looking for, but her eyes seemed fixated on a point deep beneath the
metal. I was reminded of a
fortune teller, and the astrolabe became a small
crystal sphere, full of light and tiny, tiny stars, which could be used to examine the heavens and predict the
weather. Aunty G came into the room with her arms full, and sat down in front of Granny, letting everything spill out on the floor between them.
The light from the curtains was brighter now. It was the middle of the afternoon, a time when their house was always full of the deepest peace - a peace which came from years of order and quiet, with no unexpected noise, no dust in the crevices.
They were looking at a map of the heavens that was criscrossed with lunar and stellar transits and arcane astrological symbols. Aunty G and grandmother started to place small
blue buttons on the map, looking closely at them first, and chatting softly. Occasionally they would turn to me and say something about the past or the future, which I was having
increasing difficulty in following. I wondered where my girlfriend was.
The light in the room seemed to be growing, reflected and contained in the deep glass of the astrolabe. It grew brighter and brighter until there was nothing to be seen anywhere but light, almost making
a sound, like planets drowning, and I passed out of that dream into another.