Unexpected, in Safeway parking lot

Photo by astrophotographer John Green

"Ma'am. Ma'am! Excuse me!"

I hesitated to look over. It was night in a dark parking lot.

"Look! Just look at the sky for a minute." He was pointing up at the moon.

I stopped and glanced over at him. A big, young guy in a baseball cap, over-sized t-shirt. My alert rat-like mind immediately thought, "Danger, danger! He's trying to stall and distract so someone else can run up behind and rob you! Kidnap you! Rape you! Kill you!"

"Do you see the moon and those two planets lined up to its side?" His face was eager.

"Um, yeah," I said, looking behind me.

"No, no. Look up."

(When have I last looked up at the night sky?)

"That's Jupiter and Venus. They're lined up. I bet you thought those were stars, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I did."

The sky was its usual underwhelming city version, light pollution erasing everything but the brightest markers. The crescent moon was there and the two bright planets lined up to its side. Hardly a star to be seen around them.

"This only happens once every, like, 8 or 9 years. Go tell your kids, tell your family. Look at the sky."

"Wow, that's really awesome. Thank you," I said as I opened the trunk and put my groceries in.

"Hey! Look at the planets lined up!"

The young guy was now yelling this to an old man with graying dreads who was walking toward us. He stopped and looked at the sky.

"Well, I'll be," he said. Then looked at me and smiled. I smiled back.

The young guy was still leaning against his car, staring up at the sky, as I drove away.

I like to think that he eventually got into his car and picked up his girlfriend and drove for a couple of hours until they were out in the desert, where the multitudes of stars overwhelm the night. I like to think they parked at some rest stop and lay on the hood of his car. I like to think that he pointed to the sky and she smiled.

Read about it! Go outside! Look up!