Alma was always dragging him places and most of the time he didn’t mind, but Martin  had a paper due next week and three chapters of Joyce to read before his 8 a.m. class.

“This had better be amazing, because-“

“It is.” Alma said, her excitement unaffected by his mood. “Scotty has the most amazing pictures from NASA.”

“So send me a copy in an e-mail.”

Alma rolled her eyes and pushed open the lab door so she could make sure he went through first. Scotty was there, bent over photos that he had spread out over the black, smooth surface of the lab tables. The florescent lights highlighted his emerging bald spot.

“It took you long enough to get here.”

“Martin dragging his feet slowed us down.”

Martin knew they could go on for hours like this and he needed to get back to his dorm room which was on the other side of the campus. “Come on, let’s see your little specks of light or whatever they are.”

“This is special Martin. When I saw it, I thought of you straight away,” Scotty said.

Martin felt some of his irritation fading, Scotty was always so sincere, so caught up in his work.

“I thought Martin’s the one who could really see it. You’re the only person I know who could put it down in words, the right kind of words so that people will understand.”

“Understand what?” Martin asked.

Scotty picked up one of the photos and handed it to him. “Look at it.”

Martin looked down at the photo expecting it to be just like all the others Scotty had ever shown him. Little specks of light or streams of colored dust. It wasn’t.

“What is that?”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d be able to tell us.”

Martin looked again and felt his legs begin to go out from underneath him. Scotty pushed a stool underneath him so that his butt hit the seat instead of the floor.

“Someone did this with photoshop or whatever. It’s been altered.”

“No, it hasn’t. Look at the seal,” Scotty said with a grin on his face. “That’s genuine NASA image my friend. Besides the guy who sent me these through the mail doesn’t even know how to do e-mail.”

“Come on, my grandmother can do e-mail.”

Alma lost her cool. “Stop being such an ass Martin. It’s not a fake.”

“Come on Martin,” Scotty goaded, “tell me what it looks like.”

“I can tell you what it looks like, but it can’t be.”

“Why not?” Martin asked.

“Someone has watched 2001: A Space Odyssey too many times. It’s a joke and I don’t have time for games, not today.”

Martin handed Scotty the photograph and left.

As he walked across campus, Martin tried to get the image out of his mind. No matter what he tried thinking about, his thoughts drifted back to what he had seen. He knew he had seen something like it once before. Then he remembered what it reminded him of and it seemed more impossible than ever. When he had been home over Winter Break his hugely pregnant sister had shown him  and anyone else who didn’t move swiftly enough, her sonogram. That was what the thing in the photo had looked like. A baby, a cross between an infant and Yoda.

That should have been the end of it, but two days later, it was still all Martin could think about. He had tried calling Alma a couple of times, but she wasn’t taking his calls. So he decided to talk to Scotty.

“Are you looking for Dr. Maher?”

“Yes.”

“Got a job offer, couldn’t even finish out the semester.”

“Thanks.”

Martin headed straight over to Alma’s dorm, only to find himself staring at another empty room.

“Hey Martin,” the RA said. “You didn’t hear?”

“I guess not.”

“Alma’s Dad passed away in the middle of the night, she might not be back for a while.”

“I’ll call her at her Mom’s then.”

Martin saw the man in the dark suit and glasses standing across the street when he left the dorm. He knew there was no point in running. So he crossed the street to talk to him.

“We made a mistake.”

“Alma’s Dad died in the Fall.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen enough movies to know what happens next.”

They walked towards the sedan with tinted windows.

“I’m never going to understand Joyce am I?”

“Son, no one’s ever done that.”

The man opened the door and Martin stepped into the nothingness.

“I wish we could be together tonight,” she said, sighing into her cell phone.

“Me too babe, me too. I really thought after Christmas they’d give me a break, but with the way things are these days when the boss says you got to go-“

“I understand.”

“I know you do, that’s what makes you so great. I really appreciate that you’re so understanding about this. I tell you what, I’ll bring you back something special, anything you want.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never been anywhere.”

“I know, I’ll  get you one of those T-shirts that says all I got was a T-shirt. You’ll look so sexy in it. I can’t wait to see you again. Just hearing your voice is driving me crazy. Did you get the champagne?”

“In the glass in my hand.”

“Alright,  I’m putting my phone down for a second. Just need to pour some for myself.”

She listened carefully as he poured champagne into his glass, but something was wrong. He was taking too long. When he picked up his cell phone again, she asked,

“How big is your glass?”

“I poured a couple. They’re those small plastic cups in the hotel.”

“Mmm.”

“Oh don’t get like that hon, does it sound like I’m having a wild party or something.”

“It could be something,” she thought, but what she said was, “No.”

“Are you at our favorite spot, you should be able to see the fireworks from there.”

“Of course, but it’s clouded over. I don’t think I’ll really see anything.”

“It’s beautiful here, the sky’s really clear. I tell you what, I’ll go outside and tell you what they look like.”

She didn’t know how much longer she could play the game. This wasn’t the first time she had caught him in a lie. She did have to give him points for creativity though, and he was working really hard to sound convincing. The ability to bullshit is what made him such a good salesman and a sociopath.

She sat across the street from his house. She could see them both because the blinds weren’t drawn. His very pregnant wife was sitting alone watching all the festivities on a huge flat screen TV, while he stood in the kitchen, talking to her on the phone.

He kept babbling on, but she really wasn’t listening anymore. She looked down at the gun sitting in her lap. It would be so easy to take him out when the fireworks went off. No one would notice another bang. She glanced again at his wife in the great room. She’d be doing her and the kid a favor, but then again she didn’t want them to suffer because they’d both made the same mistake falling for that jackass.

She could wait. She’d go down to the office in the morning and check out the terms of his policy. That’s how they’d met. He’d come in to take out a bigger policy if she remembered correctly. It wasn’t her account, so she didn’t know the specifics. She would check it out, make sure that his family would be well provided for.  There was no need to hurry. There was always the Fourth of July.

For her the best part of Christmas had always been the decorations. She loved the decorated trees most of all. She hurried through the high end store knowing that someone like her didn’t belong in a place like this. It was the quickest way into the mall. Then the tree near the entrance caught her eye. It was filled with glass ornaments. Two bright red balls stood out in the center of the tree, side by side. Gazing at them she could forget how little cash she had in her pocket. The carols no longer seemed like dirges. Everywhere she looked she saw signs that said ,”Everything on sale” or “70% off.”  She smiled as she stepped into the crowd of shoppers.

The bag she carried was heavier than she had hoped it would be. She headed back into the store that she had walked though earlier, eager to get to her car and place gifts under her own tree. The red balls caught her eye again. She still had a few dollars left in her pocket and she hadn’t gotten anything for herself, not yet, not even a cup of tea. She shifted her bag up onto her shoulder and carefully unhooked the two glass balls from the tree. It didn’t seem right to take only one, they were a pair. She walked to the first salesperson she saw behind a counter.

“I’d like to buy these.”

“I don’t think those are for sale.”

The disappointment must have shone on her face  because the salesperson looked over her shoulder and then produced a white box and some tissue paper from under the counter. The salesperson wrapped them carefully and put them into the box before walking away from the counter.

Both her husband and Jamie were asleep when she got home. Sprawled on the couch together, Jamie on Phil’s chest, rising and falling slowly as his father snored. She unpacked the bag, putting everything under the tree. When everything was arranged  she opened the white box that held the ornaments and hung them side by side on the tree. They were as she had first seen them.  They brightened the room. She curled up in the wing chair and stared at the bright red Christmas balls. She couldn’t look away.  She felt her eyelids begin to droop.

“Next year will be a very good year, “ she mumbled to herself as she fell asleep.

By T.M. Riddle

Diana has never wished or even prayed that her brother would be different than he is. She leaves that to other people. Raymond seems content enough as he is and that is enough for her. It doesn’t bother her that he doesn’t speak to her; it’s not personal, he has never spoken a single word to anyone. They go to museums and planetariums. These places are quiet and cool, quiet without many people most days. Raymond seems to like Van Gogh and the Pilades, but Diana was never entirely sure of that.

Once she tries to stare at Starry Night for as long as Raymond does. It gives her a headache, but when she closed her eyes she could see the painting as if her eyes were still open. For the first time, Diana feels as if she understands what Raymond is trying to do.  She asks him, “You’re trying to carry this around in your head, aren’t you?” Raymond doesn’t answer. She buys him a postcard of the painting and puts it up in his room so he can look at it whenever he wants. Raymond doesn’t seem to care much about going to the museum after that.

They still go to the planetarium. Diana has friends there and they watch the stars spin and Raymond looks at universes in the huge telescope undisturbed. It is at times like this that Diana believes that his mind his full of stars, universes, even galaxies. She wishes she could be there with him.