'Regarding Moon Shine and Marsh Gas' It was Sunday night, one of those nights that suck up little boys out of their beds and sets them to thinking and to figuring and to crawling out of windows, quietly, while their parents sleep. Or at least it seemed like that kind of Sunday night to young Tommy. He just had to see the world. Dark nights like this one just soaked up adventure, and one was likely to just spring on you all of the sudden, and Tommy knew it. And he wasn't going to miss it. Why the darkness was just filled with villains and nasty old stinking things that would just soon eat you as to look at you -- and Hobbits and Tom Sawyers too. Full of them. He wandered down the old path behind his house, and then on down to the old pond, and threw some rocks and wandered on. No adventure there. He wandered down the old blacktop road and looked at the spaces between the leaves of the oaks that towered over the road. Everything that can be done has already been done, Tommy thought, echoing what he'd heard his father say. There's nothing left for me. "If," he said and listened to the word die away. "If," he said "there's anything I can grow up to be or grow up to do, maybe it'll already be done by that time." Tommy knew he was too impatient to grow up, too impatient to do something. His mother told him his best years were while he was young and he shouldn't waste them. "Hmmph," he said into the night air. "Hmmph, yourself!" Tommy jumped. His heart jumped into his throat and beat so hard he thought he'd die. If you're going to get yourself into an adventure, he thought and settled himself, you gotta face it head-on. "Who's there?" His voice sounded tiny, tinier than tiny. "What's a little boy doing out in the middle of the night and by himself? Likely to meet up with something!" A giant of a man stepped out of the shadows of the trees and onto the road, then looked down at Tommy. He smiled, and Tommy tried not to look so afraid. "Looking," he said in his tiny voice and swallowed hard. "for adventure." "I dare say you've found it," the man said. "Thought I'd scared you to death for a minute there . . . so white you glowed in the dark!" "Did not." "No, no, I suppose not." The big man nodded his head. "I guess I exaggerate sometimes." He moved up to Tommy and squatted down and looked him in the eye. Most of what Tommy saw was shadows, but he stared back, too confused to say anything and afraid to look away. "I don't exaggerate though when I say you've sure enough got a moon in your eyes." "What?" "A moon, boy. I talk plain enough. A moon." "What's a moon mean?" "Well now, some might call it the light of inspiration. But whatever you choose to call it, I can see it in your eyes. You see there's two kinds of people in this world -- well, more than that -- but only two kinds that really make a difference." The man's eyes twinkled with stars, and he winked and smiled. "Them that's got a moon and them that's got stars." "What?" "Well, any boy who goes out in the middle of the night, especially a little guy like you and especially on a night like this . . ." The man looked around them suspiciously into the dark, and Tommy began to look around too. "Well," the man continued. "that boy has got a moon in his eyes for sure." "Maybe," Tommy said. "Yeah, well, I don't blame you much for doubting. Now, me, I got stars in my eyes." The man's eyes twinkled again, and he winked and smiled. "But you've got a moon! Now let's face it, if you don't let that moon shine, it's gonna be a black night no matter how many stars are out!" "Maybe," Tommy said. "You see, every now and then, when things are just right, well, when there's no moon out -- well, the night just draws the moons out sometimes if you know what I mean?" "No," Tommy said. "I didn't think you did." The man shook his head. "Well, you probably won't believe this, but I've got the best job in all of creation!" "What?" "I'm a mover and a shaker! You'll be one someday, too, maybe, but you've no business being out at night, especially at your age. Give yourself a chance to grow up a bit first; and just hang onto that moon boy! Now get home!" "What?" "Get home." The man stood up straight and tall; he looked mad and glared at Tommy, then he smiled. "You think about what I told you. You'll understand. Now get home!" Tommy turned and ran back toward his house. "You got a moon!," he heard the man yell, but he kept running, and he didn't look back, so he didn't see the glow rise above the road for a moment, hover, and then vanish into the sky. (c) 2004