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The Meteor Shower (3) : It wouldn't be a star festival without a meteor shower! Right on time, a beautiful array of shooting stars graces the night sky. This time of year is unnaturally clear and it's incredibly easy to see the stars. Most meteor fragments appear to be little white or yellow lights streaming across the sky, but if you watch closely enough you may find that some of them seem to be a whole rainbow of colors. The scientists have reported that it's just different components burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but there's something undeniably magical about it.
Khaz had gotten a text earlier that evening from his cousin, Keesh, with only one phrase.
Are we still on for the meteor shower this year?
It was simple and straightforward, but this probably wasn't just that. Khaz really, truly, honestly wished it was. Every year since he'd stopped hanging up wishes, she asked if he wanted to watch the meteor shower. It was a great meteor shower, special and beautiful. Some people even swore they saw rainbows in the "stars" that hurtled through the night sky on their annual celestial journeys.
But Khaz knew one of the reasons she kept asking him was that Khaz had almost completely stopped interacting with Star Fest, and that saddened her a bit. Frankly, it saddened the whole family, but Khaz had lost faith in the man who had been his sperm donor. If his father really was going to do what they wanted, and come home to stay, Faruq would cut ties with his brothers and father back in Lebanon, and Faruq had never shows an inclination to pull that kind of stunt. So Khaz had elected to wake up from that particular dream, and forget a wish that was never coming true, anyway.
And that thought was probably why he didn't like the wishing aspect of Star Fest much anymore. It reminded him not only of his father, but also of the broken dreams and promises--no. It was worse than that. It was the bitter disappointment and despair that Faruq wasn't going to grow a spine, tell the rest of the Khalid men where to stuff their Old World mentality, and come home. It was the loneliness and the knowledge that, on some level, it hurt so badly to know that one of his very dearest wishes was never going to come true, and there was an annual festival in which other people got to ask for wishes of their own, and those might be granted, but the Khalid family was never going to get their own wish granted, no matter how many wishes they fulfilled for other people.
Besides, it felt better for him to periodically go and grant wishes with no expectation of something in return.
And Keesh texted him every year, asking to see the meteor shower. Probably because she knew how lonely he probably was.
Khaz sighed with irritation and tapped out a response.
Fine. You win. I'll come this year. Where are we meeting?
Keesh's response was quick.
By the baseball field in XXX Park, where it's nice and open, and you can get a good view. See you when you get there!
Khaz began snagging what he'd need, a coat, his keys, his running shoes, and a backpack with a couple water bottles in it, before telling his mother where he was going, and heading out the door.
It wasn't a long walk, but Khaz wanted to clear his head a bit, so he jogged the whole distance, being careful to stay in well-lit areas as he traveled. By the time he got there, he'd worked up a little bit of a sweat...and Keesh was already there, sitting in the bleachers, watching the stars.
Khaz slowed down and hopped up onto the bleachers next to her. "I haven't missed anything yet, have I?"
Keesh shook her head. "Not yet, but it'll start soon."
Above them, the first meteor whizzed past, drawing both sets of green eyes. As it sped past, Khaz thought he caught the faintest prismatic shimmer. He blinked. "Whoa," he breathed, startled. "So they really are rainbow."
Keesh smiled. "Yup. It can happen," she replied as another one flew past.
Khaz craned his head up, watching for more for a moment before he spoke. "I don't want to talk about the Wishing Tree tonight, if that's okay."
Keesh was quiet for a moment before replying. "Honestly, I'm not really thinking about the Wishing Tree and your dad right now," she said slowly. "I've kind of got my mind on other things."
Khaz turned to Keesh. "Oh?" he asked, genuinely surprised and curious. "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Keesh sighed softly. "I guess we can talk about it. So, my parents were talking late the other night, and I think they thought I was asleep, instead of lying awake reading. So they were less careful than I think they meant to be, since they haven't really brought it up yet." She paused, watching the next few meteors begin to zoom past. "My dad has a little brother who moved to Japan before we were born, and he didn't talk to him much. They didn't grow up together, because they had different moms. But Dad still got the occasional postcard or email from him, usually around the holidays. A couple years ago, the emails and postcards stopped coming, and Dad got worried, so he decided to go looking into it."
Khaz watched her struggle to find the words, distracted from the light show above their heads. "Keesh?" he asked gently.
"So, ummm...it turns out Dad's little brother got married and they had a kid together," Keesh blurted awkwardly.
Khaz nodded. "People do that from time to time."
Keesh gently punched him in the shoulder. "I mean, they do, but it's really, really rare for Japanese people to marry non-Japanese people!"
Khaz stopped, snarky teasing forgotten. "Your uncle married a Japanese girl?" he asked in surprise.
"Uh-huh. And they had a kid. Dad thinks something happened to my uncle, and is trying to find out what happened to his wife and kid."
Khaz paused thoughtfully. "So you have a half Japanese cousin, and your dad doesn't know what happened to that side of the family," he said. "Jeez. That sucks. Is he doing anything to try to find out what's going on?"
Keesh nodded. "Mom's going to Japan later this year for a concert, and Dad wants to go with her to find out what's going on. I'll probably stay with you guys while they're gone, but...why didn't he tell us? Why didn't my uncle talk to us more? Is everything okay over there for my cousin in Japan? What's her life like?"
Khaz reached over, rubbing Keesh's back. "Keesh. Breathe. I know it's a lot to take in, and a lot to deal with, but you can ask the rest of us for support, too, you know."
They sat in silence, watching the meteor shower, enjoying the subtle rainbow sheen these meteors emitted.
Finally, Keesh spoke. "Thanks, Khaz. I really mean it. But...I feel a little lost as to what happens next."
"Well, we enjoy the rest of the meteor shower, go home, get some rest, enjoy the rest of the summer, maybe putter around on your cousins' homeworlds, and just...figure things out after your parents leave for Japan, okay? We'll get through this, one step at a time, without panicking about what's ahead."
Keesh nodded, clearly still a little distressed, but just as clearly trying to get herself back in the moment.
Above, a large group of meteors all sped past as a cluster, seeming to pass so close to each other that their individual shines combined to create a beautiful sheen that trailed along a little behind them, almost like an oversized, short-tailed prismatic comet. The cousins smiled and watched the rest of the meteor shower together, trying to sort through their respective thoughts, Khaz's head slowly letting go of the depressive gloom, Keesh's mind slowly letting the anxious haze drift away.
By the time the shower was over, both felt ready to get home, get to bed, and let the passing meteors take their thoughts far away on a cosmic journey through the stars.
