Don’t Look

“I say there’s nothing dangerous about it... can’t be worse than looking into the sun. All that happens when you do that is you get a little burn and some eye floaters.”

The two boys sat outside Kenny’s house. They reclined in lawn chairs, seated around a crackling bonfire. Kenny took a drag from his cigarette.

He squinted at Bobby, who’d brought forth this new strand of conversation. “You sayin’ lookin’ at the eclipse can’t be worse than lookin’ at the sun?”

Bobby took a gulp from his beer can—one of the six that Kenny had taken from his pa's liquor cabinet.

“Yup. That’s what I think, man.” He said, confidently.

Kenny scratched his chin. “Ain’t the eclipse supposed to be worse?”

“Yeah.” Bobby finished off the can and threw it behind him. “But they just sayin’ that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Kenny snorted. Twin wisps of smoke sprayed from his nostrils and engulfed his head in a dense cloud. “Figures. People are such sissies.”

Bobby nodded enthusiastically. “Sure are. Man! Think about how some losers our age waste their lives goin’ to college when they could be enjoyin’ the freedom of bein’ outta school for good.”

“Exactly. Parents wouldn’t care so long as they were paying their way. Like me. I work part time at Pa’s retail store, and in turn,” Kenny jerked his head to the cabin behind him. “Free digs.”

“Yup.” Bobby picked up another can from the six-pack.

Kenny eyed the sky above their heads. It was a clear and cloudless Saturday morning.

The eclipse was supposed to be visible by midday, around 3:00 PM, as his ma had told him earlier.

Kenny pointed his cigarette at the sky. “Eclipse will be out in a few hours... Hey, I got me an idea, Bob.”

Bobby perked up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Kenny stood up. “Here, take my phone and get ready, man. We’re gonna show them sissies all across this doggone country how a real man handles an eclipse.”

***

Kenny stood in the middle of the yard, with his back to the woods. His house was in the middle of nowhere.

Which made for great hunting growing up. Deer would walk right into the yard, and Pa would shoot at them from out of the windows…until a cop showed up and said he couldn’t do that because the neighbors way down the road were finding bullets on their porch from shots gone wild.

Them neighbors were sissies, scared of a few bullet shells.

“Ready?” Kenny chirped, his gaze darting to the captivating eclipse shimmering in his peripheral vision—as fierce and mesmerizing as a cosmic firework.

But it’s like Pa says—nothing to be afraid of but fear itself. Pssh, scared of the moon? As if, Kenny mused to himself, a smirk playing on his lips.

“I’m ready! Man, oh, man! We gonna go viral with this crap!” Bobby boasted, striking a pose that he probably thought looked cool: Kenny’s iPhone 8 in hand. Despite its camera being the technological equivalent of a potato, it wasn't about the quality—it was the sheer audacity of their stunt that would have folks spamming the replay button on Kenny's YouTube channel, 'Don’t be a Wimp 2023'. This was digital gold; they could feel it.

Kenny closed his eyes, then opened them. “Okay, here it goes. You filming?”

Bobby blinked, confusion painting his face. "Uh, how does one tell, exactly?"

“For the love of—hit the red button, Einstein!" Kenny couldn't help but roll his eyes.

“Oh. Okay.” Bobby held up a thumbs-up. “Got it!”

Kenny took a deep breath. He put on a smile. “Alrighty, folks! My name is Kenny Lessar of Huston, Texas. Today I’m gonna be looking straight at the eclipse for ten minutes straight! Just to prove to all you cowards at home that there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Kenny grinned. “Watch.”

He craned his neck, locking eyes with the eclipse that seemed to stare back like a giant, cosmic cat eye, full of mystery and silent challenge. Kenny hadn’t been staring for even a few seconds when his eyes began to prickle. He fought to keep from squinting.

“See! See!” Bobby was jumping up and down. “Nothing to it! Right, Kenny?”

“R-Right…”

A few minutes passed. Bobby kept spitting out words. He sounded like his Pa when the man would do commentary for the rodeos in town. Kenny was beginning to feel like one of them bull riders, struggling to stay steady while Bobby mewled on about how great he was.

“Kenny here ain’t no pansy. He ain’t scared of no moon! Ha!”

“Kenny knows he’s the man!”

“He-.”

“Bobby…How much…how much longer?”

“Two minutes. Man, oh, man! We’ll have to send a copy of this video to NASA! They’ll feel real dumb about all them warnings they put out.”

“Uh huh, yeah… Bobby, how much?”

“And we’ll show your ma, Kenny! And we’ll show all our college buddies how worthless their dang degrees are-.”

“Bobby-.”

“And-.”

“BOBBY! HOW MUCH?!”

“Oh. None. It’s been ten minutes.” Bobby laughed happily. “You can stop, if you want to.”

Kenny lowered his head. He blinked hard. His vision was coated in splotches of fog, and black dots danced from one corner of his eyes to the other. He blinked and rubbed at them, but it did no good.

Kenny’s heart started racing. “Bobby, man! I can’t see!”

Bobby frowned. “Uh, Kenny. I stopped recording. You don’t have to act like anything happened.”

“I’m not acting!” Kenny squealed. He pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes, but it just made the mess that was his eyesight even worse.

“Man…you gotta be actin’…right?”

“No!” Kenny’s stomach lurched as he realized the gravity of what he’d just done. His eyes were screwed up! Bad. “I’m blind, Bobby! I can’t see.”

“Uh…well, it’ll probably go away. Right?”

“I don’t know, man!” Kenny swallowed. He stumbled over to Bobby. “Give me my phone!”

“Why?”

“Cause I’m seeing what the hell NASA says about this!”