Retirement

  David put his eye to the telescope eyepiece, Mars was eluding him. With a sigh, he stepped back and hugged his jacket around him. The temperature had begun to drop after 8, and his light coat was not helping anymore. Walking back into the house he thought about what the problem might be. Mars should be large and visible tonight, and yet he could not get it into focus. Even in less than ideal conditions, it is close enough to get at least a red dot on the scope. He had been viewing it for 5 nights in a row since the beginning of October. 

  Backyard astronomy was going to be a more difficult hobby than he had thought. Mary had been so dismissive of his new pastime when he retired. She knew how much he had loved the stars. The glow he felt when he looked up into the cosmos had always made life worth living. David loved Mary. He loved their two sons, now grown and raising families of their own. Had been a very well-loved Professor, respected in his field. But he had never been satisfied with his Earthly trappings. He always felt as if the stars in the sky were speaking to him, and now was his chance to immerse himself in it. 

  He pulled a warmer coat from the closet in the hallway, where Mary hung all their seasonal outerwear. Why she still hung up coats for the boys was a mystery to David. But he knew better than to ask a mother to stop mothering. 30 years of marriage had taught him many lessons, chief among them was to let Mary do what she wanted. He stopped zipping his coat up to listen for her. She should be in bed by now but he could spy the bathroom light on under the door. A sniff of the air told him she was taking a weekly bubble bath. She had used the same rose bath salts since they started dating. 

  Smiling to himself he started back outside to the telescope. I should check my star map for this month, he thought. See if I need to adjust my scope to another area so that I find Mars. In the garage he found his charts laying on the workbench. His tools all dusty from disuse laying underneath the laminated maps of the sky. He unfurled the newest one, eyes sweeping across the many points and dots until he found the one he was looking for. He compared the map to the information on his phone, which tracked where he pointed his telescope. 

  He had been looking in the right place. Maybe he was too late, sometimes it was easier to find things in the early evening at twilight. Damn Mary and her dinner, he cursed. She knew that he was trying to get some pictures of the polar caps of Mars. Knew he needed every night to get it right. But she had been planning this dinner party for months now, and she ordered he attend. 

  "You will not abandon me for your dumb telescope!" she had yelled. "I have been planning this dinner with Susan and Eric since your retirement. They haven't seen you since you left the University, they only want to make sure you are adjusting well. That is all." She had been crying, which was never fair, he thought. Whenever he was trying to put his foot down about something the water started and he would give in to make it stop. Damn Eric and damn Susan too, he cursed again. Eric had been his best friend and colleague. They had attended University together and had been joined at the hips. 

  They met Mary and Susan at the same party. Even got married within months of each other and each had two children. But Eric was still at University, molding young minds in the ways of Natural Philosophy. David could tell that Eric had felt bad for him. Pitied him for his, forced, retirement. As if all there was to life was teaching. Or being a husband or father. Why couldn't anyone realize that retirement was not a death sentence? Why was he all fo a sudden less than, because he was no longer stuck in the career race? 

  Their conversation at dinner was veiled. Nothing like the conversations they had had when David had still taught with Eric. David remembered how much they had discussed different articles about space travel. Comparing recent advances to Star Trek or other science fiction. For years they had contemplated the cosmos together. Even going to sit in on Astronomy classes to better understand what he had thought was a mutual interest. 

  The ease with which they used to communicate was gone. Nothing by meaningless dribble about Mary's new book club, and Eric's new class load had droned on and on. Letting himself out in the backyard David was glad they had left. He had avoided talking to Eric since he retired, now he knew it had been the right choice. There was nothing for him left at the University. 

  David looked up into the October sky, feeling the crisp air on his cheeks. He was finally growing a beard, he could feel the light breeze against the short stubble on his chin and neck. Mary didn't seem to like it, but she hadn't said anything so he was going to push it as far as possible. The stars danced and sparkled above him, as he sat back on a deck chair. Laying down he could better see the bright band of stars that made up the Milky Way. 

  David thought back to his days at University. Back to the endless classes and students. He tried to conjure up the layout of his office, but couldn't. He hadn't been there for under a year, and already it was fading from his mind. David welcomed it. He welcomed forgetting all about the Dean's office and the worried looks on people's faces. He welcomed Eric to leave him alone, Mary worried enough for everyone. 

  Hugging his coat tighter against himself he frowned at the sky. Tonight was the clearest it would be for the next week. It had been his last shot at a picture of Mars. All this dinner party nonsense had messed up his work. Had sidetracked him. One last check, he told himself. He walked over to the telescope and checked inside the eyepiece again. 

  He strained his eye against the blackness, there was something there. David began adjusting the lenses to bring it into focus. He wondered if it was an asteroid passing by. As he brought it into focus his heart raced, he had found Mars. Or part of it. He stood back and looked up again, it wasn't visible to the naked eye yet. Going back to the eyepiece he saw movement by the crumbled rock of Mars. It looked like ... a ship. And it was now pointing its nose towards Earth. 

  David stepped away from the telescope. Backing into the house, he looked up one last time. He could see it now, the brightening streaks in the night sky as Mars came crashing towards Earth.    

  "I knew it," he whispered with a smile, "I knew they were coming."