Secret Sister

Secret Sister

The front door of the little cabin opened allowing a middle aged man to step out on to the creaking floor boards of the front porch as he looked and took in the view the stars above him. He took a sip of coffee from his favorite mug as he continued his early morning stargazing. He shivered slightly as he noted the bare trees in the yard and the flecks of white spots on the driveway left over from the previous week's snowfall.

Tom Browning knew that today was the day and despite the fact that he only got roughly 4 or 5 hours of sleep, he was wide awake and filled with energy. He pulled his bomber jacket collar upwards towards his face as the goosebumps started to form.

"This time, I'll catch you! This time, Little Sister!” he muttered to himself taking another sip. Lifting his left hand towards his face, he checked his watch, mentally making note of the current time.

He went back into his little cabin to get ready for something. Empty plastic bottles littered the wooden floor of the cabin, making it impossible to move around without stepping on one, or more of them, each bottle making a crackling sound as it was stepped upon by Tom's boots

“At last! It's time! It's time!”. He continued breathlessly moving around the cabin,. gathering handwritten pages, print outs and various.electronic monitoring equipment, all the while cursing as large.tube like object fell onto the floor with a clatter.

“They all laughed at me! Colleagues, professers, T.A.s, grad.students…..” he said as he picked.up the object and.inspected it for damages. Satisfied with it's condition, he placed it on a table and went towards a.closet and retrieved a large case that he dragged across the floor.

Crumple crackle, scoot scoot.

“They even sent me to a shrink! They were going to put me away and then try to take credit for my work behind my back! 

He paused for a moment, eyes wide as sweat glistened on his smiling face.  

“Of course, I resisted! Only I knew the precise calculations for this event. I never cracked! They’ll never find this without my work! Hah! Good luck, guys!

He resumes his stuffing ,cramming and packing exercises.

“I'll show ‘em! You do exist, Little Sister! I know you're shy, but I know you're there, just waiting to be found, and it'll be me that finds you!”

 A snow owl floated down from the night sky and looked at the little cabin with wide eyes as Tom could be heard shouting,shuffling and gathering things into some kind of bag.

Soon, Tom emerged from his cabin with a large, vinyl carry on bag that he slung over his shoulder and holding a large hardcase with the other hand. He carried both of them to his beat up pick up and placed them carefully in the back.  Then he took took some tarp and bungee cords and secured both the bag and the case to the truck bed.

The snow owl kept watching him almost as if it was that nosy, gossiping neighbor that had nothing better to do than to watch with a disapproving stare.

Tom saw the owl and saluted. "What?! Blah, blah blah. I know what I'm doing.  Besides,. what would you know? You're just a snow owl. In a few minutes, you gotta go to bed!"

The snow owl seemed to acknowledge this and flew away either to go to bed or have a more interesting conversation.

Tom shook his head and took stock in himself thinking that he must be going crazy if he is having conversations with an owl. It did give him a creepy vibe though.

Tom went back inside the little cabin one more time and retrieved his coffee mug and came back out, then closed and locked the door. 

He walked back to the truck and got inside the cab and started the vehicle which came to life with a small protest as he shift gears into reverse and backed out of the driveway.

"15 minutes maybe? " He said to himself as he drove along a dirt road that led up towards a hill nearby the cabin.  

"This time, I will catch it! I'm not crazy! I saw what I saw!”, he kept saying aloud in the truck. “You just have to catch it at the right time, right place and right date. No one would ever know about it unless they were looking today!. I’ll show ‘em!”

The headlamps gave some illumination to this darkened path that was lined with trees and overgrown vines on either side, but to Tom, this didn't matter. He wasn't lost.

At last the path cleared as he reached the top of the hill and Tom sighed as he looked at his watch briefly. 

"10 minutes", he said as he set about the task of undoing the bungee cords and releasing the bag and case from the tarp. He placed both the case and the bag on the ground and started emptying the contents. From the case,.he assembled a telescope and the bag held a variety of electronic equipment including a laptop, cords and adapters. 

It took a few minutes to set everything up,. loading the program on the laptop and positioning the telescope to the right point in space. 

"5 minutes" he said to himself.  The sun would be rising soon. He smiled as a his eyes glistened with the delight of child who was just about to their first ride at an amusement park.

He checked the progress on his program on the laptop and made sure the connection was secure to the telescope, then went to the eyepiece and peered into sky.

"One minute"

Tom held his breath in anticipation of this moment. At last the community would listen to him and his theory. As the time ticked away, he thought that he was going to be let down, but then, he saw it and his laptop caught it as well.

Just before the sun rose in the sky, Tom saw the moon setting and just behind it.....was it's shy little sister that had been hiding from mankind for over a millennium and he, Tom Browning had discovered her.