Part 12 (1/2)

The questioning in the auditorium went on for almost another hour after the movie, during which time Laynie went through two more packs of gum and a roll of Lifesavers the old couple behind gave her. Meg decided they were saints sent down from heaven to help young mother's through the eclipse. If heaven wasn't too far to come, Meg thought idly while the man with the microphone held forth on the construction of a pinhole viewer from a s...o...b..x, how far was too far to come?

Everyone who had been in the auditorium was in the cafe and then some. The special was something called an ”eclipse burger,” which turned out to be a hamburger with a fried egg and cheese on top. Laynie took the top bun off and refused to eat anything else. Rich and Paulos talked about the weather while Meg sc.r.a.ped egg and cheese off Laynie's hamburger. They hadn't noticed the haze yet.

”Do you realize how far some of these people have come?” Rich said. ”That guy that was sitting next to us was from New York. He drove drove out.” out.”

”Yeah, if it's cloudy tomorrow, there are going to be some mighty unhappy people,” Paulos said.

”Ick,” Laynie said, pointing to the yellow mess beside her hamburger. Meg sc.r.a.ped the offending goo onto her own plate.

”It seems to me,” she said, ”that if you had come far enough you would have some way of ensuring that the weather was clear.” She put the top bun on the hamburger and handed it to Laynie. Rich and Paulos were looking at her as if she had lost her mind.

”You mean cloudseeding?” Rich said finally.

”I just-exactly how far do you think people actually come to something like this?”

They looked at each other. ”I don't know,” Paulos said. ”There are supposed to be some astronomers here from Italy.”

”Are there four of them?” Meg said without thinking, and then stopped. They were looking at her again. ”But they don't have to come, do they? I mean, I thought scientists could see everything they wanted to with the satellite equipment. The corona and all that, I mean,” she finished weakly.

”Catch up,” Laynie said. Meg handed her the catsup bottle. She wouldn't be able to get the lid off and it would keep her occupied.

Rich was still frowning. In a minute he would ask, ”What's the matter?” and she would say, ”There are four scientists here who aren't from Italy,” and then he would really think she was crazy But he was frowning about something else.

”You know,” he said thoughtfully, ”somebody else was saying that same thing this afternoon, that with all the above-the-atmosphere equipment we've got now, there's really no reason for all the elaborate setup every eclipse.”

”Then why do they come all the way from Italy?” Meg persisted. She was not sure what she wanted him to say; perhaps that the distances were dwindling, that n.o.body came very far anymore just to see an eclipse.

Rich hesitated. ”They just-I don't know.”

”They come to see the show,” Paulos said suddenly.

”Ick,” Laynie said.

”They come for the same reason the pilgrims went to Canterbury, Teddy Roosevelt went to Yellowstone, the astronauts went to the moon. To see the show.”

”Well, but surely it's more than just that. Scientific curiosity and-” Rich said.

Paulos shook his head. ”Protective coloration,” he said.

Meg sucked in her breath.

”But there's still a lot of information that can't be gotten any other way,” Rich said. ”Look at-”

”Ick,” Laynie said again. Meg could not see Laynie's plate under the catsup. She had apparently gotten the lid off quite easily.

After supper they went back to the motel. The men stood outside with the redheaded boys and debated the weather. The faint haze had become a light film nearly obscuring Jupiter, although the moons could still be seen faintly through Paulos's telescope. Meg gave Laynie her bath and put her to bed. She washed out the catsup-stained T-s.h.i.+rt and the mud-soaked socks and hung them over the shower curtain rod in the bathroom. Then she got ready for bed herself and flicked on the TV.

It was a Helena station. Helena was worried about early morning fog. They were recommending Lewistown and Gra.s.srange. Apparently Helena hadn't noticed the haze either. There was a guest meteorologist from Denver. He explained how the Russians had used cloudseeding during the last-eclipse to obtain a perfect view through dense cloud cover. He said modem technology had not developed to the sophistication necessary for weather control in the northwest due to complicated arctic flow patterns, but plans were already being made for the eclipse in Hawaii so that hopefully they would be able not only to predict but to guarantee good weather to the people who had traveled so far to see this wonder of nature. Meg turned off the TV and went to bed.

She woke up at five-thirty frozen stiff. The door of the motel room was standing open. She pulled on her coat, pulled the covers up over Laynie, and went outside. It was just starting to get light. Rich and Paulos stood with their hands in their pockets, looking miserable. The redheaded boys had the back of their orange hatchback open and were slinging sleeping bags and equipment into it. The sky was completely overcast.

”Where are they going?” Meg asked Rich.

”Helena.” He sounded grim, which meant he was frantic with worry.

”But Helena's supposed to have fog.”

”Fog might burn off. This ...” He waved a hand at the sky. It was getting lighter by the minute. The clouds looked totally impenetrable. A major front. ”What do you think, Paulos?”

”I think if we don't make up our minds within the next few minutes it'll be too late to make any difference. We've only got about two hours until it starts.”

The redheaded boys came out with a last load. Two backpacks and the camera tripod. They threw them in the back of the car and slammed down the hatch. One of them had drawn ”Eclipse Special” with his finger in the mud on the back window. Next to it he had drawn a sun. A circle with uneven lines radiating from it.

”I say Helena,” Rich said.

”Great,” Paulos said, and turned back to the motel.

”No,” Meg said.

They all looked at her, even the redheaded boys. They will never forgive me if it's cloudy and they miss the eclipse, she thought. It's the last one in North America in this century; and they will never forgive me. But Helena has fog and we have ...

”No,” she said again. They were waiting for her to explain, and to explain would be disastrous. ”There's no need to go anywhere,” she said clearly ”We'll be able to see the eclipse from here.”

”How do you know that?” Rich asked.

”I know it.” Her tone sounded convincing even to herself. The redheaded boys looked almost persuaded.

”How do you know it?” Paulos asked. ”Women's intuition?” do you know it?” Paulos asked. ”Women's intuition?”

She almost said, ”There's no such thing and you know it,” but the boys looked as if they might believe that. They were only eighteen. Emergency situations demand emergency measures. ”Yes,” she said, ”women's intuition. It's going to clear off in time to see the eclipse.”

”All right,” Rich said, ”we stay.” The boys looked at each other, nodded their heads, and started hauling their stuff back out of the car. Rich took Meg's arm and led her back toward the motel room. ”Meet you for breakfast in fifteen minutes, Paulos,” he said.

”Yeah,” Paulos said, laughing. ”That's one benefit of staying here. We get to eat.”

Rich shut the door behind them. ”Women's intuition,” he said. ”You know something, don't you?”

Meg looked at him steadily ”You've seen something?”

Yes. Dust marks on a car. Two missiles in a town the size of a pinhole viewer. Four scientists who look so much like scientists they could have been copied out of a National Geographic film who aren't even worried about this storm. A child's drawing of the sun. Laynie. Yes, I've seen lots of things. But I'm the only one. Who's going to notice four scientists in a town full of scientists? Who's going to notice that they're speaking some strange foreign language? Everybody's speaking science, and nothing's stranger than that. Who's going to notice anything? You're all looking at the sky. She kept silent.

”How on earth can you believe that mess out there is going to clear off by eight-thirty?”

”Clips?” Laynie said from her bed.

”Clips,” Meg said firmly. ”Let's get your clothes on so we can go eat breakfast.”