Stars by Ann Reader

A smile lit Jim’s face as he entered the shuttle, it was a dream come true. Astronomy had been his passion and solace in the long, lonely evenings and weekends he spent caring for his mother. He had a library of charts and the best telescope he could afford. He had converted the attic in his mother’s house to an observatory, installing a skylight window so he could watch the stars. Now he was going to see the stars from space, he could hardly believe it was true.

Jim mentally pinched himself as he had done every day since the solicitor had read him the will and and told him exactly how much he was worth. Was it a dream, could it really be so. Even after payment of death duties it was wealth beyond his wildest imagining.

Jim’s life had not been rich or even particularly eventful. His father had died when he was 9 years old in a car accident, and his mother had always appeared worried about how they would survive. He had no reason to believe he was well off as he grew up. He did not have any brothers or sisters and left school after his ‘O’ levels, to the disappointment of his teachers who had expected him to do ‘A’ levels. As the only child he felt he should alleviate his mother’s worries by contributing to the family income. He got a job with the local authority and was progressing well in the planning department when his mother became ill. At that point he gave up any thoughts of bettering himself at night school as he had planned and devoted his free time to her and his hobby of astronomy.

Jim did not marry and indeed rather suspected that he might be gay as girls didn’t greatly interest him. He had very little social life as he dared not leave his mother too often. He attended a monthly astronomy group but when he had suggested he might go away with them on a dark sky experience, she went into such panic that the doctor had to be called. He did not pursue the matter.

It turned out that his father, also an only child, had exceedingly rich parents. They had not approved of his marriage to Jim’s mother and had stipulated in their wills that he and his offspring were to receive no benefit from their wealth while she was alive. On his mother’s death everything came to him.

At this point Jim was 50 years old with no dependents and no likelihood of getting any, he decided he may as well make up for all the life he had missed out on. Shuttles were being launched into space on a commercial basis and Jim decided he would travel on one. The idea of seeing stars from space with no light pollution, instead of from his attic skylight on the outskirts of Winchester was almost mind blowing. As soon as he thought of the idea, he knew he would have to do it and amazingly he could afford to.

Jim made enquiries and discovered that there was no long waiting list, he supposed the cost was prohibitive for most people. The only delay was while he waited for a passport (he had never needed one) and obtained a visa. He took a year’s sabbatical from his job. Years of watching the pennies made him feel he had better have something to come back to.

He flew from Heathrow and that is where his amazing adventure began. He paid for a window seat, travelling first class he was as excited as a child to look out and see the clouds from above. There were others travelling first class and he was amused to recognise one of them as an actor he had often seen on the television, she appeared to be very friendly with a man he was fairly sure was a pop star. He wondered what the gossip magazines his mother loved so much would make of that. He mused for a while on his mother’s obsession with pop and film stars, not really stars at all just jumped up and overindulged people, nothing compared to the real stars he could see through his telescope. The real stars that he would be able to see more clearly on his trip into space.

Three days in New York were mind blowing, he had never been anywhere so noisy or busy and had never seen people eat so much. He found it all quite overwhelming. He was glad to fly on, the atmosphere at the shuttle port was calmer and more scientific. He was greeted with great courtesy; he explained his reason for wishing to take the trip and they explained the high-quality telescope that was present in the shuttle. He was so enthralled he barely listened to the safety warnings. It would not have made any difference to him anyway.

They lead him across the tarmac with a group of others . He climbed up the gangway in a dream now here he was going to visit the stars. Wonderful little points of light in the night sky that had intrigued him since he was a child. He thought he might burst with happiness.