First Appearance (Chapter 2)

We continued walking throughout the afternoon following our brief sighting of the eclipse. The guys seemed subdued; Vaughan strode out ahead of us in silence.

I stayed near the back of the group, just a few paces ahead of Connell who was bringing up the rear. Josh was with me but he didn't say much.

Everyone seemed tense.

A thin, indistinct sliver of the moon's shadow had passed over us, rushing to meet us across the frozen tundra. And then, after just a few short miles, it had risen from the hard ground and swept upwards, back into space.

That was all that had happened and yet I found it impossible to shake my mind free of it.

I was fascinated by the idea that something so momentary and so innocuous could develop into something so incredible; by the incomprehensibility of the timescale involved; by the thought of the millions of people who, in the distant future, would look up and marvel at the spectacle that a handful of us had just fleetingly witnessed on its first brief graze across the planet's surface.

Eighteen years ago the shadow of an eclipse in the same family had skimmed the atmosphere somewhere north west of here. Nearly touching down for a few seconds, but not quite. Nearly born, but not quite.

Birds flying high over northern Greenland might have been caught up in the edge faint fuzzy shadow; clouds might have been imperceptibly darkened by it. Eighteen years before that it had missed the atmosphere by a few hundred miles.

I looked over at Palmer and Anderson.

Palmer was with Franklin, but not talking to him or anyone else.

Anderson was with Adams and Robson. He ignored Palmer and seemed unwilling even to look in his direction.

My mind returned to what had happened in the tent on the previous night after what Vaughan called the 'curfew'.

*****

Anderson had his torch on, set to the lowest beam. Connell had already called over to us once when Anderson had had the torch on full power. If we were caught again we'd get chores to carrry out the following day.

We hoped the canvas of the tent was thick enough to conceal the dim sepia-coloured glow from the torch.

We chatted quietly for a while and then heard Connell shouting at the guys in the other tent to put their lights out. They'd be cooking breakfast for everyone in the morning. Anderson directed the weak beam from the torch down into his sleeping bag and we waited to see if Connell would come over and have a go at us.

When we heard him get back into the tent he and Vaughan were sharing, we grinned at each other like we'd achieved a major coup.

A whispered conversation had started up on the tedious topic of the type of car each of our parents owned and had then headed off into the realms of house sizes and holiday locations.

I was bored and slightly irritated.

It was only when that had subsided that Palmer told us, in conspiratorial tones, that someone in the next tent had been caught pretending to masturbate on the previous night.

Anderson asked, "Who?"

"Andrew Thompson's younger brother. What's he called… Michael?"

Josh asked, "Why would he do that?"

Palmer shrugged. "I guess some of the other guys were doing it so he thought he should join in. He was lying with his eyes closed, moaning and gasping like it was the best thing he'd ever done. His hand moving up and down inside his sleeping bag…"

Anderson shook his head. "That's bullshit. I mean, how would they know he was faking it?"

Palmer giggled. "He was using his torch, right. Instead of his knob. And he was so caught up in acting the part, he didn't realise he was switching the torch on and off with each stroke… his sleeping bag was lighting up and going dark like a fucking strobe light…"

We all chuckled. It was funny but rather implausible.

Josh asked, "But why would he fake it? Why not just join in if he wanted to be like everyone else?"

Palmer said, "Maybe he's still firing blanks."

I asked, "What do you mean, 'firing blanks'?"

Anderson explained. "You know… a guy tries to wank but he can't finish it off…"

I nodded. Obviously this was something normal and accepted. I said, "I do that."

Palmer grinned eagerly like I'd admitted something scandalous.

Josh shook his head and threw me a reprimanding look. "That's what little kids do, Stu... guys our age spunk up when we wank..."

I felt my face go a little pink. "Oh right... I didn't know what you meant... yeah I spunk up. 'Course I do..." I laughed lamely and Palmer's grin became more like a sneer.