in a week Double digits at last He was hoping desperately hoping for a telescope so that he could see everything much more clearly He wanted to see which were really stars and which were planets to make out the clusters of stars which to the naked eye masqueraded as one and the thousands of tiny stars which for now appeared as big dusty smudges on the inky sky Pete had been poring over telescope catalogues for months and had finally set his hopes on the Moonstar 300 There were lots of bigger and maybe better telescopes but they cost hundreds even thousands of dollars and he knew Mum couldn’t afford that much Pete Time to come in Mum’s voice drifted across the yard from the open back door It was getting late Pete took one last lingering look then padded across the lawn Mum looked up from the kitchen table as he came in Whatcha been doing 6
Pete shrugged Not much Looking at the stars Mum smiled They’re beautiful aren’t they I used to love stargazing when I was your age I remember She stopped Pete saw her face flicker with some unknown memory then close down Typical Mum She didn’t like to talk about her childhood Pete didn’t know anything about when she was little Anyway Time for bed honey Mum smiled again but Pete could see the frown lurking on her forehead He wished he could reach out and rub it off Instead he wandered down the hall to brush his teeth Through the bathroom window Pete could see the night sky As he brushed he closed his eyes and imagined himself looking at the stars close up through a telescope When Mum came to tuck him in Pete wondered if he should remind her again about the telescope or show her the picture in the catalogue he kept under his pillow But he knew Mum wouldn’t forget He had told her at least a 7
hundred times how much he wanted a telescope The issue wasn’t whether she would remember but whether she could afford to buy him one Money was tight and the kind of telescope Pete wanted cost a lot of money No point bugging Mum about it He’d just have to wait and see 8
2 Coming home from school was Pete’s favourite part of the day After being stuck inside listening to Mr Thompson drone on about maths or spelling or history he was always glad to get home and be free to do whatever he liked Today as he came through the front gate Pete lifted the flap on the letterbox then stopped This was different There was an envelope Addressed to Pete He’d never received mail of his own before Mum got plenty Usually bills although sometimes she got an invitation to a party And every weekend their letterbox was stuffed with what Mum called junk mail catalogues from all 9
