There are no stars in the Waiting Place. It's just endless darkness in every direction. Not a scary kind of darkness though. It's more of a mysterious kind of darkness. It's never bothered me at all, but man! I'd really like to see a star.
Julie says that stars are balls of fire, suspended in the air a very very long way away from where I sit. I never believe anything Julie says. She's a teacher. She teaches here and there and between journeys she stops to sit with me sometimes. She likes to tell me about things but I usually don't listen.
One day I asked my friend, Eric about stars. Eric's a smart cookie. He's been to places I can barely imagine. He used to sit with me for a few hours once or twice a week and tell me about all kinds of things. Eric is round and brown and has a large, warm smile. Eric says that stars are just the ashes from all the cigarettes God smoked that day. He says He puts his cigarettes out in the sky, then the ashes burn out by morning. I asked Eric where I could find stars. He said, "Wherever the sky is clear." I don't quite understand what that means. I look up all the time but I never see a thing.
One day Eric was sitting with me and he was telling me about a play he had seen in a place called London. He said the stage was outdoors and he could see the stars. Again, I asked him about stars. Eric said that sometimes the stars come together to form pictures and some people use those pictures to tell stories. I was completely amazed and painfully jealous. I didn't feel as if I'd ever see a star. Not from my bench.
"You've gotta get off this bench." Eric told me.
"But I have nowhere to go."
"Everyone has somewhere to go."
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"I'm going to get my degree." he said.
"Well, why are you traveling so much? Don't you have to just stay in one place for a while for a degree? Arn't you supposed to pick a school and stay there? Where are you always going?"
"Not all degrees are that easy to obtain." he said with a smile.
We sat in silence for a while, watching the waves of people passing by. I remembered my own journey to find a degree. It led me here. Suddenly I was struck with an idea.
"Hey Eric!" I said suddenly.
"Yes?"
"I have an idea. How about the next time you go somewhere amazing you bring me back a star?"
He looked at me amused.
"Please." I begged, "I'll never ask you for anything else ever again. Please? Just one star? Just a little one?"
He smiled at me and said, "Okay, I'll bring you back a star."
Eric left that day and I waited everyday for him to come back. For him to bring me a star. I trusted Eric to return. And one day he did. I saw him in the crowd from a distance and felt my heart jump. I stood on my bench and waved my arms frantically. to make sure he could see me. When he finally made his way to my bench he sat down beside me and started telling me about his latest adventure. I felt that it would've been rude to cut him off to ask for my star. So I let him continue his painfully long and dull story about his trip to Philadelphia. It would not have been a dull story at all had I not been anxiously waiting to see my star. Then my heart sunk. Had he forgotten?
Finally he finished his story and sat in contentment, watching the crowds of people passing by as I watched him. Then finally I cleared my throat and asked, "So, did you bring me a star?" He turned his head to look at me. He was giving me a smile that meant he was hiding something. I was practically bouncing in my seat. Then he reached his hand into his jeans pocket, leaned toward me and whispered, "I got you something better."
Better? My heart sunk again. I wanted a star. He pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. It was a ticket. For me. My name was on it. "What's this?" I asked.
"It's your ticket." he answered.
"My ticket to what?"
"To stars." he replied smiling that big warm smile.
I had had a ticket once before. It just blew to me with a breeze. It landed right under my bench. My name was on it. I had held on to it for a few days. Then I had heard a ship belowing somewhere south. It was my ship. I could just tell. It was the ship my ticket was for. But I was too afraid to leave my bench. The ship sailed on without me and I let my ticket go, and it blew away with another breeze. That was the last ticket I've had, until this one.
"Where'd you get it from?" I asked.
"It blew to me on a breeze." he said. "I have to go." He stood up a smoothed out his sweater vest and fixed his collar.
"Where are you going?"
"I've got class."
"Where?"
"I don't know actually. But I've got a good feeling about this one."
"Eric.." I started as he turned to walk away.
"Don't waste this one." he said to me, "You're not meant to stay here."
He walked away. Through the crowd. Eventually I couldn't see him anymore. I sat on my bench clutching this mysterious ticket with both hands. I looked down at it. Eric had doodled something in the corner of the ticket with pencil. It was a star.
