Perseid

Joe threw down his pencil in frustration over his paperwork, and wiped the sweat from his face. "Perfect," he muttered, "middle of August and the cooler goes out. It has to be the most humid and hot night on record," he griped to no one. Joe stood up and walked to the kitchen, stripping off his damp and sweat soaked over shirt. He reached into the fridge and pulled out a cold soda; David didn't allow alcohol in the house, and rolled the cool can over his face and neck. As he turned to go back to his work he spotted David walking out the back door with a large cylinder over his shoulder. Curious, Joe followed him to the backyard.

Joe watched in fascination as David set up the cylinder. It looked like it was made from a cardboard tube.

"What are you doing Boss?" Joe asked after observing him for a few moments.

"Tonight is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower; it's when the earth moves through the trail left by a comet, there will be a lot of shooting stars tonight," David said as he looked at the youngest member of his team.

Joe frowned in puzzlement, "I didn't know you were into meteor showers," he said.

David smiled and brushed some dust off of the telescope, "a long time ago, I wasn't, at least not at first, but a very good friend of mine was," he said as he adjusted the angle of the lens. He looked up at Joe, "would you care to join me? It should be quite the show tonight."

Joe thought about it briefly, "okay," he said after a moment, "I would like that."

David smiled and stepped aside so that Joe could get a look at the sky.

"Wow," Joe breathed in wonder as he watched streaks of light flash past.

"Yeah," David said with a gentle smile. He stood back and looked up at the heavens, a single tear brimmed, but didn't fall.