The Stars at Night are Big and Bright

The Stars at Night are Big and Bright...and boring.  Lauren and I went stargazing in Arizona with about twenty others who had nothing better to do.  
Two amateur astronomers brought big, hulking telescopes for which Galileo might have bartered his three offspring. Believe me, these 'scopes were WELL loved babies.  The two guys excitedly programmed them to see each astral treat with TV-like remote controls. (Cheaters). We expected to see the fiery bits of carbon up close and personal. No. Instead, they still looked like a bunch of little pinpricks--just lots more of them. I politely asked the astronomer geeks how they got so into this. (And they were REALLY into it).  Both had become obsessed at about age ten causing me to conjecture that stellar addiction MUST occur before puberty or not at all. I recalled how badly I had wanted a telescope at that age.  Oh, how fortunate that letter to Santa never made it to the star-studded North Pole.
©10/2012  Jana B Patrick