Chapter 6: Heavens and Hell
Coming in through the back door of her home, Maggie heard laughter in the family room. A rich, deep voice was recounting a story, and as Maggie entered the room she saw her mom rolling on the sofa with a fit of the giggles. Her uncle Matt stood in the middle of the room, his long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, miming the movements of some large bird-like creature. Even without knowing the context, Maggie burst into a grin at the way he was strutting, with his bum sticking out, his neck stretched and his goggle eyes darting from side to side.
“Honestly,” he laughed, “It looked just like Mom used to when she came into our bedroom searching for the chocolates we’d stolen.”
“There you are, Maggie! Say hello to your uncle Matt. He’s staying with us for a few weeks while he attends some important conferences.” Maggie’s mom was glowing in the presence of her twin brother.
"Hey there Mags, how's my favourite niece? Enjoying your last days of freedom before school starts?" teased uncle Matt as he walked over, picked up Maggie and sat her on his cradled forearms.
"To be exact, uncle, you know I am your only niece.", replied Maggie deadpan.
"Still splitting hairs!" he laughed, "Anyway, even if I had another niece, you'd still be my favourite .... unless of course the other niece was prettier ..... or smarter ..... or better at sports ..... or ....."
"Gee thanks," replied Maggie sarcastically.
Uncle Matt laughed a deep warm laugh as he kissed Maggie on the forehead and put her down. He was soon immersed in conversation with her mom once more and Maggie's attention wandered to a large map that was half curled on the coffee table.
She picked it up and noticed it was all in black and white and full of squiggly lines.
Uncle Matt noticed her puzzlement and explained,
“It's a contour map, Mags. That's the area around the observatory. It's pretty wild country. Deep ravines all criss-crossing. There's some valleys that are so inaccessible they reckon no-one but the local tribes have ever been there. You can keep it if you want.”
Maggie took the map in her hands and mused on it as she listened absently to her uncle's conversation and pondered over the afternoon's events. He was talking about his science work at the observatory in the outback.
"....It's going to be a massive event for us. We've got astronomers and photographers coming in from all over the world to view it from our telescopes. It's the first time in over 700 years that all five classical planets will be in a direct line with the Earth, moon and sun, and we've got the best view of it, and probably the clearest atmospheric conditions. You know, people have no idea how important these sort of events used to be in ancient times. When this happened in 150 B.C , Hipparchus called it 'the Great Meeting of the Five Heavens' and advised that all citizens should stay in their homes and fast for three days during its zenith. Imagine if we issued a warning like that today!" Matt laughed.
Maggie's ears pricked up
"Uncle Matt, what was that you said? About the five heavens?"
"The Great Meeting? Well, you see, the ancient Greeks didn't see the planets as discreet physical masses, Mags, but as visible points on huge spheres of spiritual influence that encircled the world. There is a famous diagram by Aristotle showing the Earth surrounded by concentric circles of elements, ethers and spheres denoting the supposed order of the planets, though of course this was from a geocentric perspective.... "
"STOP!….. Could you say it again in English, please? Just the bit about the five heavens."
Maggie loved the way her uncle Matt talked to her as a grown-up, but sometimes he forgot she wasn't an astrophysicist or whatever.
