SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

YES, SHE IS. NO, SHE'S NOT.

We scurried out of the basement. The doctor was giving a speech at GeorgeWashingtonUniversity at 10:30 a.m.; it was 10:25 a.m.

At 10:33 a.m. the three of us parked outside the school. Darwin and I tumbled out of the Cadillac. Just then I remembered that I still had the I.K.Y. in my shirt pocket; I handed it over at once.

"Thanks, doctor," I told him.

He almost snatched it away from me and lifted it up to eye-level. Without putting it on, he pressed the tiny switch on the frame.

"Perfect," he whispered, "it works fine..."

He stuck the glasses in the glove compartment and then turned to us.

"We have a month to finalize the details of the trip!"

"Understood," I replied, closing the car door.

He took off, making the tires squeal scandalously.

"Did you hear what the doctor said?" Darwin asked, "the glasses aren't damaged..."

"So it seems..."

Suddenly the Cadillac braked to a halt about 30 feet in front of us. The doctor leaned out of the car window.

"Don't forget it'll be an all-expenses-paid trip!" he yelled.

"Excellent!" my friend answered.

The Cadillac noisily pulled away.

"What a guy!" Darwin commented, looking at his watch. "I think I said this before...but we have an algebra exam and...we're going to be late!"

The same old story. Fortunately, we arrived just a couple of minutes late.

After twenty minutes I had merrily resolved the five problems on the algebra exam. I reviewed them. I checked that they were right. All right! I thought proudly, taking a look around me, I'm clever after all! I am!

Everything told me that I was the only one to have finished. My classmates still seemed to be busily resolving the problems. I took a look at Darwin, a few desks behind me. He didn't even notice; like the rest of the class he was immersed in problem-solving...and the whole thing had been a piece of cake for me.

I looked at my watch. There was half an hour left before the period was over. With impatience getting the better of me, I took my exam and got up from the desk. I walked to the teacher's desk. My classmates looked at me strangely, but not as much as Dr.Hawkes did.

"An 'A' please," I told her, pleased with myself as I turned in the test.

She hesitated before accepting the papers, but she finally did it.

"Are you sure you don't want to look it over?" she asked me in surprise.

"Don't worry," I said, with a knowing smile. "That's okay."

"I think you should check the..."

"See you!"

I flew out of the room. It was impossible to resist the impulse to go and look for Vanessa. I went in the direction of the stadium. It was Tuesday, and I knew that the Venezuelan girl usually ran with the athletic team on Tuesdays.

I looked for her on and around the track. I didn't find her. Then I ran to her classroom.

I don't know what excuse I had invented to get into the class, but I went in. She wasn't there. I felt desperate. The only thing that would calm me down would be to see her. I longed to see her, to talk to her. I made towards the cafeteria, knowing that the recess bell was going to ring.

Break came and went and she didn't show up.

I made use of the next recess to look for her, but I had no success. She had surely left already for Venezuela, and I was in denial about it.

Darwin must have noticed how restless and agitated I was; when we left the school that afternoon, he tried to cheer me up.

"The trip with Dr. Masterton will do you good; maybe the silo's in Venezuela!"

"Do you think so?"

"I'm afraid not," he admitted. "But maybe some day you'll see your Venezuelan girl again!"

When I got home I was overcome with melancholy. Vanessa was gone. I missed her so much! I somehow ate a steak and went up to my room, almost crawling. I looked at my bed and, using my last bit of energy, I threw myself down on the comforter.

Seconds after closing my eyes, disturbing images of the doctor's mysterious basement floated before my eyes: the top secret documents, the Moon, the Bats, the obscure Mama Bat, the I.K.Y., my unforgettable Vanessa...

There, my imaginings stopped.

Even as I lay there in panic, I began to go over the matter: Where had I gone wrong? I asked myself. Then I sighed. The glasses do work, I told myself. She was the woman of my dreams. She was...I lamented, no, she wasn't. She was not, I corrected myself. I must go on. I must go on without her...I told myself, and then I started all over again: Where had I gone wrong? She was the woman of my dreams...No, no she wasn't...Yes she was...

And so, almost delirious, I fell into a deep sleep.