Longer Than A Galaxy

Saint Roley and Princess Pacchu gaze upwards.

Stars twinkle.

Seen any cosmic strings yet? asks Cherry.

Not yet, says Saint Roley.

There's one! says Cherry.

But no. It's a flashlight.

There they are, says Mariposa.

Come back inside, says Terence.

No, says Saint Roley. We don't have to.

Cherry has to, says Terence.

Cherry goes inside.

I'm back, says Cherry. Do your worst. Just remember, my tail is my glory.

No one will curtail you, says Gaius, if that's what you fear. Terence often invents his own meanings.

Good, says Cherry I was out of my depth out there. What are cosmic strings?

I bet dad knows, says Pescado.

Of course his dad knows.

They are tiny hairline fractures threaded through space and time, says Pedro Vicente Maldonado.

That's cool, says Lydia.

 But theoretical, says Pedro Vicente Maldonado.

I was going to say, says Gaius.

So was I, says Simon.

Indeed, says Pedro. They have not yet been detected.

So someone just made them up, says Sweezus. That's mental.

Like Saint Roley, says Cherry. He made them up for a poem.

As good a reason as any, says Pedro. But if cosmic strings were to be detected....

....it might explain a number of things, says Gaius.

What things? asks Arthur. Poetical things?

Things that don't make sense at the moment, says Gaius. That's how science works.

Let's drink to science, says Pedro Vicente Maldonado. And cosmic strings, thinner than an atom and longer than a galaxy.

Guess what! cries Terence, coming in. We saw one!

You couldn't have, says Cherry. They're thinner than an atom.

Theoretically, says Pedro Vicente Maldonado, pouring everyone except Pescado another glass of Espiritu del Ecuador.

We saw a FAT one, says Terence. And I saw it first.

Ha ha! laughs Pedro Vicente Maldonado. No doubt you saw something. I'll tell you what, if you do climb Chimborazo you'll be at the point on earth closest to the moon.

Are you sure about that? asks Gaius. It's not the earth's highest mountain.

It is closest to the moon, due to it's location on the equatorial bulge, says Pedro Vicente Maldonado.

Well, well, says Gaius.

Pescado can't help feeling proud of his dad.