How The Spirits Work

The talk and the video are finished. Everyone crowds up the stairs.

A queue forms behind the Meade 16" telescope.

There are so many people that no one will get a long turn at the eyepiece.

The lucky ones are exulting. Look, I see the moons!

Ade is showing them Saturn

Terence is standing next to Louise.

Saturn is the second largest planet, says Louise.

Who cares? says Terence. Which is the biggest?

Jupiter, says Louise.

Wrong, says Terence. The biggest one is called Grandpa.

You're not funny, says Louise. There's no planet called Grandpa.

Do you know everything? asks Terence.

No, says Louise.

Grandpa does, says Terence. He's called Grandpa Marx.

Nobody knows everything, says Louise. My grandpa knows particle physics. But he doesn't know everything.

Does he have a beard? asks Terence.

Yes, says Louise. A white one.

Does he have a planet? asks Terence.

No, of course not.

This is boring, says Terence.

I know, says Louise. Let's sneak up to the front. We might get a turn earlier.

Watch out for my parrot, says Terence. She's bossy.

That hummingbird? asks Louise. She's not a parrot.

That's what she says, says Terence. And she's not a humbling-bird either.

Can't you say hummingbird? asks Louise.

I said it, says Terence. But she isn't one. Aren't you listening?

What is she? asks Louise.

A parrot with a mean woman inside her, says Terence.

Both those things can't be true, says Louise.

She's a spirit, says Terence, flapping his arms to demonstrate how spirits work.

Are you religious? asks Louise.

What do I look like? asks Terence.

A baby Jesus, says Louise.

Okay, says Terence. Feel my elbow.

She feels his elbow. It feels rough and cementy.

You won't be able to see through the telescope, says Louise.

Terence is upset. He didn't expect her to say that.

What does she mean?