What Isn't

What Isn't

Josh sat up in bed. The reality sank in slowly as to where he was. It was dark, but not because it was night. It was twelve o’clock pm. It was a Saturday, so he could afford to sleep this late, unlike most other days when he’d be late for school. Not a good thing to sleep late too much in his senior year. He slipped on his shoes and walked out into the living room where his mom was, sitting on the couch drinking a cup of tea.

“It’s an eclipse,” she said as if it were an everyday event. “I’ve already been out. It’s quite a site to see, this negative noon.”

“Negative noon?” he queried. “Like a photo negative…or something…or nothing…” He yawned and scratched his head feeling the messy sleep filled hair. “I’d like to see it through until it passes.”

Josh walked to the door and stepped out onto the porch. The sun was but a white glowing ring around a dark circle. It was quite windy and it blew threw his mangled hair. He held his arms out for whatever reason that he could not explain, and would not for the rest of his life.

What am I doing, he thought, I’m like some old man facing his mortality. Whatever that meant, and he wasn’t sure. It’s like I’m…
It was midnight. It was a dream.

But I… Josh thought as he lay in a crib in blue room. I was… He began to cry. His mom came in and grabbed and held him close.

“It’s okay Josh, mommy’s here,” she said to her baby. Eighteen years dreamed in a small fragment of night. The waking world which had been eclipsed by sleep had re-emerged. He’d seen it until its passing.