My Thrill on Plausawa Hill 



They had come from all over, by plane, by bus, by car. I was happy  

to see them here, on top of this hill in my small New Hampshire  

town. They had come to watch the night sky - a rare alignment of  

planets and the stars that surrounded them.  

 

Plausawa Hill was just a mile from my house. Small, but treeless on  

top and nothing to obstruct our view but a communications tower. The  

tower had a red light on top so places could see it. From the  

distance, the eerie sound of yipping coyotes floated up to us.  

 

I could just make out my friends in the cool darkness. Dorothy was  

there, and Jay, Maureen from a distant land, Heide, and finally  

Kristin. How I convinced these ladies to abandon their web sites for  

one night and come to this obscure place, I'll never know. Maybe it  

was my magnetic personality. Then I noticed someone new - a blonde  

woman with a bandaged face and hands. Yikes. Anyway, it was time to  

begin. 

 

"Are we all here?" I asked. 

 

"No," answered Maureen. "Julie's late. Should be here anytime. She  

doesn't like aeroplanes, so she's teleporting herself." 

 

"Oh. Oh. Then while we're waiting I guess we can..." 

 

Off in the tangled brush appeared an odd, yellowish glow. Then a  

popping sound, and a thin figure emerged. Julie had arrived. A few  

of us plunged in to help her out.  

 

"Blimey," she said. "I've forgotten my glasses." Then another glow  

around her eyes, and with a smaller pop, wire glasses appeared,  

slightly crooked on her nose. "Oh, good. Never mind." 

 

While Julie chatted to the others, I leaned over to Dorothy. "Who's  

that?" I whispered, looking over at the bandaged blonde woman.  

 

"Oh," she said, "that's Monday Knight. She's a character from a  

book." 

 

I nodded but said nothing. This was turning into quite a night. 

 

"All right then," I began and the chattering faded. "First, we need  

to get our bearings. Does everyone know how to find North?"  

 

Silence. Then a few arms pointed in different directions.  

 

"Well, what you do is find the Big Dipper - look straight up and  

you'll see it. This time of year it appears upside down." 

 

The ladies soon found the Dipper and I explained how the end of it  

points to the North Star. "That's Polaris - the North Star. Now  

that we know North, who can point West?" 

 

Some arms pointed East, other South. Monday Knight, of all people,  

pointed West. "Very good, er, Monday. Now before we look for those  

planets all lined up, I should explain the Zodiac. The Zodiac is  

made of 12 constellations that form a line, more or less. This is  

where you find the planets. Jupiter is now in Gemini, and the other  

four, Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn are in Taurus. Going east to  

west, we can see Virgo, Leo and Cancer, with Gemini close to the  

horizon. Can anyone find Jupiter? Look for a bright, steady light." 

 

"I see it, I see it!" said Kristin. "It's right there." And it  

was. The others followed suit. "I see it, too." "Oh, it IS  

bright!" "Yup, there it is."  

 

"Now for an even brighter planet, look for Venus." Venus was even  

easier to find, since it was low in the sky and almost as bright as  

the Moon. The other planets were nearby, I told them. You just had  

to let your eyes adjust, and they would appear. Only one of us had  

problems. 

 

"I can't see them," said Julie. 

 

"Sure you can," I said.  

 

"I'm cold."  

 

"Look, Mercury is right there, just right of Venus. See it now?" 

 

"I need a fag." 

 

Jay broke in. "Don, it's amazing to see all those planets at once.  

What else can you tell us about the spring sky?" 

 

"Ah, Jay. Thanks for asking. Well, the brightest star, the first  

one you see when it gets dark, is called Arcturus, located in the  

Herdsman. He's supposed to be a shepherd, sitting and smoking a  

pipe. Arcturus has an orange hue - can anyone see it?" 

 

"Is that the one?" asked Heide. She pointed at a likely candidate.  

 

"Yes, well done! And there are many others I can tell you about." 

 

"My neck hurts," said Julie. 

 

"You know, mine does too. One of my star books recommends lying down  

so you can look straight up. That's why I brought this along." I  

walked over to a rolled-up wool blanket I'd set aside earlier. I  

quickly unfurled it; several helping hands helped me smooth it over  

the level ground.  

 

Julie wasn't impressed. "It's not big enough. We won't all fit." 

 

"Sure we will. Look, I'll lie in the middle and everyone else can  

pile on." The group soon caught on and in seconds I was being  

prodded and squashed by several female body parts; arms, legs, and in  

one case, a nice rear end. Altogether, the sensation was not  

unpleasant. In the dark, two fragrant heads found their way to my  

shoulders. The thought occurred to me - I should do this more often. 

 

We chattered about the other sights in the sky - the Milky Way,  

unseen now, but out in full force by summer; The Seven Sisters,  

comets, shooting stars. As I mentioned the last one, a brilliant one  

shot across the sky and burned out overhead, like a stray firework.  

We all saw it, and it was spectacular.  

 

Sadly, it was getting late and time to go. It had gotten very cold  

now and besides, people had long ways to travel. Julie wrapped  

herself in the blanket and waited until all else had left. Something  

about the transporting - she didn't want an audience.  

 

After seeing my guests off, I went back to her. "Okay, you can do  

your thing now. I won't look." 

 

"All right. Byee." Then I waited. No pop. More seconds went by  

and still no pop. I turned around. "What's wrong?" 

 

"Grrrr - won't work. Bugger it." 

 

I smiled. "That's okay. I'll give you a lift to the airport." 

 

We walked together down the rocky dirt path, tall pines above and the  

spring stars sparkling between them. Julie tripped over a root and I  

caught her, then held her hand tightly as we continued down the  

slope.  

 

"Nice night," I said.  

 

"Yes," she said. "Bloody nice." 

 

 

(Written by Don Kelly, a member of The Writer's Life e-group)