Kindlingers – grab a cup of tea, take a seat and settle in. You deserve a break, and I’ve written something for you!

I’m getting into more of a routine at long last! Everyone say ‘yay’.

I have a long series of hiakus to whet the palate and for the main course a story about Something Jeremy and his friends saw while looking out a telescope one evening…

Pull a card and feel
something new come over you
A change for better

Hear the meaning read
aloud in front of your loves
They nod, eyes misty

This is your future
this is your past and present
Remember these words

Three cards to rewrite
your fear of never thriving
—Of being less than

The secret, of course
was hidden in front of you
in words said often

You’ve heard this before
Cards don’t proclaim to be more
than a mirror realm

Reflecting the love
you’ve been deflecting from them
so you won’t doubt it

Three cards to convince
you that no one was lying
past / present / future

‘I saw it, too,’ Careen smiled and gave my hand a squeeze.

‘Me too,’ said Mitchell.

It was the three of us against everyone else. We were a united front, blocking the TV, daring the staff to do something about it.

‘Who knows how long they’ve been up there without our knowledge! All of us should get a say on what’s being done out there – not just the richest few.’ I pointed outside. Some of the residents got distracted watching sparrows on the bird feeder. ‘Tell your families, call the papers, this is injustice! This is blatant abuse of power!’

‘Okay, thank you Jeremy. You’ve made your announcement, it’s time for lunch now.’ She led us away like petulant children. Sat me at the wrong table in the dining room and told me to wait for someone to serve my lunch.

I’d owned telescopes all my life. For a fair few summers after the kids left home, I’d entertained myself in the evenings by studying the stars. My show would finish, I’d make a cup of tea and, pyjama-clad, walk outside to my telescope. One summer, I found myself obsessed by nebulae. A faint smudge on the horizon, my favourite was the Tarantula Nebula – its webbed structure, at once static and liquid, bewitched me.

From a young age I’d liked to think that Alpha Centauri watched over me. I’d wanted to lead an affluent life but, in the end, it had been rather unremarkable. When scientists had started their search for other habitable planets in the Alpha Centauri system, I’d wondered if the life I’d missed out on had gotten stuck on some other planet with some alternate version of me.

When the telescope was donated to the home a month ago, I quickly became the go-to guy for anyone wanting to learn how to use it. In groups of three or four, I showed the other residents, and some of the nurses, how to centre objects in the finderscope, look through the eyepiece and focus on a single point in the night sky.

Once more, I was drawn to watch celestial objects through a telescope almost every night. It wasn’t quite summer, but my slippers kept most of the dew off my skin. I started wearing a dressing gown and scarf after one of the nurses on his morning rounds found me coughing after staring at stars for hours the night before.

I soon realised my eyes weren’t as attuned as they’d been, so I went back to basics. Venus, Mars, the moon, Saturn and the more obvious zodiac constellations – I missed the Tarantula Nebula and its web of dust and light.

After a week of nightly star gazing, Careen and Mitchell joined me. We developed a system amongst us: I’d line up the first object and get it focused, we’d each have a look, and then Careen would line up the next one. Mitchell liked to look, but Parkinson’s prevented him from anything so dexterous as focusing a telescope.

It was in the middle of this routine that we made our discovery. Whilst looking at the moon, which always followed Venus and Mars, I exclaimed, ‘Is that a building on the moon?’

‘What?’ Careen and Mitchell asked together.

‘There’s a whole lot of buildings on the moon. Look!’ I proffered the telescope to Careen to confirm what I’d seen.

‘Where, Jeremy? I can’t see— Oh, I see. I see. Oh, yes, just at the very top there! Did we know about this? Was it on the news?’

‘I haven’t heard a peep about anyone going there, let alone building on the bloody thing!’ My arms were crossed, heart beating against them. I thought about sitting down.

‘Show me, show me!’ Mitchell stepped up to the telescope and Careen directed him where to look.

‘For goodness’ sake! I can just about see windows and doors. How long have they been there?’

‘Stuffed if I know, but I think we should look online to see if we’re just the last to know about this. We can’t be the only people who’ve been looking at the moon this last month or so.’ I took one last look and then brought the telescope back inside. Careen closed the doors and took her phone out.

‘What should I Google?’ Her and Mitchell looked to me. I shrugged.

‘Try: building on the moon?’

A list of blue links appeared taking us to a variety of articles about NASA’s plans to build on the moon by 2030. Nothing else came up.

‘But that’s years away.’ We looked at each other.

The next night we skipped Venus and Mars and went straight for the moon. Right on the edge of that moon phase’s shadow, straight lines and dark colours on its surface. We couldn’t believe our eyes. It was close to a full moon, tomorrow they would see more. Once they were sure, they would contact journalists.

‘What if we’re wrong, Jeremy?’ Mitchell asked while Careen was trying and failing to see any more than we already could.

‘There better be a good explanation if it’s not what we think it is.’

He nodded.

At breakfast I started telling a few people about what we’d discovered. By morning tea, everyone had somehow heard about it and come to the conclusion that the three of us were due an eye exam and a new diagnosis. That’s what had forced us to confront the other residents in the lounge and block their view of the television.

After begrudgingly eating my lunch I emailed my son and two local journalists about the structures we’d seen. None replied to me.

Night seemed to take an age to arrive. By the time it was dark and the moon was high enough, the three of us were so worked up by the day’s events that we barely spoke a word. We brought the telescope out and I focused it on the left side of the almost-full moon. I could hardly breathe as I scanned the moon’s surface for what we’d seen so clearly the last two nights.

I moved aside for Careen – saw the moment her mouth fell open.

‘Can you see it?’ Mitchell looked at us before stepping up to the telescope. ‘What in heaven’s name?’ He looked at us again. ‘Where’d they go?’

I shook my head. Lost for words. They were there. We’d seen them, twice.

Behind us, one of the nurses came outside to check we were warm enough. It was the man who’d told me off a few weeks ago.

‘See any shooting stars?’ He smiled at us, but none of us could bring ourselves to smile back.

‘Is everything okay? What’s wrong?’ He put a hand on my arm, searched our faces. ‘Someone said you’d seen something on the moon?’

‘It’s gone,’ Mitchell croaked.

Careen made a noise, but no words left her.

 –

We had each died by the time the truth came out. In 2035, Russia announced that they had commenced building a moon base on the far side of the moon in 2025. Powered by nuclear reactors and partial solar power, the base had seen a lot of trial and error – including the deaths of twenty-two cosmonauts.

They had successfully launched a manned ship from the moon which had landed on Mars the week before their announcement. They were now planning to ferry the first lot of civilians to the moon base to acclimate to space life.

Somehow we’d seen them building on the moon and no one had believed us.