Eclipse

K. Jackson
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

The day started off like any other day, I took Sharky for a walk and McDonald’s made me a breakfast of coffee and Diet Coke. Did I mention that I like to drink?

Clark and Sara and I got in the car to go eat. We chose a new place outside of Clark and Sara’s 3-restaurant radius, hoorah. They were feeling spontaneous, it must’ve been the moon’s gaudy display in its path to asserting itself in front of the sun. When Clark and Sara and I started a Round Robin of screeching howls at one another regarding a joke I made that was(n’t) funny, I knew it must be the moon. We never yell.

Clark and Sara’s phones rang simultaneously from the same number. I said clearly that it might be a terrorist attack brought on by the hysteria of the coming eclipse, and Clark didn’t say anything in response like he usually does. I could feel my chest tense up, and then we arrived at The Grill and two Confederate flags were on the local news, waving triumphantly above the newscaster’s head for about 2.5 minutes. The sound was not on, I could not hear what she was saying, but there were no subtitles either, and I felt dread as we walked in under the flourescent lights like we were entering a realm where ominous questionable things were encouraged and okay. I was anxious, but I eased up slightly when I heard the group of good ol’ boys in line behind me talking. “Boy, you know I’m ‘bout to hide them things now,” he said, tipping his head toward the flags. They cracked some jokes and I kind of turned to half-laugh with them. I needed to show my solidarity in light of what he had said, and also because I am a human, and I got a chuckle out of the man who had been talking about hiding his Confederate flags as he stared right into my eyes. God only knows what he was thinking, but it made me feel really good like maybe we’ve got a chance here.

Lemme tell you about The Grill’s burger, though. Semi-thin on a soft Merita bun with mustard, chili, onions and slaw, and a patty that might’ve melted in my mouth. I can’t be sure because I did chew a few times out of habit so I could taste it. What I’m trying to say here is that THIS is the freaking symbol of the mother-lovin’ South, y’all.

We were not able to find eclipse glasses anywhere, though we started looking about a month ago. Everywhere was sold out, in stores, online, so when we got home from hangin’ with my homies at The Grill, we made ourselves some little pinhole boxes with which to view the party. First, you take a box of Nilla Wafers, then you cut a bottom-of-the-box-sized rectangle from a piece of white paper. Then, you cut a small hole in the top of the box on one side, then a small hole in the top of the box on the other. It sounds simple, but really I’m being very technical here. Tinfoil is then placed over one of the holes on the top of the box, and a very, very tiny hole is punched into the center of the tinfoil. Then, your neighbors come to the door and tell you they have 3 pairs of extra glasses, and voila! Now you’ve made your thing.

Moving on, the eclipse was pretty incredible. Of course seeing the moon moving in on the sun’s radiance through those glasses with all those people around experiencing the same thing was unique and felt earmarked to be remembered in the company of the separate and the rare. It was eerie for me in that way, too, particularly because it didn’t get so dark here, yet there was a stillness, hard to explain. And when the sky grew a deeper blue, the wind picked up and you could feel the subtle dimness on the skin.

People chimed in after it all was over that everything sucked! They thought it would have gotten darker! If only the animals had quieted down! While I understand the eclipse was a disappointment to those who had expected so much, they didn’t have to sit three seats down from a woman talking in broken blips to her friend in Brevard, who was in totality. You’re in totality? How is it now? How about now? What about the totality? Does it look total now? Tota-, the to-to-tal-, totality, the totality, is it dark? Now? Oh my god, y’all, they’re in totality.

Totally.

There was a lot of hype, this was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, and everyone just wanted to be part of something so much larger than themselves.

There was a stillness.

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