EOI Carabanchel Writing Awards: "Under the Sky"

Please welcome dearest student Pablo Fernández Castro, 2nd prize winner for NI. Enjoy your reading and feel free to post!

"Under the Sky"

Nowadays people don’t look at the sky…I remember that phrase every time I look up and I see the moon. I even hear his voice pointing out the stars and reciting their names…That’s true. People have no time to watch the beauty held in the sky of a starry night. And in fact, in the past I used to do the same, but one day a man changed my way to see the firmament.

I met him in a summer night during the recovery of my younger sister. She broke her left arm playing tennis and she had to be operated on and rest in hospital few weeks. In the past I used to smoke and, you know, that’s forbidden in hospitals, so I found the way to a lonely terraced roof near her hospital room. One of the nights I had to take care of her I wanted to go up there to light a cigarette. When I came in the terrace I saw him, under the moonlight, looking up with a telescope made of rolls of toilet paper and wearing a hospital coat.

- “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to fright you!” he said to me with a naughty smile.

I wasn’t frightened, but yes surprised by the scene. That old man with a long white wavy beard and his hospital coat flowed by the breeze...

- “Merlin, can I sit beside you and smoke a cigarette?” I asked smiling because of my funny remark.

- “Of course, my dear little Lancelot” He replied witty to me. “We’ll watch the dance of the planets”.

- “But I haven’t got a telescope!”

- “You don’t need magnification to see the stars” he said to me.

- “So, why you use a telescope?” I asked just about to burst out laughing.

- “Cos I am an astronomer,” he said to me very serious. “Cos I’m an astronomer. Have you ever seen an astronomer without telescope? Golfers use golf clubs, doctors use stethoscopes, you have to use an umbrella if it’s raining and, it’s clear, astronomers need a telescope. But for you it isn’t necessary. Look, you can see the Polaris star, the Cygnus constellation…and the moon…always the moon…Can you see that star? Yes? It’s Sirius, the brightest star in the firmament from the earth. What sign are you? Sagittarius? Look at that white line crossing the sky; it’s called the Milky Way. Well, those two stars inside it belong to Sagittarius, can you see them?”

- “Yes, it sounds really interesting” I said lighting my cigarette.

- “Interesting? No, little Lancelot, that is magical. Nowadays people don’t look at the sky, it’s a pity. People think that there are many more important things to do before lose a minute watching the stars...it’s a pity, isn’t it? Think in the moon, boy. It appears, disappears and reappears again. She has been doing it since the earth can be called earth...and she will continue doing that until the last day of this blue planet. Do you really think there are more important things to do than stare at her, even only a minute every day and watch this cycle?”


Suddenly a woman came in the terrace. She was about forty years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a pretty face, but it seemed that she was really worried. When she saw us she took a deep breath, soothed. I took into account that she looked like the old man. I thought she had to be part of his family.

- “Daddy, you should not do this. What have we said to you? You know we become worried about you” she said.

- “I know, I know...But you know there are not windows in my room” the old man said and, looking at me, he added winking an eye “You know, Lancelot, here is my Vivian. I have to shut myself in the tree...Don’t forget take care of Camelot”

- “I hope his stories were not too much boring. He loves tell stories, don’t you daddy?” she said smiling. He leant on her arm and they began to walk.

- “Bye Merlin. I’ll see you on the Round Table” I said smiling when they were going out the terrace.

I stayed alone smoking and doing spirals with the smoke and watching the sky. I put out my cigarette, I came in the hospital and I closed the door. I had a strange feeling, you know, you don’t meet every day people like that.

When I went in my sister’s hospital room she was awake:

- “Where have you gone? Were you not able to sleep? I know it, bad boy, you went to light a cigarette” she says to me as if she were mummy.

- “I was with Merlin, dear. Have you ever taken into account that nowadays people don’t look at the sky...?”