What It's Like (part 2)

This is part 2 of a short story cut into shorter sections. To see part 1 and follow the entire story, click here.

“It’s just obnoxious the way these meteors think of no one but themselves,” the Earth ranted. “They go wherever they want and do whatever they want with no thought of who they’re inconveniencing or what they’re destroying. It’s not as if the stupid meteor doesn’t know where I’m going to be 253 days, 3 hours, and 14 minutes from now.”

The Earth had a good point. His schedule was as regular as clockwork. In fact, his schedule was the basis for clockwork. Everyone always knew where the Earth was going to be years before he got there. That’s the beauty – and monotony – of orbit. It leaves little room for variation.

If the meteor knew where he was going to be and when he was going to be there, then why, the Earth wondered, did it insist on disrupting his schedule?

The answer, of course, was that the meteor was terribly inflexible. Concepts like “yield,” “stop,” and “turn” implied compromises that the meteor, a selfishly single-minded rock, saw as signs of weakness.

While the Earth didn’t appreciate the meteor’s bullish arrogance, he secretly envied its freedom. Unlike the Earth’s constantly curved path, the meteor’s straight line seemed exotic and unpredictable. Its past and future never met. The meteor never saw the same thing twice. It had direction, but no plan. It never knew what it would encounter or who it would run into in the swirling void.

The Earth felt like he was in such a rut. Every day was a circle that started at dawn, curved through noon and midnight, and eventually led back to another sunrise. The years passed with the same summer always coming after the same spring. He wondered what it would feel like to live un-tethered to the daily demands of orbit. He enjoyed his circle around the Sun, but how many times could he smile and make small talk with Venus as they passed? Sure, she was attractive. Saturn was dying to get his rings around her. Even Pluto, a shy planet with an eternal identity crisis, wanted to talk to her. But for all her charms, Venus wasn’t much of a conversationalist. The Earth needed more.

To Be Continued...

To read part 3, click here.