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Once in his life, Thomas Jefferson escaped from his home.
Well, it was not really an escape. Thomas just wanted to go stargazing, and his parents wouldn’t let him, so he got mad, created a plan and proudly called it a “getaway”. The first part of it, escaping his house, had already been done by exiting through the window. He lived on the first floor of his house, so the task went well. He hoped he was quiet enough not to wake up his parents. It was hard while carrying a big backpack, filled with blankets, but the Jeffersons hadn’t woken up. Thomas closed his window and quietly slinked from his house, heading towards the north-east part of his village. His plan wasn’t complete yet. He had one more task before he’ll go lie on the ground and watch the stars.
The walk to his destination wasn’t long, so after a dozen minutes, he finally stood in front of his best friend’s home. Here his mission became more complicated. James Madison lived on the second floor, but Thomas precisely knew how to get to his best friend’s room. He left his backpack on the ground and began climbing on a gigantic tree growing next to the Madisons’ house. It wasn’t a hard task for him; he had done it multiple times, trying to get to James’s room. When he finally got to the top of the tree, he leaned and knocked on the window next to the branch he sat. He could see his friend’s face through the clean glass. At the sight of him, Thomas felt an unusual warm feeling in his stomach. He ignored it; it must’ve been from his excitement.
His breathing was steady, and he seemed deeply asleep, but as soon as Thomas knocked, James opened his eyes. Visibly confused, he sat on the bed and began looking around, searching for the source of a sound. Thomas made sure that James would see him by waving through the window. When the boy’s gaze landed on his friend, he became even more puzzled. Madison walked to the window and opened it.
“Thomas?” he asked, surprised but not annoyed.
“Jemmy!” Thomas greeted him.
“What are you doing here? It’s 12 a.m.!”
His voice was still sleepy and rough. Thomas felt bad for ruining his friend’s sleep, which he needed more than anyone else. But only for a short while.
“I have a great idea!” he said excitedly, trying to tone his voice to not to wake up Mr. and Mrs. Madisons.
“Yes?”
“I have something great to show you. You won’t believe!”
His enthusiasm must’ve been very visible, because James asked only:
“How long will it take?”
“No longer than an hour. Let’s go, it’ll be fun. You’ll have to trust me. My ideas never let you down, have they?”
“Multiple times, actually,” murmured James, but obediently opened the window and got on the branch Thomas was on.
Thomas knew he would convince James anyway, but still smiled at his small victory. When both of them got off the tree, Thomas noticed his friend was visibly shivering. It wasn’t surprising; nights still were pretty cold, and James must have been uncomfortable in his thin pyjamas. The guy also got sick more often than a Victorian child during the plague, and Thomas felt responsible for his health. He grabbed a blanket from his backpack and handed it to his friend.
“Cover yourself. You look like you’re going to freeze,” he advised. He tried to make a joke out of it, but James looked unconvinced.
Thomas grabbed James’s hand, saying nothing, and led them in the direction known only to himself. If someone met them at that moment, they would laugh at the absurd sight of the taller boy, carrying a huge backpack, and the shorter boy, wrapped in the blanket, looking like a burrito. But Thomas didn’t care, as long as he could hold his friend’s hand in his.
“We’re here,” he said when they finally stopped on a small meadow. It was surrounded by fields, so no one could see the boys. Thomas opened his backpack and took another blanked out of it. He put it on the grass and lay down. James still stood next to him, not really sure what to do. Thomas patted the place on the blanket next to him, and Madison finally joined him.
“But what exactly are we doing?” he asked, still coated by the blanket.
He looked cute like this. Thomas never thought he’d say that about a man, but that was a fact he couldn’t deny. Curled up, he looked even smaller than usual, which made Thomas’s heart speed up a little. He wanted nothing but to protect him from all the evil in this world. It wasn’t probably a good way of thinking, as James multiple times has shown that he doesn’t want any special treatment. Thomas somehow understood him; no one wants to be seen as weak. He tried to hide his worries about James and hoped it would work. Still, he couldn’t help his overprotectiveness towards his friend. He just looked so pretty, even half asleep, with his eyes almost closed and cheeks red from the cold.
He shook his head, trying to drive away the weird thoughts. They were too intense, too overwhelming, unsafe for a chill alone meeting in the night between two best friends. Thomas had to stop thinking about that and actually do what they came here for.
“Hey… don’t fall asleep there. You can’t miss the major attraction,” whispered Thomas. His excitement made itself known once again when he almost started jumping on the blanket.
“What’s up?” James lazily opened one eye, looking at Thomas calmly. That made him remember that he hadn’t actually told James the true purpose of the visit.
“Today we’ll be able to see a lunar eclipse,” explained Thomas. “I always wanted to see it live, but my parents told me I was too young to see it. I still looked through my window. But today is a special day. It’s one of the rarest eclipses ever; possibly we’ll have only five of them in this century, called a total penumbral lunar eclipse. When the moon completely immerses in the Earth’s penumbra, without touching the umbra… okay, I’ll explain a little. The umbra is where the light is completely blocked by an occluding body, such as Earth in this example. Penumbra is where only a part of the light is blocked. We are going to observe this just today.”
James let Thomas finish his elongated monologue. The whole time he had just been nodding, but Thomas knew he was listening to him. He always did, especially when Thomas started talking about astronomy. It has been his passion since third grade. He spent a ridiculous amount of time searching through the library’s catalogue of astronomy books, which he later read out loud to James. Soon, he had to buy the books himself, but still met with James to explain to him every tiniest detail about space.
“So when does this whole thing happen?” asked James, after a silent few minutes of lying together under a sky full of stars. “The eclipse, I mean. I can’t see anything yet.”
“The eclipse started a while ago, but it will soon reach its maximum. I specifically planned this that way.”
Thomas seemed so proud of his planning skills that James laughed a little. His friend pouted, but didn’t really look mad.
“Well. I can see nothing yet. Wake me up when you see anything interesting.” James closed his eyes, pretending to fall asleep. He opened his eyes when Thomas playfully hit his arm.
“No sleeping today, dude. Don’t you wanna see the first total penumbral lunar eclipse in our century?”
“Well, how can I? Nothing is visible yet,” protested James, trying to close his eyes again.
“It’s visible enough. Can’t you see it?” argued Thomas. James intensively stared at the moon, then shook his head.
“Oh, please, I know you’re not blind. You had to notice that the moon is a lot grayer than usual!” insisted Thomas. James’s face has shown nothing but pure disbelief.
“You led me here only to show a slightly grayer moon?”
“A bit? It's a totally different shade!”
“I won’t argue with you about the shade of the moon, Thomas,” said James. Thomas now could hear how exhausted he was, and again, felt guilty for forcing James to follow him. A weird wave of worry spread in his gut.
“I’m sorry, Jemmy,” he apologised. “I shouldn’t have brought you there.”
James looked at least surprised at the sudden apology. He moved closer to Thomas and put his hand on his arm.
“You know I was only joking, right? I always enjoy our time together.” He sounded so genuine Thomas had to believe him. “And yes, maybe next time a warning would be nice, but I can’t say I’m unsatisfied with the time we spent together.”
Thomas relaxed a little. James was always so straightforward and easy to understand. He always accompanied him on his craziest ideas.
Yes, this eclipse might be barely noticeable, so easy to miss and so easy to overlook for many people. But Thomas wasn’t one of them; Thomas could understand how rare the moment was and completely adore it. He wasn’t bothered by people’s indifference; he could adore the eclipse for the entire city. And maybe, just maybe, he didn’t adore the eclipse despite it, but precisely because of it.
Lying down and watching the eclipse in front of him, he could feel the warmth of James’s body nearby. He moved closer to him, almost touching his arm. Thomas could hear James’s peaceful breathing and the distant sound of crickets in the grass. Maybe for the first time in his entire life, Thomas didn’t know what to say. He turned around to face James, noticing that the boy had closed his eyes. Surely he wasn’t sleeping; Thomas knew him long enough to notice such details. He felt an urge to stay like this forever, looking at his friend’s calm expression and adoring the moment. He hasn’t realized that James has gotten so handsome lately. His childish features were turning into teenage ones. Thomas knew he’ll miss the boy he grew up with, the child who followed him everywhere, the guy who always had some sarcastic comments that brightened Thomas’s day. Soon James will have a girlfriend, and she’ll be his entire world. She’ll be the one he’ll be taking on long walks, having deep conversations about life with; he’ll talk about her every day. And Thomas didn’t like that vision of the future. He could feel his stomach tightening into a knot as he imagined multiple scenarios. James dating some girl that wanted them to stop meeting. James dating someone not good enough for him. James getting married and moving away. The thoughts were terrifying to Thomas, so he promised himself that when the time will come, he will be the one choosing James’s girlfriend. And he’ll choose wisely.
Suddenly, James shifted and opened his eyes, blinking a few times before focusing his gaze on Thomas. He suddenly panicked, having no idea how to explain his weird behavior to James. For a while they laid in an awkward silence before Thomas blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.
“I wanted to talk with you about… girls.”
Thomas cursed in his mind. That was technically true, but he didn’t want to scare James. They haven’t really talked about that before. Thomas assumed James would tell him if he crushed on a girl, but he still asked:
“Do you like someone now? Like, you know. A girl.”
James lifted his eyebrows, but otherwise he’d shown no reaction. Thomas had to change the topic quickly or do something. James couldn’t find out that Thomas was worrying about his choice in girls.
“No,” James answered, interrupting Thomas’s train of thoughts. “What about you?”
Thomas exhaled slowly. Thank God, this was a question he could actually answer. There was this one girl who definitely stood out from other girls her age. She was, well, really pretty, and even sometimes laughed at his jokes.
“I have one,” he confessed, “her name is Martha.”
He didn’t know how he expected James to react. Maybe with anger, jealousy? Maybe that James will assure him that no matter what, he will always be on his side, no matter girlfriends or crushes?
“Why?” was all he got from James. The younger boy seemed kind of bored with the conversation, but Thomas couldn’t miss the opportunity to brag about the girl he chose.
“She’s a wonderful party, you know? She’s the one I should be with. I’m sure we will be the best couple out of the entire school!”
James looked at him weirdly. Thomas couldn’t understand what he said wrong.
“Does she have any other personality traits that you know? Other than… just being pretty?” he asked carefully. Oh. So that was the issue.
“Excuse me, of course she does!” protested Thomas. “She can be really sarcastic. She can twist her words to hide their actual meaning in smart metaphors...”
James was actually on the verge of falling asleep at this moment. He cut Jefferson off.
“Okay, okay. I believe you. Now, please, can we go to sleep?” asked James.
“Actually, we came here to witness something,” protested Thomas. “And we actually missed the maximum, because you were sleeping and I was busy looking at you,” he thought. But of course, he couldn’t admit that.
“Well, didn’t it actually end already?” asked James. Thomas nodded, quite surprised that James noticed the moon getting slightly lighter.
“The main part, yes. But the eclipse still occurs.”
“Well, if there won’t be anything interesting, I guess I should go home.” James tried to stand up, but he got stopped by Thomas grabbing his arm.
“Hey. Don’t leave me yet.” This sounded too much like pleading, so Thomas tried to sound more confident. “I can teach you a lot about stars, you know? Just stay here with me. For a little longer.”
“You always try to teach me something about stars,” murmured James, but obediently laid back.
“Can you see Ursa Major right there?”
“Thomas, it’s hard not to notice Ursa Major after spending only five minutes with you.”
Thomas glared at James, but the boy looked at him innocently.
“Well, if you know me as well as you think, say what my favourite star from this constellation is.” dared Thomas.
“Mizar,” answered James confidently. Too confidently.
“Ha! You’re wrong.” Thomas couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Actually, it’s its pair, called Alcor.”
“Wait, you’ve told me about it.” James frowned. “Is it that one we can barely see because it’s much fainter than Mizar, located near it? What is the point of liking this star?”
“No, you don’t understand. It’s somehow beautiful, isn’t it? Two stars that are almost indistinguishable from each other with the naked eye, but different when you look closely. They both are actually a binary star system, which makes them a quadruple star system, containing Mizar A and B and Alcor A and B. Alcor and Mizar are almost certainly dependent on each other gravitationally. So cool, isn’t it?”
James hadn’t answered him for the moment. After a while, he said:
“You surely know a lot.”
That was all. That was the only comment he gave Thomas after his beautiful speech. He noticed that his monologue only made him sleepier.
“Hey! You can at least listen to me when I’m talking!” huffed Thomas.
“I do!” protested James.
“Yeah, right,” murmured Thomas, “if you’re my best friend, maybe you should act like one.”
Of course, he didn’t mean it; he just said whatever came to his mind. He felt guilty, but had not commented on the situation, instead said,
“One day I’ll be working in a planetarium. And everyone will be listening to me, you’ll see!”
“Everyone? Including me?” asked James.
“No, no, of course not!” protested Thomas, like it was obvious. “You will be working with me!”
“I don’t want to talk about the stars with strangers every day,” stated James. Thomas thought it’s weird that James was willing to discuss it only with him, but he also felt strangely pleased. The knowledge that James thought of him as someone special made him really pleased.
“Well, then you’ll be doing something else in the planetarium. I’m sure they won’t complain,” insisted Thomas.
“You’re really persistent on this matter,” noticed James.
“Of course I am! Everyone wants to work with their best friend when they grow up, I’m sure!”
James only raised his eyebrows.
“You’re not getting rid of me, I swear. Everywhere you go, I’ll follow, you know that?”
“And what exactly does that mean?”
“Well, we’ll be living really close. Like now, but maybe even closer. Neighbouring houses, for example,” declared Thomas.
“If you’ll even find any house that will be ‘appropriate’ for Mr. Thomas Jefferson,” murmured James, but Thomas acted like he hadn’t heard him.
“And we’ll meet, like, every day. We will meet at work, and after work, and we’ll spend much more time together than our parents let us. And our wives will be friends, of course. They will spend time together when we’ll be visiting each other,” said Thomas.
“How are you going to make our wives friends?” asked James. Thomas snorted, like that was obvious.
“I won’t let them marry us unless they’re friends, of course!” explained Thomas. “Besides, I think it would be better if I’ll choose a wife for you. No offense.”
“Why?” murmured James, sounding quite sleepy.
“Well, of course you need to pick someone good enough, and I know you’ll definitely agree to go with any girl that will ask you out. Don’t look at me like that - you know I’m right.”
“And how will you know she will be good enough?”
“Don’t worry about it. I know your worth, and I promise you, I’ll find you the best girl in the world.”
“You still haven’t answered my questions,” reminded James.
“I did; I told you that you shouldn’t worry. I can read people well enough.”
“Sure.”
Thomas waited for James to say something more, but the only sound interrupting the silence of the night was James’s steady breath. Thomas turned his head to look at his friend. He had closed his eyes and definitely was asleep. Thomas smiled. James looked so soft, covered in blankets. Thomas considered waking him up, but he felt sleepy himself. Instead, he got closer to James and carefully hugged him, just to warm himself. James was always so hot. Maybe it was an effect of his never-ending sickness, or something else. Thomas didn’t care, he only wanted this warm body to heat him during the night. He knew James wouldn’t mind, as they had done this multiple times before.
He glanced one last time at his friend’s face and felt an irrational warm feeling in his stomach. Weird urge to touch his friend’s face, feel his warm skin against his fingers. That was strange, but Thomas blamed it on the late hour and his tiredness. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted into dreamland. His last thought was that he’d like to fall asleep like that every day, to the end of his life.
Tomorrow, he will worry about his parents finding them in the meadow, about their angry and disapproving lectures. Now, the only thing that counted in the world was James, safe in his arms.