The Starcatcher

He met her on a moonlit beach…or was it a moonlit lake…or stream? He’s not sure if she was real…or someone from a dream. He’s pretty sure it was a beach…he could hear the tides and feel the sea breeze blowing…and he’s pretty sure it was a dream because all around him…the sand was glowing. She was struggling with a net that reached high into the sky…and he heard her whisper to herself as he approached, “This would be much easier if I could fly.” Encircling her feet was a cluster of sand-filled, glowing jars…when I asked her what she was doing she smiled, grunted and said, “I am brightening the stars.” “You see,” she explained, “no matter with how much precision each star in the heavens is made, over time it is inevitable…their light begins to fade.” “But when the light of a full moon in a cloudless sky hits the sands of the shores below…for one night and one night only every month…the sand begins to glow.” “That’s when star catchers just like me…across the world come out…to catch the fading stars…and fill them with the moonlit sand we’ve captured in our jars.” And when we’re happy that star is once again twinkling…burning bright…as quickly as we catch them…we return them to the night. “Would you like some help?” I asked as she was pulling down a star. She smiled…a tender smile and said, “Sure, go grab a jar.” I shall never forget…that full moon…that girl…that twinkle in her eye or that night we spent catching stars and returning them to the sky. I shall never forget how the two of us made the perfect star catching team…. that wonderful night on the glowing sand…when I stepped out of my dream.