"I've never done this before, so if I suck at it, I'm sorry," Jim says, half-joking.
He deliberately sets the red paint aside before he begins, though, and tries not to think about why. Instead he starts with black and purple, and begins transferring the deep tones onto the canvas.
Little by little, he begins to build up a night sky, looming large over a darkened landscape. Jim's hand is unpracticed at this, so it's not quite on par with Hunter's work, but it's decent enough for a first attempt. He's about halfway through adding the whitish arc of a comet when a memory takes him.
The Iowan night is quiet, with only the noise of nocturnal insects to break the silence. Eight-year-old Jimmy sits on the hood of the ancient car, looking up at the comet that is slowly, imperceptibly, making its way across the heavens.
Next to him, Sam has his eye pressed against the telescope's viewer, getting a close look at the surface of the comet. "Do you ever want to go up there?" his brother asks, lowering the telescope to look at the sky with the naked eye.
Jimmy shrugs. "I dunno. There's gotta be something interesting out there or Mom wouldn't be gone all the time." But it's also where Dad died, and that fact lies between them like a solid, living thing, unable to be ignored or overlooked.
Sam looks over at him. "It doesn't have to be Starfleet, you know. We could get out of here and join up with a cargo ship. Or go live on some other planet, away from here."
"I know." Jimmy's thought about leaving home a lot. Away from the endless boring fields of corn and wheat, away from the stepfather that doesn't give a shit about him or his dad's stuff, someplace where he doesn't have people constantly looking at him with pity. But he's also eight, and a little scared of heading out into the unknown alone. "You'd go with me, right? You and me against the galaxy."
no subject
He deliberately sets the red paint aside before he begins, though, and tries not to think about why. Instead he starts with black and purple, and begins transferring the deep tones onto the canvas.
Little by little, he begins to build up a night sky, looming large over a darkened landscape. Jim's hand is unpracticed at this, so it's not quite on par with Hunter's work, but it's decent enough for a first attempt. He's about halfway through adding the whitish arc of a comet when a memory takes him.
The Iowan night is quiet, with only the noise of nocturnal insects to break the silence. Eight-year-old Jimmy sits on the hood of the ancient car, looking up at the comet that is slowly, imperceptibly, making its way across the heavens.
Next to him, Sam has his eye pressed against the telescope's viewer, getting a close look at the surface of the comet. "Do you ever want to go up there?" his brother asks, lowering the telescope to look at the sky with the naked eye.
Jimmy shrugs. "I dunno. There's gotta be something interesting out there or Mom wouldn't be gone all the time." But it's also where Dad died, and that fact lies between them like a solid, living thing, unable to be ignored or overlooked.
Sam looks over at him. "It doesn't have to be Starfleet, you know. We could get out of here and join up with a cargo ship. Or go live on some other planet, away from here."
"I know." Jimmy's thought about leaving home a lot. Away from the endless boring fields of corn and wheat, away from the stepfather that doesn't give a shit about him or his dad's stuff, someplace where he doesn't have people constantly looking at him with pity. But he's also eight, and a little scared of heading out into the unknown alone. "You'd go with me, right? You and me against the galaxy."
Sam smiles and leans into him. "You bet, buddy."