It was a little after one o’clock in the morning. It woke me up. Sounds like more or less a given. But I was not supposed to be asleep. I could’ve lost my job for it. I was in the computer room in a tiny corner of the observatory, in an old typist’s chair. Asleep with my head dropped back. When I straightened out my neck, I couldn’t help saying “Ow.” Out loud. Necks had never been intended for that position. The phone sounded farther away than it should have been. I needed to remember where I’d left it. But I couldn’t. Because I couldn’t pull my brain out of sleep. “Damn it, Jenny,” I said, also out loud. “You know when I’m working, it’s not a good time.” We’d been fighting when I’d left the apartment earlier that night. I figured she’d thought of another name to call me. I looked around. Tried to pinpoint the sound. Just to be honest about my circumstances here, this job was maybe not what anyone will be picturing. It’s romantic and comforting to think of an astronomer alone in the night with a massive telescope.
