The Cosmic Rambler

I, Gravity, live with Sun and Moon, in a place called Cuba. The best thing about our home is the ocean outside my window. If you are confused like the others let me explain: sadly, I am not one of the fundamental forces. I am a teenage boy. Just because people call my parents Sun and Moon, I sometimes call them that too.

Now that we are on the same page, I am about to narrate a scary tale:                                                                                                         

“On the eve of that fateful day, we were having dinner when Sun told me we were going to Mexico for the Festival of Death. I immediately became excited. After dinner, I helped Moon with the dishes and then went to my room. I made preparations for the next day and then laid down in my bed. But alas, my excitement prevented me from sleeping until midnight.

In the morning when I woke, I tried to open my eyes but they felt heavier than usual. So, I told myself that it was because I slept late last night. Finally, after struggling for hours, my eyes opened and I looked out of the window and the sun looked bigger. (The real sun, not my dad). The tide also looked lower than usual and I thought something must surely be wrong with my eyes. Afterward, when I tried to get up but couldn’t, I realized that something was very wrong. Meanwhile, I heard something falling in my doorway. I was terrified. I tried to call Moon but was unable to utter a word. I wanted to cry but couldn’t, so I collected all my strength and decided to turn to the door.

While turning, I felt as if the earth had rapidly sped up. Outside my window, the tide was high and I heard a huge bang. I couldn’t wrap my head around what all this meant. All I knew was that I was scared. It took hours for me to turn my head but what I saw paralyzed me. There lay my parents’ dead bodies. That was the moment when I understood that my time had come as well. I closed my eyes and thought about my radiant mother but then suddenly it went ta da ta dum ta da ta dum ta dum ta dum dum ta da ta dum. I opened my eyes and there was my mom standing in front of me. I was happy and sad at the same time. Hapsad. I jumped out of bed and hugged Moon while she stood there confused. After she left, I looked at my computer and understood why it happened.            

 It happened because at night after selecting my costume for the Festival of Death, I read an article about what would happen if the gravitational pull of earth was to increase suddenly– and in my nerdy dream, I went through whatever happened in the article; earth became more attractive and went to meet Venus leaving its own home (orbit). I felt like an idiot. I was going to the Festival of Death and I nearly died the night before going there. But at least I learned a valuable lesson which is: don’t mess with gravity.”

Author: Fatima Saleem (Space Science 07)