as we cross  the  mountain, we can  walk 
 only at  night.  long ago, someone  here 
 must've angered the  sun,  and today  it 
 still burns us  strangely.  but with the 
 sunset  the air comes raining back  down 
 and  gets  thick  enough to breathe.  it 
 carries  with it  smells from far  away, 
 colourful  sparks for the imagination, a 
 sharp  contrast for the  stale black  of 
 the night.                               
                                          
 the  others think i'm  young, they don't 
 take  me  seriously   and  i  fear  they 
 snicker  a  bit.  you  usually  get  old 
 before  you  learn  the  trade enough to 
 take  other  people. but i do lead  them 
 safely     forward,     every     night. 
                                          
 however,  currently  there seems  to  be 
 something going on ahead.  those  around 
 the   corner  have   stopped,  shouting, 
 pointing.                                
                                          
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                                          
 my greatest treasure, the                
 book of stars,   is  a   combined   map, 
 calendar  and timepiece  as long as  you 
 know what  year it is.  every page  is a 
 grid  of nine  starfields,  hand  drawn, 
 below  which  are written coordinates in 
 both space  and  time. a  lot  of it  is 
 applicable  on  earth, but  not all.  it 
 hints  of  other  places  -  some  stars 
 reordered,   some  names  i  have  never 
 heard.    sometimes    the   dates   are 
 impossible.                              
                                          
 those pages are  exactly what i scramble 
 for  right now. i've  stopped breathing. 
 i sling  open the  book of  stars a  bit 
 too quick,  spilling all my notes on the 
 ground. one lands  on  my foot, it is  a 
 drawing  of a muscle cow,  but  i  could 
 care less right now.                     
                                          
 for it  seems like there's a new moon in 
 the sky.