Chapter 6 - The Spring Equinox
By late March, the snow in Briar Glen had finally melted, leaving the hills green and wet under a crisp spring sun.
At Briar Glen Elementary, the annual Regional Science and Astronomy Fair was being held in the very same multipurpose room where the Christmas drive had taken place three months earlier.
The basketball hoops still hung from the ceiling, but instead of silver-wrapped boxes and paper stars, the floor was filled with science fair trifold boards, papier-mâché volcanoes, solar system models, and brass microscopes.
June Ellison stood beside Display Board #14.
Her board was titled: TERRESTRIAL LUNAR MAPPING: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HIGH-RESOLUTION REFRACTION VS. PUBLIC SATELLITE IMAGERY.
On the table sat her Celestron Omni XLT telescope, sparkling under the gym lights, alongside twelve detailed hand-drawn maps of lunar topography, logbooks filled with night-by-night observation data, and mathematical calculations of crater depth based on shadow angles.
A crowd of parents, teachers, and judges had gathered around her table.
June, wearing a neat green dress her mother had bought her for the occasion, was explaining the libration of the moon to an astonished middle-school science teacher.
"Because the moon's orbit is elliptical," June explained calmly, pointing a small wooden pointer at her chart, "we can actually see fifty-nine percent of the lunar surface over time, even though it's tidally locked to Earth. It wobbles slightly. It's called optical libration."
At the back of the gym, the double doors opened quietly.
Malcolm Weller, dressed in a simple dark sweater and coat without a tie, slipped into the room unnoticed. Beside him walked Taryn Ellison.
Taryn looked completely transformed. The heavy, dark shadows beneath her eyes were gone. She wore a sharp, professional navy trousersuit, her hair was elegantly styled, and she carried a small leather purse.
"She's been working on that board for six weeks," Taryn whispered to Malcolm, her eyes shining with pride. "She refused to let me help her paint the lettering. She said real scientists don't outsource their graphics."
Malcolm smiled softly. "A wise policy. Outsourcing always introduces quality variance."
They watched as the head judge—a professor of physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison—walked up to June's booth, examined her observation logs, looked through the telescope eyepiece, and then looked at June with a expression of absolute amazement.
"Young lady," the professor said loud enough for the nearby crowd to hear. "Who helped you calculate these shadow-angle crater depths?"
"Mr. Abernathy gave me the trigonometry formula," June said clearly. "And Mr. Weller gave me the lens. But I did the math myself."
The professor looked down at the logbook. "These calculations are accurate to within three decimal places. This is collegiate-level observational work."
Ten minutes later, the school principal stepped up to the stage microphone.
"First place in the Regional Elementary Science Division," the principal announced, his voice echoing through the speaker system, "awarded to Miss June Ellison for her project on Lunar Topography!"
The gym erupted into applause.
June stood beside her display, her cheeks flushing a bright, happy pink. She didn't jump or scream. She simply smiled, looked across the crowded room, and caught Malcolm Weller's eye.
May you like
She raised her hand and gave him a formal, sharp three-finger salute—the same salute Malcolm had jokingly given her when he left her house in December.
Malcolm raised his hand and returned it.
