Q
22
“I don’t really know what you mean when you say that.”
“Well I’m goin’ to look into the eclipse and it will fix my eyes.” Henry said it with such confidence, as if it were common knowledge and Regis was silly for not knowing.
“Right. Well, there is a safe way of doing that, and I can help you if you want. Why don’t I drive you the rest of the way down? It will be more comfortable than the bus, and we won’t have to make as many stops.”
Henry agreed and the two gathered up their things. In the car, Henry started eating the mini Milky Ways, one after the other. He offered some to Regis, who declined. He alternated between glancing out of the sides of his eyes at Henry and glancing at the sky. Perfect weather for an eclipse. Henry wasn’t sure why Regis was being so nice to him. Usually when he met people out in public, they would uncomfortably walk away from him if they found out that he saw something that they didn’t think was there. Nobody ever believed him when he told them that it wasn’t his brain that was the problem, but his eyes. He knew it was his eyes because he was a very smart guy. He went to college and everything. He didn’t graduate, but Henry didn’t see any difference. The only place he had ever found a job was a manager position at a grocery store. They threatened to fire him when he got angry at a customer. The owner of the grocery store told him he was just yelling at the air. Regis was different, though, because after Henry explained his problem, he invited him to go with him instead of running away. “Can I put something on the radio?”
Regis asked. He didn’t want to make small talk if he didn’t have to. “I don’t care… Do you think the eclipse will fix my eyes?”
“We will see.” He muttered, “I don’t think so,” so that only he could hear.
Henry chuckled. “The first time I knew there was somethin’ wrong with my eyes was in my house, about two, maybe one and a half years ago. I just happened to catch a glimpse outside my window and saw a man walking up the front steps. I prepared to open the door for him. I really had no idea who he was, but I clearly saw a man. He never came to the door and I never saw him walking away or anything like that. My ex-wife was yellin’ at me, sayin’ that there wasn’t any man after all.” Regis was silent. He felt bad for Henry never knowing what was reality and what was in his head. There was traffic about five minutes from the field where they were going to watch the eclipse, which Regis expected because there was usually traffic like this for eclipses. Henry was confused. He couldn’t understand why so many people wanted to see the total eclipse. Were some of them seeing things too? It was possible he wasn’t the only one who came to get his eyes fixed. After ten excruciating minutes of traffic, where Regis honked the horn every time someone didn’t move the second that they could, they made it to the field where they were going to watch the eclipse. They really didn’t have much time, so Regis was moving pretty fast and Henry had to take small quick steps to keep up with him. They found an opening in the grass where they could comfortably
The Quad