The Lunar Eclipse

The fight was on. One big, bulky fighter dressed in black was almost killing the small fighter wearing white as if he had known he was going to lose and had come for his own funeral. The audience around them clapped and cheered, some even dancing. No one, no one at all was cheering the white guy. No one showed pity for him. Instead, they laughed at him. I wanted to grab it away from danger, to help it somehow, but I couldn’t…

I snapped back into reality. My eyes focused on the white moon getting slowly eaten up by the earths shadow. This was the fight? Whoa, it sure was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in the long, 12 years of my life. I stared in amazement as I saw the moon in so many different forms, sometimes as a half eaten apple, sometimes as a boat, sometimes as a yin- yan, sometimes even as an eye without a pupil, staring right at me. The stars around it twinkled brightly, as if blinking at the spectacular sight. At that point of time, I couldn’t believe that I was actually standing there, on a cold, dark night in Aamby Valley, watching the lunar eclipse taking place right before my very eyes.

We were having a blast playing volleyball, when my mother noticed it. We kids were least interested, and, simply giving a quick glance at it, looked away and continued our game. Only after the game did we realize that it was the lunar eclipse, only then did we realize that the moon was slowly becoming smaller and smaller. All we could do was imagine how beautiful it would look when the moon was completely hidden. Would it be invisible? Would it make the black sky seem blue? Our eagerness took over our cold, and we refused to leave the place until it was over.

Often, when I have nothing to do, I look up at the sky and see the same thing- a pitch-black background with one pure white moon. But the lunar eclipse was something completely different. Never before had I seen that many stars that I saw on that night, surrounding the half black moon. I could have sat up counting them for hours, each one being a different color and a different size. It was a one in a million opportunity to see the lunar eclipse, and I may never be able to see it again, but that picture will stay in my mind forever.