Boy Wonder

Not many eight-year-olds had perfected the practice of breakfast astrology, but then again, not many eight-year-olds were like Archie Smith. Breakfast astrology was a simple concept, in theory. To the untrained eye, a bowl of cereal is simply just a bowl of cereal. Yet, the same forces of nature that aligned the stars into intricate constellations aligned the Cheerios within Archie’s cereal bowl.
Reading cheerios was a lot like reading a horoscope or tea leaves. Or, at least that was how Archie had explained it to his mom. She raised an eyebrow in disbelief but she also stopped pestering Archie about playing with his food. “The stars will tell you anything, if you let them,” he had said. But for now, Archie continued studying the constellations in his bowl as if to practice reading the patterns in the sky.
Prodding into the deep abyss under his bed, Archie fished around for a flashlight. It was a rare night when the moon refused to provide enough light for Archie to read his leather bound astrology book. Archie let the beam of light spill onto the worn pages of the book as he searched desperately for an answer.
The tick from the wall clock syncopated with Archie’s heart. Glancing at the clock, Archie wished he had focused more on learning how to tell time. “How much longer?” he thought as the weight of the day’s excitement collected on his eyelids. Widening his eyes, Archie pressed on, turning page after page pausing only to read his handwritten notes in the margins. He had watched Mercury and Venus align. He had seen it with his own two eyes. It was there in the sky; it was there in his cereal. Tonight he would catch his fallen star, if only he did not fall victim to the comfort of his pillow.
Through the paper thin walls Archie heard his sister awake and cry. His mother’s soft footsteps quickly pattered into the nursery. She gently lulled the child. “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket. Save it for a rainy day.”
Sniffles softened, eyelids drifted shut, the wind shifted and settled, blowing gently through Archie’s windows as the lullaby calmed the house. “Catch a fallen star and put it in your pocket never let it fade away.”
Archie had all but forgotten about his fallen star when a tiny voice asked “Is he the one?”
The boy bolted upright, turning to find his room empty and dark, except for the single sliver of light escaping from his neglected flashlight. He flicked the switch off, yet the glimpse of light remained glowing.
Slowly the boy pulled away his covers. Tiptoeing toward the speck of light, Archie realized he had been holding his breath. The walls closed in, and the ceiling sunk toward him. Words were welling up inside his throat, but Archie choked on them as he gasped for air.
“Who’s there?” he managed to brave out.
A second flicker of light appeared. “Is he the one?”
“Looks a little young, don’t you think?”
“No, it’s always the young ones who believe in us the most.” The star-brights fluttered closer to Archie, examining him head to toe.
As Archie held the star-brights in his hand, he realized the he had been right, the stars will teach you anything, if you let them. Next door, Archie could hear his mother repeated the refrain to his sleeping sister. “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket.”