Back on Earth

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I never thought I'd be back. So, you can imagine my surprise that I didn't crash in some obscure corner of the universe but I returned home. As I was sitting in my tin can, far across the world, I felt content. I was moving at the speed of light, but there was peace. David Bowie could tell the future. Planet earth is blue and there's nothing she can do. You heard that right. The she being my ex-wife. The force of evil greater than rocket propulsion. I'd been an out of job pilot. She'd upgraded to an on job model. But that didn't stop her from meddling with my life. She would call, text and come in person if all else failed , just so she could tell me what an asshole I am. Because I left my job to figure out some things. All I figured out was that I like beer.

NASA was hiring test pilots for its faster than speed flight. It was thought to be a sort of titanic dream, doomed to fail. Naturally, I signed up for it. My mother cried a lot that day as if she'd lost me. My father repeatedly shook my hand, my ex-wife told everyone that I had always been an idiot. I didn't mind. I thought it was a good way to go.

The training was grueling, I got to see very little of everyone so it was bearable. They also had Physics classes which I avoided. I had never agreed with the modern physicists of our time and I didn't want to rant at 70 year old men. Also, my ex-wife was a physics major. I used to look at the sky everyday as if warning it that I'm coming.

I remember the day I beheld my spaceship. It was this sleek, black jet made of ultralight carbon and unobtainium. I named it Ella. I would spend my free time with her. Getting to know her. I felt it was important.

The day came. There were many people - reporters, curious cats, NASA staff , my ex-wife. Someone came up to me said "You won't feel a thing."

They were right. Moving with the speed of light meant that I was near Mars in a few minutes. and then I went farther away till I reached this curious place. It was like pieces of stars caught in a fist. They couldn't move but were suspended.

I had never thought a moment can change your life, but in space there are no moments. There is only infinity. But what was holding those stars?

I was back to earth as if I yoyoed. I had been gone two days. But not on earth. It had been four years. NASA couldn't believe they got something right. Amidst the hullabaloo, I went to the library to find every book on the theory of relativity. I had to solve the puzzle of the suspended stars.

I am a forty year old man and this is my first day of post graduate college. I think a man who has traveled the universe can refute some theories. I walk into class full of hope. The professor turns. It's my ex-wife.