The man zipped up his jacket and pulled on its hood. It was a cold night, and he was sleepy, but he told himself every year that he would watch the annual Perseid meteor shower. This was the year he finally stayed up for it.
It was just midnight, and he was setting up a lawn chair in the backyard, adjusting it to lean back as far as it would go. The shower was supposed to peak at around one in the morning, but he wanted to give his eyes enough time to adjust to the darkness. A small table at his side held a glass of fine Irish whiskey to help keep him warm on this unusually chilly August night. He sat down, placed a pair of earbuds in his ears, turned on some Charlie Parker, and leaned back to wait.
