Page 123 of Playing By Ear

“Imagine it up there, glistening in the night sky for all to see.”

“Mistaken by astronomers as a small but permanent offshoot of the Milky Way.”

“Ooh, talking of space, I’ve got a prezzie for you.” Jamie reached over his side of the bed and drew a box out of his kit bag.

“What’s the occasion?”

“Happy Putting-Up-with-Jamie Day.”

“My new favorite holiday.” Perry brought the box up to his face and examined the photo on the front. “A doll?” He sat up and pulled out the foot-high plastic figure in a white spacesuit. “An astronaut.”

“That’s the form, not the function.” Jamie set the astronaut on the bedside table and plugged it in, then switched off the lamp. The projector in the astronaut’s face plate glowed. “Now lie down and look up.”

Perry flopped back onto his pillow, then let out a gasp. “Oh, Jamie.”

“You telt your viewers you missed seeing stars.” Jamie lay beside him and gazed up at the points of light surrounding a magenta “nebula” projected upon the ceiling. “Those aren’t scientifically accurate constellations.”

“I don’t care.” Perry found his hand and grasped it tight. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“So you can see it all right?”

“I see the changing colors, and I see the big spots of light meant to be stars.” He shifted his head on the pillow. “Can we leave it on for a while?”

“Sure, it’s got a sleep timer.” Jamie took the projector’s remote control from the box and showed Perry which button was which.

They lay there hand in hand, side by side, under the shifting stars. Despite his fatigue, Jamie didn’t want to sleep. “Cannae wait for your match on Sunday. Meeting your parents, too.”

“Same.” Perry squeezed his hand. “They’ll love you.”

“I hope so.” Jamie’s stomach fluttered. “Are you ready for the match?”

“‘Ready’ is a relative term. I wish we had more training sessions for us newer players to master skills and tactics. Once a week would be ideal.”

“What’s stopping you?”

“Lack of personnel. We need more sighted coaches and technical assistants.”

“Could you use someone like, I dunno, me?”

Perry turned to face him, propping himself up on his elbow. “Really?”

“I don’t know the game well yet, but while I’m learning I could do all the crap tasks naebody else wants to do. I could be your boot boy.”

“That would be amazing.” Perry lay down on his back again, his shoulder pressed to Jamie’s. “To help coach a blind team, you should know what it’s like to play without sight. I’ve got a ball and an eye covering you could use.”

“Sounds fun.”

“This season’s nearly over, but you could start coaching next season.”

“Sure. If you still like me.”

“Please. You know I will.” He turned and slid an arm around Jamie. “Possibly even more than I do now.”

Jamie parted his lips and pulled in breath to say…what? There were so many truths he owed this man. But his throat was growing too thick for words.

So he just held onto Perry a wee bit tighter, as the stars above faded in and out.

Saturday morning, Perry and Jamie took a break from dinner-party prep for an outdoor footballing adventure.