Closed Happy Birthday, Stephen. Open to Cygnus Tent

On the morning of July 20th, EmmaLee woke up quite a bit earlier than the sun, slipped out of her sleeping bag, and pulled a gift-wrapped present out of her trunk.

The present was comprised of a thin, wrapped square with a wrapped tube on top of it. The paper on each of the packages was blue with a starry pattern across it and they were held together with a shiny, silver ribbon. On top of the square was a simple, white notecard that said "Happy Birthday, Stephen. From EmmaLee."

EmmaLee beamed as she quietly smoothed the already smooth paper. This present had come as kind of a surprise. She had intended to buy Stephen a birthday present and she had even bought something she thought he might like when she and her family had visited France during the two weeks before camp. When they had visited Castelmoron-d'Albret though, one of the villagers had a present of their own for her.

The older man and his wife explained that he had been a part of the team that sent Felicette, a French cat, into space on October 18, 1963, when he was younger and working for the French space program, Centre National D'études Spatiales or CNES.

Apparently, EmmaLee's mother had been writing to Tante Alura about EmmaLee's interests and studies, though Celeste only mentioned that EmmaLee was attending a boarding school. Tante Alura had passed those letters around the village to those who were interested in how EmmaLee and Celeste were doing. When the couple found out that she was interested in astronomy and doing well in the class at school, they decided to give her a few items about Felicette, including a "signed" poster of Felicette that said, "Thank you for your participation in my success of 18 October 1963.", a children's book that tells the story of Felicette's life and story, and some stickers people have made to honor her.

EmmaLee decided to keep the book and the stickers, but she decided to give Stephen the "signed" photo of Felicette and she bought a second book and an artistic poster for him. She didn't know if he already knew about Felicette, but it seemed like the kind of thing he would be interested to learn about.

As EmmaLee was examining her work, she figuratively jumped a mile in the air when she heard someone make a noise in their sleep and flip over in their sleeping bag. She had woken up so early partially to surprise Stephen with a present, but also because she was somehow very nervous about giving him one in person. She slowly turned around and peeked out from behind her curtains to see if she had misjudged the time and Stephen was up already for his morning run. Sighing in almost relief, she saw that the tent was still, if not completely silent.

The pale girl tiptoed out of her space in the tent and walked quietly across the floor to where Stephen slept in his own sleeping bag. While normally a quiet person, she took extra care to tiptoe across the floor and past the dying fire in the middle of the tent as silently as possible. As nervous as she was about giving Stephen his present while he was awake, it would be wholly embarrassing to be caught tiptoeing over to his sleeping bag in the way too early morning like this.

As she approached him, EmmaLee could hear the steady rise and fall of his breathing as Stephen slept. She stopped about a foot away from the end of his sleeping bag, not daring to come any closer in case she accidentally nudged his foot and woke him, and held the package in her hands as she stood at his feet for a moment, letting herself admire him while he slept.

It was interesting to see him in such a relaxed state, with his blue eyes gently closed and his usually smiling mouth set in neutral, calm slumber. He was always so animated when awake, even when he was calm or thinking. She let her gaze linger over his closed eyes and soft eyebrows, down his cheek to his jaw and chin that even she could tell were firming out and becoming more angular as he grew older. All of a sudden it occurred to her that they were, in fact, getting older, growing up, becoming a woman and a man instead of a girl and a boy.

EmmaLee was jolted again out of her thoughts before they could go anywhere solid by the louder sleeper in the tent. While she was able to suppress a yelp of surprise, she could not keep herself from jumping out of her skin, dropping the present at the end of Stephen's sleeping bag with a scuff and crackle of paper, that sounded like a gunshot to EmmaLee, in the moment, and running back to her corner of the tent like a child caught in the cookie jar.

She flung herself behind her curtain and dove into her sleeping bag, throwing the material over her head and laying as still as possible while her heart hammered in her chest like a drum. She giggled silently at herself for being so surprised at what was probably just someone turning over in their sleep, and a little bit at the risk of being caught, but did not dare to poke her head out of the sleeping bag. If her standing silently and, admittedly, openly staring at Stephen while he slept didn't wake anyone, her dropping the package probably did.

A little too late did it occur to her that she could have just levitated the thing over there, but what fun and needless anxiety would that have been?