Meteor Shower: (Summer, 1994)

Wood, Julia T. Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2001. 4th ed. Meteor Shower (Summer, 1994) The three of us lie on the hood of the car watching for stars to fall from Perseus in the north. Talking quietly, we wait while stars circle slowly behind wafting clouds. The moon, gatherer of dead souls, is nowhere in sight. Suddenly a flare arcs like a tracer bullet across the sky. And in that brief, bright trajectory, Boadicea's hare darts in front of her chariot, then vanishes, victory assured; Henry's men fill their mouths with dirt before battle. When the stars stop falling, none of us say a word. I fold our blanket and start the car. Meteor showers are catastrophes waiting to be reborn; they're remnants of comets named centuries ago: "The Panther Leaping" "Plague in the World," "Floods and Famine" "War for Years." Whatever the century— when the golden rain is over, and the night finally still, we carry away with us the seeds of rebellion and conquest, of stratagems against fate. Note: Boadicea led Iceni Celts in a revolt against the Romans about 62 AD. In 1415, England's Henry V led his vastly outnumbered soldiers to victory at Agincourt. —Edwina Pendarvis 19 ...