Moon Exploring
After dinner with her siblings, Ngozi walked up the carpeted stairs of her house, gripping the rail with semi-drowsiness. She needed to go to sleep, but Ngozi decided to watch the night sky for a bit.
As she sauntered towards her bedroom near the back of the house, she can already imagine the view from her window: a dingy backyard, with a rusted swing set and chipped plastic slide included. But what made it better was the night sky and constellations that were always in clear view. Ngozi knew only the famous constellations—the Big Dipper, Ursa Bear, and Orion’s belt—but the stars only held her interest for a bit. It was the moon—that great, silver-white speckled disc—that she adored. From her imagination she fashioned great wars between galaxies with aliens who weren’t green with solid black, lifeless eyes. She envisioned stars colliding against each other to create supernovas—stellar explosions tangled with awe, fear, and stardust. Gases tainted in neon green, blue and purple would dazzle as a nonexistent burst of yellow light blinded her dark brown eyes. Ngozi smiled at the thought as she approached her bedroom window.
Leaning her elbows on the windowsill, she stared at the night sky with her face cupped in her hands. But tonight was different. Tonight, the moon and stars seemed to say something—seemed to call to her. After a few moments, she knew what she needed to do.
Running outside her bedroom door, she yelled, “Mom! I’m going outside,” then started to grab her sleeping bag and a flashlight underneath her bed.
“Ugh, why would you sleep out there? You do know it’s like 9 pm now, right?” mumbled her older sister Chi as she peeked her head outside of her door down the hallway. “Go to bed sis.”
“I need to get closer,” declared Ngozi, yawning slightly as she started to make her way downstairs.
“Closer to what?” scoffed Chi, as she stepped outside her room and leaned on her door frame.
“To see the moon! What else?”
Chi shook her head furiously in opposition. “But there are bugs, and creepy crawlies, and
birds that will eat your left eye out,” she said, laughing as she watched Ngozi descend down the steps.
“I’m not seven years old anymore Chi, I can handle myself,” Ngozi shouted back as she continued on.
As she marched towards the backyard door, her mom looked up from the TV as she saw Ngozi pass by. “And where do you think you’re going?” she said, smiling as she watched Ngozi struggle to pull back the sliding door.
“On...an...adventure,” huffed Ngozi as she tried to open the door, but soon gave up after a while. “Um Mom, some help please?”
Her mom slowly got up from the couch and walked over to Ngozi. “How about this,” she replied as she kneeled down, “we can both go moon exploring tomorrow night?” As she stood up, she scooped up Ngozi and swung her around, laughing. “Is that okay?”
Ngozi nodded, and laid her head on her mom’s shoulder. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
Adaeze I. is a 20 year old Nigerian-American QWOC from Florida who currently attends university studying psychology. Besides poetry, she enjoys reading, tea, stormy weather, and catching up on shows like Black Lightning and Doctor Who. You can usually find her in the farthest corner of her favorite local bookstore. To see more of her work, follow her on instagram at: not.a.daisy. She is a regular contributor for Marias at Sampaguitas.
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