Are They All Like That, Them Moon Girls?

Things were not alright between him and Suzy for a long time, but he negated it. He turned every negative thing taking place within the shaking boundaries of their home into a positive. He learned this behavior from his mother, who was a perfect example of a 1950s wife. She skillfully dismissed every argument or misunderstanding by changing the subject or forgetting it the next day. She believed it was the only way to avoid escalation and keep the marriage safe. Little did she know, the times change and people would look with a friendly eye at divorce to escape unhappy marriages and get their own lives on the right track.

The longer Geoffrey was doing it, the longer he lived a lie. “I’m doing it for the kids,” he often fooled himself when a quarrel, serious or trivial, arose. And as he prided himself on being a wonderful dad, he refused to acknowledge the damaging effects of disagreeing with Suzy. Until the point when he couldn’t face his wife in bed.

He could look at her during family gatherings; he had no problem with that. For the masses focused on different things than he did. People observing from a distance couldn't possibly grasp the intricacies of his marriage, as he kept up appearances and took care of the kids. When he met these conditions, no one would dare to cast an evil eye on his family. He was sure of that.

After he met Harriet, he found eating ice-cream too sensual. He remembered the feeling when it melted on his tongue and it instantly melted his heart, so gently and sweetly. He couldn’t imagine any other way more pleasurable than this. It was almost like lying naked on the dewy moss with a lover at your side or inside of you. What could be more to this life than this?

Geoffrey’s reality warped up. It wasn’t the same ever after, and day by day all routes aimed for a divorce. Suzy suspected nothing. She didn’t know that while making love to her, his thoughts ran to Harriet. He couldn’t help it; his lover invaded his mind all over, as if by some kind of witchcraft. But only positive in his understanding.

One day when he was going to work at Grabby Engineering, he passed a girl on a street. He didn’t pay any attention to her until he saw from a distance that she had followed him. He passed Brayford Bay, where swans and ducks frolicked around, and right before opening the glass door of his company, felt someone grabbing his shoulder.

‘I don’t believe we’ve ever met?’ the girl asked.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ he answered, stupefied. He reminded himself of the two women that he was trying to complicate life with, Suzy and Harriet, and he didn’t fancy another in his life right now.

‘My name is Moonolette,’ the girl continued. The aura surrounding her resonated so brightly that Geoffrey had to shut his eyes for a moment, afraid that the girl would burn them instantly.

‘I’m going to work. I’ll be late.’

‘No, you won’t. It will only take a while. You’ll see.’

Before he could answer, he was already diving beneath the silvery moon. The night was bright, so he could see all the Earthlings shuffling and puffing on a rush to some places he would never know. He felt happy, unrestrained in his freedom, and yearning for an unearthly adventure.

His face must have shown a lot, as the girl by his side, holding his arm and directing their flight, tried to console him.

‘You will come back, I promise. I just wanted to show you something. Would you care?’

‘Do I have a choice now?’

‘No, rather not,’ Moonolette smiled. It was a kind smile, the one you would like to see on the face of a stranger when your thoughts were so complicated that no words would have explained it. So why say anything at all?

‘If I don’t obey, would you drop me from this height? That could be a fatal crash, no?’

The girl smiled and said nothing. She seemed to be occupied with her navigation to the point of losing touch with him, but not the grip. She was so strong that equaled thousands of athletes lifting him up high to the sky and winning the Olympics right after that. He wondered what was waiting ahead of him, where they were going and how quickly he could come back from there.

They carved through the Milky Way as a spaceship. And as they didn’t ride in one, stardust clung to their clothes like a swarm of flies to a sticky substance in the summer. Only now did Geoffrey notice that Moonolette’s attire didn’t comprise any clothes at all. It was pure stardust, layered on her skin so thick it could be the most delicate muslin quantified on her to achieve a desired effect. She looked like a bride, and by her side he felt like a groom.

After a while, which to Geoffrey felt like an eternity, they finally stopped on a larger cloud. He thought they were in space, and he did not know how he would come back to Earth uninjured. He had little faith in soft, otherworldly things, as his head belonged to the hard ground. With that in mind, he asked the girl.

‘What are you planning to do with me?’

‘You’ll see.’

In an instant, he seemed to mingle with his surroundings. He couldn’t feel his body as he used to feel, and he sensed he weighed nothing. He floated in the air as a bunch of tiny sparkling particles, enjoying the lack of boundaries that his body would likely pose. He was just one part of the millions of pawns on the starry night canvas, an observer of the entire Earth from a great distance.

Up here, all of his problems seemed nothing, insignificant and light as a feather, leaving their lives on Earth far behind.

When no one knows how he finally and safely returned to his usual surroundings, things were not the same anymore. Not like they were before, but something in his mind shifted, as if swiped over by a magic wand. He realised that for the sake of the children he had to leave his wife. He couldn’t possibly carry on like that, tangled up in a web of lies and deception. No matter how much he tried to justify himself, it wouldn’t work anymore. He was a different man now, and the kids would appreciate later that right now he tried to save as little soul as he had to be an even better father in the future. Not bitter because of lack of love for his wife, their mother.

He thought he had to leave Harriet as well. One would think that a man leaves his wife to be with his lover, but that wasn’t Geoffrey’s case.

The only thing he missed was Moonolette, his moon girl, with whom he spent a few minutes of bliss, unrestrained by his unimportant earthly existence. Right now, only her existence made sense, but where to find her?

He couldn’t wait any longer. When the lunch break hour struck with its urgency, he ran out of the building like a thunderbolt. He searched the premises of Grabby Engineering and the bay, finding no one fitting the girl’s description. So, she really belonged out here, and nowhere else?

He wandered for a while, trying to reconcile the facts and decisions about his life. He knew he was right, yet he desperately searched for confirmation in the eyes of someone he knew. Finding no one who would understand, he turned toward the building.

He only gazed at the bright sky illuminated by the afternoon sun and whispered to a crisp air, "Are they all like that, them moon girls?"