No Dichotomy Between Half-Full & Half-Empty

CHAPTER 10: Ziv

Last night, the moon was a crescent. It was incredibly bright. Almost as if it screamed at Ziv to look at it. And he did, of course. He looked at the moon every night and considered the chunk of rock his one and only friend. The moon was a good listener too and would be right on time for Ziv's rants. Even if it wasn't the real thing.

It was morning now, and the moon was long gone from his range of sight. However, unlike every other morning when he'd feel refreshed from talking to the moon, this morning, he was glum. His hands were sweaty against the leather of his wheelchair and a headache formed and created creases on his once smooth forehead. He sat at a desk, the only furniture in a round and echoey room. Well, except for the human-sized telescope that sat atop spiralled stairs in the middle of the round room. Ziv turned to his journal on his desk, where the words written by his hand sat poised. If his notes so far were correct-

"How's my favourite person in the world doing?" A voice sounded. It was Sir Solemn and behind him were two men. Confidence radiated off of them with crescent smiles that reached their eyes. Wait, no, it was more on the arrogant side of the scale. With a dash of narcissism.

"Sir Solemn," Ziv greeted with the tip of his head. He anchored his chair away from the table he sat at to better face the men. "Who are the two behind you I have the pleasure of meeting?"

"Ah." One man made a satisfied sigh. His brunette hair caved under a wide-brimmed hat, which he took off for a quick second to greet. Though, his next words made Ziv realise it was more of an act of acknowledgement. "Some fine manners you whopped into this young man." It was infantilization in the guise of compliments.

The second man, who wore a heavy coat despite the heat of June, nodded in agreement and his eyes wandered to the journal on the desk. Ziv tried to close the book, but his hand fumbled between the pages and the rough cover. He only flipped a few pages. The man who wore the coat thought little of the action and set a finger on the page it landed on. On the page were illustrations and labels of the planets far from man's touch and the naked eye.

"And the handwriting of a maiden waiting for marriage," he chimed. "How did you get a cripple to be such fine wine, Sir Solemn?"

"Would love at first sight sound too weird in this scenario?" Sir Solemn joked, and the men laughed. Except for Ziv. "When I saw him in the asylum, I guess I had a connection," Sir Solemn continued. "Thankfully, the kind ladies there let me take a burden off of their hands and I spanked some sense into him."

Literally, Ziv thought. Though he wouldn't dare dream to say such a thing out loud and said instead, "And to that I am grateful."

"Of course you are! You would've been stuck in that shit hole if it wasn't for me." Sir Solemn's eyes narrowed as he pushed back his blonde hair and his lips turned up in a mischievous curve. "So thank me when the moon rises, okay?"

"Okay, Sir Solemn." So that meant that he would not see the moon tonight. If he was lucky enough, he might get a glance at it through the small space between the curtains by the windows in Sir Solemn's chambers while drenched in sweat and breathless.

After a silence of heavy tension, Sir Solemn clapped and set his hands on the backs of the two men and spoke of fulfilling his promise of giving them a tour of the observatory. For a good few minutes, they stayed in the main room and roamed the bookshelves of countless books on celestial objects that had been painted on the walls. Ziv knew in his mind that the two men were uninterested in such matters. They were only here to gaze upon the literate and handicapped coloured and calculate how much was worth investing into Sir Solemn's work. How did Ziv know this? Well, one could figure out a pattern if duos and trios of men came wandering in every few months on Mr Dunkin's behalf.