The Stargazers’ Sleepover

A story about night skies, friendship and staying close to a grown-up.

Priya had invited three friends for a sleepover in the backyard. They had two tents, four sleeping bags, a thermos of warm milk, and a big star chart. Priya’s father had set up a camp chair by the fence, so he could keep an eye on them.

At dusk, they put out their blankets on the grass. The sky changed from orange to purple to black. One by one, the stars came out. “Look,” said Leo, “there is the first one.” It was very bright, low in the west.

Priya’s father leaned over. “That is not a star,” he said. “It is Venus, a planet.” The children gasped. “Planets do not twinkle as much,” he said, “because they are so much closer.” Leo looked at it through the binoculars.

They unrolled the star chart and held a torch with red cellophane over it, so it would not hurt their eyes. “There is the Southern Cross,” said Anna. They found the four bright stars shaped like a kite, and the two pointers beside it.

“It looks like a kite,” said Priya. “That is a good way to remember it,” said her father. “Sailors have used it to find south for hundreds of years.” They traced it with their fingers in the air.

At ten o’clock, a bright light streaked across the sky. “A shooting star!” cried Mia. They all gasped. It vanished in a heartbeat, but they felt as though they had been given a secret. “It was just a tiny piece of dust,” said Priya’s father.

They wished on it anyway. Then they snuggled into their sleeping bags. Their feet were warm, and the grass smelled sweet. The stars wheeled slowly overhead, over and over, and the friends’ voices grew quieter.

In the morning, they woke to a cool, pink dawn, and a magpie warbling nearby. Priya’s father made pancakes with sliced bananas. “Did you sleep well?” he asked. “We saw a planet, a shooting star and the Southern Cross,” said Anna. “It was the best night ever.”

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