Journey to Love Pt. 8
The Journey continues as love weaves its way into the warp and weft of the siblings existence.
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Sophie
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It was fun window shopping with my boyfriend. Growing up with mum, she had taught me all the finer arts of shopping. Jack was so nervous and embarrassed. I don't think he had been near a Jewellery Shop. I really had to break him in.
"This is hard Sophie. I don't know anything about this stuff."
"Well lucky for me I do. Or is that lucky for you?"
"You can't even see the prices. They are sneaky, with the little tags strategically placed upside down, or under the ring."
"See that's the first thing about engagement rings. Your not buying the ring. You are engaging in a dream; In the experience and the romance.
"The idea is the girl falls in love with a ring. Then they go in try it. The assistant ask questions about technical things, like size and colour. She then shows us other rings, with bigger stones and bigger price tags.
"The guy finds out the price of these. The assistant judges, by the reaction, if this couple can afford it. Then if it is clear he can't afford it, she goes back to the original one. Suddenly the price, which he chokes on, doesn't appear so bad."
"So these are not the best rings."
"Oh no, the best ones are under the counter. These are the catch rings. Different types and settings to temp a person to come on in."
"Shit I'm glad we are doing it slow."
"There are only two Jewellers in Parks. So it's slim pickings, unless we wait till Dubbo. So it won't be that slow."
Jack stood looking at a poster.
"I guess that's where we are going for our photo. The thing called The Dish. It's a Radio Telescope."
"I can see why it's called The Dish."
We wandered up the street from one Jewellery shop to the other one. Suddenly we were seeing The Dish everywhere.
"I guess it's a tourist thing. You can even get soft toy versions." Jack commented
"It's funny, it's almost as if I was blind to it, but now I'm seeing it everywhere."
"That is funny, because I think there was a DVD, you know old school movie, of The Dish in our room."
"Your fault really Sophie, I was distracted by another dish last night."
"So The Dish is a movie."
"Yep and a place apparently. Also had something to do with the moon landing. At least the blurbs say so."
"Well let's eat and head out to take our photos. Grandpa needs to be a patient man. This second one has been a long time coming."
I really wanted to make a cumming joke or two at that, but held off. We have both been cumming constantly, or so it seemed, since moment dot.
"You drive Sophie, I'm happy to navigate."
We headed out of town. It was soon very clear we could see The Dish now we were looking for it. Right in the middle of sheep paddocks.
"There's an information museum, I guess that's where we go. Drive on Sophie."
It actually took a while. Size confuses perception of distance. It was also getting hot.
There were a bunch of tourists at The Dish. The car park was fuller than we were used to. For the next two hours we immersed ourselves in the history of The Dish, the making of the movie, and Australia's part in the moon landings. It worked out Australia was a major player in the Astronomy business. A lot to do with our clean air.
We still had a longish drive back into Parkes and the sun was baking. We decided to hang out at the cafe as long as possible. We enjoyed ice creams and coffee. Over time the other tourists gradually departed. We spent the time telling each other stories from our past that we had obviously missed out on.
Eventually we were politely told that they were closing soon. As we got up to leave a ranger, except I'm sure he was not a ranger, but a person who worked there came up to us.
"Are you the two who own the little yellow car out there?"
"Yes, it's okay I hope."
"Sure, but it's so unusual and striking. What is it?"
Soon we were sharing the story again. Getting boring for us, but obviously not for the techie, sciencie, guy talking to us.
"Can I ask you a favour?"
"Well I guess you can ask, we can always say no." Jack answered.
"Look we astronomers have a bit of a photographic thing going, worldwide. It's where we take interesting photos of our equipment."
"You mean like Dick pics?" I blurted out.
"No! shit, sorry, no?" He was bright red.
"I mean of our antennas... ah, dishes and stuff."
I laughed. "Sorry opps, I didn't mean to say that, well I did, but I missed my filter. Sorry I'm embarrassed now."
"Sorry Derek, I want to apologise for my wife. She's a bit obses...."
I dug Jack hard in the ribs. Jack laughed, then we all did. Once the three of us gained control Derek spoke up.
"I was wanting to ask if I could get a photograph of your car with the dish."
"I don't see a problem with that." I answered.
"Well it might not be possible, because I need it tomorrow night at sunset. Are you going to be around?"
"Why not tonight?"
"Well tomorrow night is a full moon. And it's right at sunset so we get golden sunset colours with a full moon rising behind the dish. So perfect time, and your car would make it such an amazing image."
"Well we are in Parkes until Saturday, so I guess it would give us something to do."
We walked out to the car. There were a few other staff gathered around Daisy. Introductions happened and one of the group was introduced as the Head Scientist of The Radio Telescope.
He asked, "What does it weigh?"
"I'm not sure," Jack responded, "but I'm sure a couple of people could pick it up."
"Can we try?"
"Sure? Maybe two at the back and one at the front will be enough."
A couple of guys stepped forward, and with Jack at the front, they lifted it cleanly off the ground and easily.
"Wow that's light. There was a sparkle of excitement in the head guys eyes." His name was Stephen.
"Look if you can be here tomorrow by say seven, we will give you a private tour and maybe a ride on the dish."
My strange look showed I had no idea what a ride meant.
"I take it your've not seen the movie?" Derek stated.
"No we didn't even know it was a thing until today."
"But we have a copy in our motel room." Jack added.
"Well watch it tonight. It will help tomorrow."
So all arranged, we mounted Daisy and headed back to town.
"Sophie, we didn't take a photo for Grandpa."