What does a satellite and James Agee have in common? Absolutely nothing except there are some lines from Agee's A Death in the Family that remind me of the summer nights that, as a child, my mother, father, brother and I would spread blankets in the back yard and wait for Telstar to fly over. (And night fell earlier in the 1950s and 1960s since we didn't have that hideous Daylight Savings Time.) Telstar was fairly easy to spot. Airplanes had flashing lights and noise. Telstar was higher up, silent, and moving quickly.
Anyway, on to James Agee. In his book "A Death in the Family," Agee writes:
"On the rough wet grass of the back yard my father and mother have spread quilts. We all lie there, my mother, my father, my uncle, my aunt, and I too am lying there.. . . The stars are wide and alive, they seem each like a smile of great sweetness, and they seem very near . . . May God bless my people . . . oh remember them kindly in their time of trouble; and in the hour of their taking away."
Watching the stars and looking for Telstar is a wonderful memory. We stayed out until the "dew had fallen." But dew doesn't fall, does it?
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