Then, settling back, Karl thought about Bootes. Ever since he first began reading about the stars, and the skies, and the constellations, he remembered seeing the name: ‘Bootes’. At first he pronounced it ‘boots’…as in cowboy…or ‘booties’ as in baby shoes…or, on seeing its often used abbreviation, just ‘boo’, as in ghost. But then he learned it was pronounced Boh-oh-tees. It was mentioned in nearly all of Karl’s books with great frequency and so he began to look for it in the night skies of the spring and summer. And one night, there it was, larger than he imagined while reading any of his books, but unmistakable, and oh, so quiet and grand. Looking up at the majesty of Bootes revealed the constellation to be the most impressive thing he had ever seen. Karl found himself awed with its size and the great sense of serenity the odd constellation seemed to convey. Now, finally, they would meet.

Karl had dozed, but not for very long. He was awakened by a chime, and the conductor’s voice. “On your right, those of you in the odd numbered compartments, is the great constellation Bootes, The Herdsman.”

Karl gazed through the glass into the darkness. The light of the stars was clarity itself. The grandiose, slightly crooked and unique shape of the constellation, something like a huge, elongated, crooked kite, was somehow sad, but noble. There was a lofty stateliness in its shape, even at this proximity. And there was just no mistaking it. The voice seemed directed at Karl.