I opened my eyes and looked up. The red digital angles of time stared back at me from above and across. 3:12am.

“Hey, weren’t we supposed to see the meteor shower and the phosphorescent algae?” I elbowed Nick who was snoring next to me. A series of onslaughts and complaints about missing cosmic events eventually led to a role-reversal. Suddenly I was expected to get up and walk to the beach too. In the corner, a planetary solar system was lit up like a diorama. I didn’t look too closely at the glowing orbs. They were remnants of an art installation for the Venice Art Crawl in September. Welcome, fall.

The bathroom had been turned into a “Cosmic Bathroom” with black lights, painted wallpaper strips, and paper mache planets hanging from above. Now a pared down version had been transferred to Nick’s room. I was too tired to decide whether I approved or disapproved.

I put on my wedges, demanded a hoodie, and we walked down Venice Way, through Windward Circle, past the iconic Venice sign, cut through the boardwalk, and then we were there.

“I don’t see anything. Don’t we need to actually be on the beach…like the shore to see something?”
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