Celeste was a young girl of about fourteen who ran away from home one winter day in Los Angeles. Things were crazy where she lived and she left, determined not to go back. She met a nice man in a park who gave her some food, and the park was full of hiding places, so she decided to stay near that park. The man came to recognize her, and would feed her if he had any food with him. He didn't seem to be a bad guy; on the contrary, he cared about her, though he tried to find out about her home. But she wouldn't tell him details; in fact, she didn't even know exactly where her home was, compared to the park.
She lived in a compound about two and a half miles away, of a cult called Heaven's Gate, which was overseen by a strong-willed religious leader. There had been some friction in recent days. Her parents were suffering from that friction, and therefore had not been very attentive to her problems. Like most parents, they were concerned when their child was missing, very concerned. But unlike most parents, they didn't go to the police to report her absence. They didn't get along with the police. They lived in their own world, and the police were not part of it. They would be out there looking for her, yes, but the police probably didn't even know about her.
The man who befriended Celeste was an astronomer, and worked very hard at studying the skies, at least as much as could be done in a place like Los Angeles, where it is smoggy and you don't see so many of them. He would drive way up to an observatory in the mountains outside of L.A. at various times, and at least there, he had a chance. A comet had just been seen. It was the Hale-Bopp comet, discovered by two men; one of these is my own neighbor, which is why I know this story. But this comet had just been discovered, so this man was busy. Like most astronomers, he worked to explain the heavens and the things they saw. When he got home he would take another walk in the park near his house. This was the park where he met the girl, and the park where the girl had decided to stay. They would meet by a bench as she would be watching for him when he walked by, and after a while she would just appear, and they'd sit on the bench and eat and talk. At first he gave her some snacks he was carrying with him, but after that he'd bring her food deliberately, which she always devoured and thanked him heartily for.
To her, clinging to survival, it was of utmost importance not to go home, as she sensed there was danger there. She told him a little about a life full of abuse and tyranny, but it was enough that it was clear she would not go home no matter what. And she really did not trust the authorities either, as they would probably take her home, or get her parents or the cult involved in whatever happened. But she was quite good at staying out of sight and surviving, and living off of whatever she could get both from him and just from the wild fruits back in the park. She had blankets and various clothes with her, and was able to get enough supplies so that she could hide for hours at a time, and that's what she needed. She needed for some time to go by, so that they would give up looking for her. She explained all this to the astronomer.
For his part, he wondered whether to turn her in to authorities, but decided not to as part of an agreement he had with her. She would be friendly and talk to him, if he only agreed not to turn her in. He studied her and decided not to tell anyone, but rather to just feed her, both mornings and evenings, so she could survive. In a fairly short time they became good friends. They talked about astronomy, and the comet, and the drive up into the mountains; those were the big things in his life. In her life were the wild animals, the people she'd met, and the constant danger of being turned in to authorities. She was actually quite good at survival; this was clear to him.
Though it was just after Christmas, L.A. was warm at night, and they could sit on the bench sometimes for over an hour talking. Cars would rush by, as L.A. traffic is ever-present and relentless. She did not seem concerned that someone in a car would recognize her, or that the police would be looking for her. She had gotten used to being relatively free to come and go, in a state of being relatively presentable and, when she was out, always looking like she was going somewhere. But usually, she spent her days hiding and reading. She read voraciously, and eventually got the astronomer to lend her some books and magazines which she devoured in her plentiful free time.
The astronomer, however, was paying attention to the news, and on the news there was a stunning development. The people of the Heaven's Gate cult had committed mass suicide, convinced that at the comet's closest point to earth, it would take them with it, and they would be free from the travails of this earthly life. As a trick of fate this cult and its mass suicide would be associated with the comet forever. It happened on about the fifth day of their acquaintance; she had been away from home perhaps five or six whole days.
The astronomer told the girl the day after he'd read the news. It was unmistakably the same cult that she'd escaped from. He watched her face for her reaction; no doubt her parents were involved, as was everyone she had known before she'd escaped. There was no telling if there were other people like her who had escaped and somehow avoided that fate. When she heard the number of people, he could tell she was calculating and counting in her head, as there were people she was sure who would do it, but others who may have slipped out as she did. She did not appear to be too surprised at what happened, only curious about whether anyone else had survived.
Her waiting was over. There was no longer anyone who could come and find her and take her back to her wretched life. There were relatives somewhere, albeit distant, who she could now find and who would take her in so she could finish high school. She was no longer afraid of the authorities either, as they could not take her home; they would now take her to those relatives. The astronomer could tell that she was relieved and ready to move on to another stage of her life.
My neighbor, who also is an astronomer, is philosophical about the comet he discovered being associated forever with a suicide cult. He of course did not know the girl or anyone in Los Angeles at the time. He did, however, meet the California astronomer at a convention a couple of years later, and they talked about their experience during the time of the comet. That man told him about the girl, and how they'd become good friends over a period of about a week, and then how she'd pretty much disappeared, never to return to that park or even to L.A. as far as he knew. Sometimes you just want to get away from a bad memory, and the best way to do it is to just leave everything behind and not look back. They talked about how a comet would be bright, and would preoccupy them, and then it would disappear, not to be seen again for many, many years. At its closest to the earth, it would dazzle them, as they were used to the same old view, day in and day out, and a comet would seem bright, different, sparkling. To the astronomer, it was a reminder that even in the heavens, things would happen that you never would have guessed. And you had to admire the tenacity, the life and the spirit of the natural world and the creatures in it.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Comin' 'Round to Lovin' It
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