One Night Earlier: FINALE

Agnes opened her eyes and immediately panicked.

Night had fallen.

“I overslept!” she called out. “Lorenzo! Lorenzo! It’s night!”

Yet, when she looked, she saw Lorenzo, sprawled on the soft grass, gazing at the sky. Quite comfortably.

“You did,” he said.

”Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked, crawling to his side.

”I lost track of time,” he said.

Agnes lay back down next to him and contemplated the starry heavens for a couple of minutes.

”So many have gone to Heaven,” said Agnes.

“Aye. It’s getting quite crowded up there.”

“I miss Cedric.”

Lorenzo paused for a moment.

“I miss him too,” Lorenzo said. “I suppose it must be tiring to watch us do the same thing, day in, day out.”

Agnes continued to glance at the shimmering constellations.

“Do you think that will be us one day?” Agnes asked.

For once, Lorenzo sounded certain.

“Of course,” he said. “We will make sure to find a spot closest to Cedric.”

”So our stars will stay friends together,” Agnes said, nodding. “With Cedric and Edgar too.”

”And we will make room for Sir Ignatius.”

They continued to look up at that impossibly starry night when a star streaked briefly across the shimmering sky.

“Did you see that?” Lorenzo asked.

“I did. What would you wish?” Agnes asked him.

“I would wish…one could place every star one ever loved into a vial and carry it always. With a tiny label of a star. Or an ‘L’. Hand-drawn.”

Agnes smiled her toothless grin.

“I will begin working on your infusion at first light,” Agnes said.

“I expect it!” he said. ”Little Sister Agnes… what was the missing ingredient in that vial anyway?”

Agnes smiled.

”I told Edgar what it was when he kidnapped me,” Agnes said. “Did he not tell you?”

”No, he never did,” Lorenzo said, propping himself on his elbows.

”And you’re certain you want to know?”

”I do.”

“You won’t tell a soul?”

”I would not dream of it.”

”Swear on your life.”

”Did so before you could ask.”

”Well, here…come closer,” she said. “The sacred ingredient of the miraculous blue vial is…”

Lorenzo leaned in, and a squeak of wind echoed in the stillness.

*Toot*

The End