And the stars were so beautiful that night.

You know what I’m tired of?

He opened his eyes and the stars seemed dimmer. He thought he could make out Jupiter. You could, sometimes, even in the day. If you tried to stand on Jupiter, you’d fall and you’d fall, and you’d drown in hydrogen before you hit anything solid. Or you’d burn, or you’d freeze. He couldn’t recall. He thought he’d check for Mars later. He thought he’d watch the sunrise, but the sunrise watched him, and it dried him all up, and the sand scoured his bones. His smile twinkled back at the heavens.

Also—

“What can you see? Tell me. I’ll find you.”

She looked up. She could see where she’d fallen, that sliver of sky. “The stars,” she said. “So many of them. I wish I’d known….”

The radio squawked and went dead. The galaxy roared in her ears. Silence was loud, she thought, and some time after that, she was gone.

And!

Pinkerton was done. He laid down his head. “I hoped the clouds would go.”

Bagley swigged his rye. He made a grunting sound.

“You know the song, right? The stars at night are big and bright….” He didn’t try to sing it. His throat was closing up.

Bagley took another gulp. He waited and took two more. He left Pinky’s eyes open and staring. The sky would clear one day.

Full disclosure: I’ve done it myself. I’ve written so many death scenes, and death being what it is, well, most folks don’t die standing up. You can look at the ceiling or the stars. You can look at the ceiling and think it’s the stars, or the stars, and you think they’re the ceiling. You can look at nothing. You can look at a stain on the wall, or a stain on your killer. I’m on strike from the stars, though. No more stargazing deaths.

I guess Space Oddity gets a pass.

If this were Facebook, a million people would show up and pelt me with starry-eyed death scenes so brilliant I’d be forced to eat my words. Well, probably more like twenty-five, but it would feel like a lot.

That movie can slide, as well, uh…”I’ve seen the,” what was it? Oh, you know the one. That dying replicant, that wistful speech. That movie. It had that song, One More Kiss, Dear, but they wanted to use If I Didn’t Care. Fuck me. Blade Runner.

Lassù in cielo can stay, as it mentions the heavens in a figurative sense. O terra addio is fine, for the same reason.

I want to watch the new Twilight Zone. I hope it’s good.

Hairy Batman.