Available Light

I took this picture in a grade school classroom on the third floor of a dumpy building in Pretoria, South Africa. The halls were dark, with burned out light bulbs or none at all in the sockets, and the walls grimy with the dirt of many hands. Everything was run down and old. The sign on the back wall of the classroom had seemed at first only a worn cliche, a mocking reference to opportunities that would never be offered to students in a place like this. But then the kids poured in the door, radiant in their exuberance, followed by a teacher whose eyes sparkled with almost as much mischief as the students. He was an older man, but plainly not elderly. Rather, he seemed full of life and, suddenly, the sign seemed to make perfect sense. The possibilities seemed perfectly possible.

In my memory at least, the last two months have been all gray clouds and rain around here. Not too many stars visible. But tonight we climbed the fence in the canyon above our house and sneaked up to the concrete dam which protects all us canyon dwellers from the flash floods. With our Brand New Super Bright High Intensity Flashlight, we poked around the base of the cliffs above the dam looking for landslides and checked on the level of the water in the reservoir. The city lights lay out before us and her hand felt warm in mine. It was almost midnight by the time we got back. We didn't see any stars tonight and, from what I hear, we might not for another couple days. But I have seen them in the past and that memory is clear and strong and for tonight, at least, and despite the dark, I'm pretty sure that they will shine again.