Saturn from the Rooftop
1A clear summer night on the flat rooftop of an apartment building. City lights glow below. OMAR, age ten, is setting up a brand-new telescope. His older sister, ZARA, sits on an upside-down crate.
2OMAR: (proudly) Tonight I'm going to see the rings of Saturn. Nobody touches this telescope but me. It's brand-new.
3ZARA: Relax. I only came up here for the breeze.
4(The door to the stairs creaks open. MRS. FLORES, who lives on the fourth floor, steps out with a folding chair. BEN, a boy from the second floor, follows her with a rolled-up paper under his arm.)
5BEN: Whoa, a telescope! Can I look?
6OMAR: (stepping in front of it) Sorry. It's not ready yet.
7(OMAR turns the telescope left and right. He squints into the eyepiece again and again. Minutes pass.)
8OMAR: (frustrated) This is impossible. There are so many bright dots up there. How am I supposed to know which one is Saturn?
9MRS. FLORES: (gently) When I was a girl, my father and I watched the sky from our roof every summer. Stars usually twinkle, but planets usually shine with a steadier light. Look for a bright dot that does not flicker.
10BEN: (unrolling his paper) And my star map shows where Saturn should be tonight. See? It's just above that tall water tower.
11(OMAR is quiet for a moment. Then he steps aside. BEN holds up the map while MRS. FLORES points. OMAR aims the telescope where they show him.)
12OMAR: (gasping) There it is! It has rings, real rings! (He turns to the others.) Ben, you have to see this. Mrs. Flores, you first.
13(One by one, they take turns at the eyepiece. Even ZARA gets up from her crate.)
14ZARA: (staring into the eyepiece) Okay, that is amazing.
15OMAR: (smiling) I wanted Saturn all to myself. But I couldn't have found it alone, and it's way more fun with all of you here.