Telescopes

"Give me a topic," he says.

And she replies, "telescopes."

And he spins a tale about a boy named Will who was an assistant to Johannes Kepler. He worked in Master Kepler's lab, part willing slave, part apprentice, all about stars. Glass was everywhere in various states of polish. There were charts, graphs, pages pinned to the walls, spilling over on desks, crumpled on the floor. Will made the mistake once of tiding up, but was quickly put in his place with a few sharp words and a rap to the back of the head by a ruler.

"Don't touch it, don't touch any of them!"