Summer read: A romance written in the stars, by Colin I M Deas, of Glenrothes 

Sammy and Katy Taylor were inseparable from that special day when they met at High School. Katy loved his open, warm personality allied to his good looks and he just loved her from the very first second they met.

Beyond the initial physical attraction that could so often fizzle out in teenage relationships, they had been irresistibly pulled together and bonded deeply when discovering their shared interest in the wider universe at a school debate evening. They had both argued fervently and effectively in favour of the motion. Their significant contributions won over the both the judges and the audience.

When she passed away so suddenly, Sammy was devastated after more than 40 magical years together with so many memorable moments of mutual love and happiness.

They had such a huge list of common interests and the top tier of enthusiasm was reserved for astronomy – the wider universe – and a deep passion for wine, embodied in their serious investment in a high quality wine collection over many years. It had grown to more than 600 bottles over decades.

He recalled the time when they had kept their collection in the garage at their first house and the shock of returning to find they had left the garage door open while touring around the pyramids in Egypt. Not a single bottle was missing! That never happened again and a further insurance policy was buying their dream home with a cellar that could only be accessed from inside the house. Over the years Sammy instinctively and almost telepathically knew which wines Katy would want him to bring up from the cellar and which he’d place carefully on their mahogany wine rack.

As Sammy bravely faced into the grieving process, his memories came flooding back. He would manage to smile as he recalled how – as a pair of geeky, teenage, astronomy enthusiasts – they had both travelled on the bus together across town to watch Star Wars when it was first released and lost count of how many times they went back to the cinema to see it and how many bus trips they made. As they got older, neither could recall how they managed to afford this as teenagers. Sammy recalled Katy’s quip, “Must have been our parents, wanting to get us out of the way.”

At home more often than not it was Katy, who would say excitedly when there was little or no cloud cover, “Come on, let’s see what’s out there tonight.” Sammy would always respond in jest, “About time we made first contact.”

They would then head to their magnificent summer house, which had been adapted to act as an observatory. On the nights when they had a bottle of wine with their evening meal, they would take the usually half full bottle with them to enjoy and then spend hours surveying the sky, swapping places to each take their turn on their powerful telescope.

Each would spot something different in the sky at night and show the other. From time to time Sammy would mimic Sir Patrick Moore, perhaps the world’s most famous astronomer, and they’d be transported back to the incomparable time of the NASA Apollo Missions. They often reflected on the intensity and tension of the first moon landing, Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” and had spent hours watching all the subsequent moon landings up to the final mission in December 1972.

In the final couple of weeks of Katy’s life, as ill as she was, she spotted there was no cloud cover one night and insisted they go over to the summer house. They had been going there less and less. Sammy had to hold her very tightly as she struggled to walk across the patio to get there. He had already brought over the wine.

Unusually she had expressed a desire to have one of their most expensive wines that evening and Sammy was happy to do anything that might help lift her spirits and give her some much needed pleasure. She had specifically asked for 1969 Chateau Margaux, the year of the first Moon landing.

As she took her first sip, she had said, “1969 really was a great year!” He had smiled back and nodded in agreement. She only managed one glass with her meal, while he struggled to finish his. His deeper mood was sombre so he was having to put on a brave face for her.

Sammy let Katy have most of the time observing the night sky and her mood changed dramatically as she spotted something unusual in outer space, a phenomenon she’d never seen or experienced before. She described it in some detail to Sammy as she slowly moved the telescope around and adjusted it. By the time she handed it over to Sammy, he could see nothing that she had witnessed or described. It occurred to him very sadly that her illness might be a factor.

Before they went back to the house, she said something unusual, “I think I received a message – hard to say. Maybe telepathic. It was so mesmerising and hypnotic.”

Sammy asked her, “What message?”

Katy paused and thought deeply, “I’m going to be alright. There’s nothing to fear. I think I’m going to be making a giant leap rather than the small steps, which I’m struggling to do just now.” She then proceeded to drink another glass of her chosen wine and smiled. Sammy gave her a kiss on the lips, which she received willingly.

As he held and hugged her more tightly than ever during the walk back to the house, he could see that her mood had been lifted and she was more like her old self in a spiritual sense. He hadn’t seen that since she had received her terminal cancer diagnosis. This was to be her final visit to the summer house.

The funeral had passed and Sammy found it hard to enjoy any of the things they had done together so passionately. However, one evening he was thinking deeply about her and her final night in the summer house, her cryptic comments. She had been more contented and unafraid of what was ahead of her. The dread and fear had dissipated just as the clouds would sometimes do at times and allowing them to spend time in their observatory.

Sammy decided to go the summer house and make the most of a clear sky. Unusually he had taken a bottle of red from the wine rack without looking at it, opened it and took it with him. He enjoyed his first glass as he hadn’t had a drink since Katy’s death. Looking through the telescope, he was observing all the normal celestial objects in the sky when all of a sudden he saw bright lights, dancing swirls and an explosion of colours he’d never seen before. He felt the light entering his eyes and a message flowing round and round his his mind. This was what Katy had described in detail and he suddenly felt her presence as if her hand was holding his. He could hear her voice saying, “There’s nothing to fear, don’t worry about me. The giant leap isn’t what you think it is. I’ll be waiting for you. I left you a present.” He pulled away from the telescope in shock and amazement, dazed and immediately thinking that Katy’s illness had nothing to do with her last visit to their beloved summer house.

As he sat back and picked up his glass of wine, he looked at the bottle and realised it was another 1969 Chateau Margaux. He was confused as he knew they only had ever managed to purchase one bottle. Reading the label he found another label had been added in her precious handwriting, “This is for you, my love. When you read this I will have moved on to the next adventure but I shall be waiting for you. Have no fear – 1969 really was a great year so enjoy the wine. All my love, Katy.”

BERNARD BALE COMMENT: This was a very good read. It just needed a few tweaks and an additional adjective here and there. I changed the opening paragraph a little. It can be a mistake to include the main point in the opening paragraph as the reader can think they know the story already and switch off. This is quite common. You have to reveal the death of Kate fairly early on but not right at the start. You will note that towards the end when Sammy sees the extra label on the bottle I have added the word 'precious' to her handwriting. This adds a little more emotional power and will draw more sympathy from the reader.

AUTHOR’S COMMENT: Many thanks for the really valuable feedback. To put my entry in context, my eldest brother, Roderick, knew that I was working on some writing projects and suggested I enter the competition.

I had previously sketched out an idea about the Wine Rack story and it was waiting to be written while sitting in a computer file where I keep a bank of ideas and concepts for potential stories. I was sitting on the couch in our open plan kitchen/dining room and staring at our own wine rack (purchased in The Netherlands when I worked over there in the late 1990s) when the idea first entered my head. I also drew on my own enjoyment of the odd bottle of wine and my memories of the Apollo missions. Astronauts are very much at the top of my list of heroes in life.

The competition gave me additional drive and focus to further develop and complete this piece of work. When I submitted it, I did feel a sense of achievement while not having any expectation of success in the competition. I was happy to participate and just see what would happen.

This has given me a much needed boost and dose of confidence to keep on writing new stories.

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