Guitar case in hand, he shut the lychgate of the churchyard, relieved to close behind him his day. Still prickling in his mind was the certain knowledge that beyond the turmoil of the skies the Moon would tonight slide into the earth’s umbra and glow blood red. The day’s Gazette had given over a whole two pages to the event, including a coloured photo of a previous Blood Moon, an insert portraying an astronomical explanation, and the musings of stargazer columnist, Stella Verne.
That an eclipse augurs the death of a king, the ancients observing the firmament in the deserts of Mesopotamia knew. After all, they bore witness to the happenstance, those soothsaying men of yore, they would not have reasoned otherwise. Without the benefit of modern science, the correspondence had taken root in t
