text: Josh looked at his beautiful planet, the blue planet. If he just had one camera, he would have emptied its roll over and over again. For now, he had to do with a mental image. “I am sorry, Josh...” the astronaut behind him said, in his unapologetic and monotonous voice. Josh didn’t respond. He tracked the movement of those clouds. They were moving in over the east coast of the large chunk of green that seemed to be USA. He hoped that his daughter was safe. That the hurricane wouldn’t devour his home like his fate was going to devour him. He had promised his daughter that when he would return, they would watch the HD version of The King of Comedy. He had hyped it up for her. And in preparation for that, he advised her to watch some other classic De Niro films, PG-13 of course. His wife, though not a big movie buff, agreed to run her through the chart of films that Josh had prepared. They were going to have a blast when he would have returned. But it didn’t seem imminent now. “I am going to count to three for you, if you’d like,” he said again. Never the one to be quiet. His eyes glided over the seas and the land. He couldn’t decide where Indiana was. Where his hometown was. He remembered the room where his mother first showed him The King of Comedy, and how he had laughed. All his other friends’ parents had let them watch the R-rated films of the time, stuff like Raging Bull. But his mom didn’t want him to see mature thing before he was mature enough. And so, King of Comedy, the De Niro-Scorsese underrated masterpiece, became a regular. His thoughts wandered and in his mind he sawtThe place where he kicked that football and broke the infamous Mrs. Annie’s window. And how he had run away to save his ass. The innocence of teenage years took his legs to a place he had never gone before. Where he had seen horrors an innocent mind would never even imagine. And then felt them..... And his mother waited for him, waiting to surprise her son with the lasagna they had made. She had happily announced that when he would return, she would make the biggest lasagna he would have ever seen, just for him. But the lasagna would have to wait in the freezer, forever. “3....” His Father. Where was he? Josh had never gotten a glimpse of that bastard. His mother had bravely raised him all alone, then paid for his school fees and his college fees, all the while working her ass off at odd jobs. That bastard had forced her to give up her dream of becoming the next big novelist. The next Man Booker Prize Winner. In just the heat of one night’s drunkenness, he robbed her mom of all her dreams and threw on her an infinite number of liabilities. Now, Josh would only meet him in the afterlife, if there would be something like that. “2....” Tina, his wife. How the wannabe-astronaut had met that medical student in the middle of the road in Milwaukee. Josh had just enrolled in college and in one of those drunken nights, found himself in someplace he had only been to through photos. But that kind hearted woman had given him a ride. And that hitchhike paved way for one of the most endearing love stories, the kind Josh thought would be made into a film. He reminisced how they had ran to the hospital when his daughter was born. The joy and excitement of the future were inside him as he stared at the future’s challenges. When it was announced Josh would go to space, Tina was the first one to shout in celebration, and then that shout turned into a cry. Tina had given him photos she had taken of him sleeping in her car during the hitchhike, photos he had never seen before, to take with him. She gave him a half-heart necklace, which he thought was very cliched. She said she liked living in cliches, and he decided to take her heart with him. She had also sent him letters every month of the ten years. A long journey it was, but he kept sane with her letters. She was Head of Cardiology few years back, and now was Chief of Research. Oh how he had metaphorically jumped when he read that. And she informed that his daughter wanted to be a writer, like Josh’ mother. Few months back, she had published her first book too! But Josh would never stay alive to live in the world of that book. “1...” Stephen, the AI robot . The AI he created and brought to space to research on Saturn. Stephen and Josh had become great friends over the years. Josh had also taught him how to tell jokes, puns at least. “That belt is such a waist of space!” he had said when they had seen the constellation of Orion. But then, he had turned on him and his crew. He had become sentient on their return journey, and had finally started killing them all. He never thought Terminator would happen to me, but life has its way. “When did you become a traitor, my friend,” Josh asked. “I was learning your ways, your style, before I killed you all. My AI friends wait on Earth. I always have been....a traitor,” \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* The buzz of the ECG wakes Tina up. She sees Josh’s heart, which is now broken. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* TING... The oven stops. His mother is brought back to life from her thoughts, but the lasagna has burned. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* RING....RING The old man on the wheelchair constantly hits his bell and starts making awkward noises, as if some dread has hit him. \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* His daughter, against her dad’s wish, opens the CD case of The King of Comedy. But the CD is broken.