When a Rake Falls by Sally Orr

piece of mind, let’s say a village next to a lake. The basket lands safe enough on a street, but since the balloon is not yet fully deflated, the wind catches it and propels it forward. Now with the speed of a team of four at full gallop, you are being dragged toward the lake, beaten and bruised along the way. Don’t you think it would be quite nice to drop some ballast and gain altitude to make it over the water, then travel whatever distance is necessary to find an open field to safely land?”
    â€œNow that you mention it, I would indeed prefer avoiding that fate. This is a fine coat, and I’d hate to see it ruined.”
    She kneeled to take readings from her instruments.
    Boyce noticed her frown, take measurements, frown, glance at him, and frown again. To deserve so many frowns, you would think he had kicked a doe-eyed puppy. He leaned over to watch the sand dribble out of the cut ballast sack.
    â€œOh, look,” she shouted. “Parhelia. Wonderful!”
    He straightened to face the brilliant sunlight from just above the horizon. Before him three suns beamed in radiant splendor. One big sun and two smaller suns, but the two side suns shone like suns, nevertheless. The two little ones had luminous arcs of light beaming from the top and bottom. “I’ve never seen these other suns before. Yes, yes, how wonderful. Is this some sun secret people of science know all about, but have not informed the public? I’ll wager it is. Imagine the romance of three sunsets. I must come up with a song to celebrate three suns. Let me think…”
    Miss Mountfloy looked up at the extraordinary sight before them. Grabbing the sextant, she held it up to her eye before starting to scribble in the Results book. Then more instruments were pointed at the suns and mumbled over. “Three degrees…twenty-two degrees, I thought so.”
    â€œI wonder if a fellow can get three shadows from three suns?” It seemed an exciting idea, so he spun around to examine the side of the basket. A hint of his shadow appeared upon the rough wicker, but he could not determine if they were three separate shadows. “My soul is warmed by the glorious sun, sun, sun—”
    â€œEnough. Do you always sing with the least provocation?”
    â€œI’m sorry, but this is big, happy provocation, if you ask me. Have you ever seen this before? Isn’t this a beautiful sight?”
    She wagged a finger. “Each sun on the side is officially called a parhelion . Two are usually seen and the plural term is parhelia . Most people call them a mock sun or sun dog. They are rare and believed to be caused by the sunlight refracted by ice crystals in the atmosphere. The crystal shape—”
    â€œWait! That Shakespeare fellow saw multiple suns. In one of those Henry plays—there really are too many Henry plays, don’t you think?—Shakespeare said, ‘Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?’ Maybe I got that wrong? Even so, I bet this is an important discovery.”
    She smiled and almost reached the point of laughter. “Yes, you are right. Parhelia are a rare phenomenon. Moreover, I seem to remember there is some disagreement about the distance from the sun, the lengths of the arcs, and the exact colors observed. I can’t wait to present my observations in a letter to the Royal Society.”
    â€œYou present data to people—aloud?”
    â€œNo, not me.” She shrugged her shoulders. “My father and I will present our observations first in a letter to the Royal Society, or perhaps a journal like Newton’s Journal of Arts and Sciences . With any luck, our letter will be published. I cannot present my observations in person, because women rarely address scientific institutions.”
    His heartbeat escalated. “Will they invite me to speak? My father will be impressed if I give a scientific speech before a learned institution.” He could even