Saint Laurent's tears or the Perseides expedition

We had read the Perseides were going to shower the skies that night and thus decided to find a place out of the city's light pollution to watch the precious St Laurent's tears.
We - me, the professor from Paris and Sarajevo - met at the Opera house at midnight on the dot and were to drive some 20 minutes to Kalmthout natural park.
Maybe the meteorites confused the notions of time and space, or maybe we were too busy telling funny stories and trying to name the movies matching with the famous film themes we were listening to, anyway, somehow, we got a bit lost in various diversions and entered Kalmthout only an hour later. The streets were empty as in a dead city and the tune that just came up was "Twisted nerve" whistling...spooky!
We drove around  Creepytown in search for a person that could show us the way, and it seemed completely deserted, until we finally found the only opened bar with a woman and two men standing outside. We stopped and kindly asked for the way to the natural park. Was it for the time of the night? was it for us? was it for them?  they looked at us three as if we were ugly aliens and first answered with another question : "WHAT are you going to do there?"
The three of us thought of saying the same thing... that we were going to dispose of a dead body there...but they didn't look like people with much humor, so we innocently said we were going to watch meteorites (isn't that obvious???!) so they seemed satisfied and indicated us the right direction, but kept on looking at us as if we were insane - or highly suspicious.
We finally arrived on site, parked the car, took out the blanket, the Cava bottle, the glasses that Sarajevo had brought (that girl is always prepared for everything) and headed to the forest entrance. Trees on the left, trees on the right, a small path in front and darkness all around. Sarajevo had also a good light on her front head (the one she used as the Slugexterminator, but that's another story) so we had no problem at all and stepped on the path. We didn't even walk three meters when we heard a crack in the obscurity. We stopped dead and switched off the light, our three pair of eyes peering into the blackness. A light flashed for a second in front of us. We flashed back. Flash again. Made two steps forward and three steps back as we saw two shades quickly approaching. Even the professor had lost her assurance as she whispered: "des militaires!" Sarajevo only repeated "des militaires?!".We were tempted to run away but eventually held our position strong. Two men passed us swiftly, hardly looking at us, equipped with crossbows. We turned round and watched them walk out of the forest. WTF? We should have asked them how far was the first clearing. Brave as ever, Sarajevo ran behind them saying "hello! Sorry!" and it seemed they were walking even faster as she was chasing them. She managed to catch up with them and they even answered that we had to walk 5 mn to the first open space. And right after that they jumped in their car and hurtled off on full speed. 
What the hell were these two guys doing with crossbows in the forest? Were they the only ones? why did they look so scared of us? After all, we, three normal girls, were only carrying a bag with a bottle of Cava and glasses in a forest at 1 am...Were they hunters? what were they hunting? rabbits? in the middle of the night? Were we about to be the accidental rabbits of some weird hunters if we went in? 
We decided to stay where we were, arguing the cloudy sky had just cleared up above our heads and going further would not help us. We were not scared at all, no no no.
So we opened the bottle,  laid on the ground and were rewarded for all that effort and all these little fears. Every now and then we tripple-echoed an enthusiastic "OH! did you see it too?!" when the stars were crossing the night sky in clear bright rays, magical.
The night was cold though, so at some point we agreed on leaving right after seeing all three a last shooting star. I needed to pee though so I walked away and I just heard: "No way, keep on looking up while you pee so that you don't miss it, or just pretend you've seen it too if we shout!"
It was too late though, already half past three and the clouds were slowly taking hold of the starry heaven again.
Too bad, for if Saint Laurent was watching us that night, I'm quite sure he must have been laughing to tears.

the monster made of eyes & the drunken boat

Men grow too old for love, my love,
Men grow too old for lies;
But I shall not grow too old to see
Enormous night arise,
A cloud that is larger than the world
And a monster made of eyes. *

The monster  made of eyes
Up there the skies were infinite and the clouds hung at our feet. The days were hot, green and translucent, the nights were cool, deep and sparkling. We were gathering on the hotel terrace after every concert, they were telling jokes and we were all laughing to tears echoing far in the surrounding stillness. We had some beers, smoked a bit, I felt like a little walk and went down the terrace and turned right toward the church. I wanted to look at the sky. Past the second house was the last lamp, a bench and the beginning of a little path bypassing the hill. Past these, a curtain of darkness. I walked a few meters  and  disappeared behind the backdrop. I was all alone, and looked up, in the uncanny silence of the witching hour. My eyes were probably mirroring the countless glitter of the night, and I thought of that strange old woman wrapped in mystery that had told me once, years ago : "the most beautiful I have seen in the Sahara desert was the moon reflected in a dead donkey's shining eye". Stars, everywhere, all around, shining still, or crossing the  magnitude in a swift ray...Was it a solid firmament  sustained by the strong shoulders of Atlas or a colossal tenebrous living creature?  For I couldn't remember who, of us two, me and the night, was watching who.

A thrill of thunder in my hair:
Though blackening clouds be plain,
Still I am stung and startled
By the first drop of the rain:
Romance and pride and passion pass
And these are what remain.*

The drunken boat and the storm
That boat was getting nearer and looked almost as if it was drifted towards us. We were sitting approximately 6 meters above it on the waterfront and I was not very comfortable with having my legs hanging so high above the water level, but the cool breeze at dusk felt so well, bringing the sea to our nostrils and freshening us from the sticky heat of that summer day. 
The barge, already heavily loaded and looking close to sinking, started doing strange moves, going sideways, back and forth, and we, well we were being watched and watching, hypnotized by this weird ship who, most certainly, like the piano, had been drinking,  until it made us feel sick and ready to join the party by dropping down. Luckily, before we jumped in the depths, we looked at the the silver lit port in the distance and noticed  the setting sun had disappeared behind a wall of clouds. In the vertical clouds hanging there, beautiful lightning bolts started flashing here and there. As the wind suddenly got to the edge we were sitting on, blowing stronger, I could almost see Zeus standing in the clouds, half upset half grinning. It was time to leave the battlefield to higher powers and ride into the night for another kind of pleasures.

(Street art by Sam3)
*Poem by G.K. Chesterton