At 18:25 tonight, the sky over Fairfax County- and yours- pulled a stunt. The full moon cleared the rooftops in a hard white glare, bright enough to bleach the contrails that had been drifting east all afternoon. By chance — perfect, impossible chance — they crossed right over the moon, forming a giant asterisk in real time. You could watch it happen: the streaks thinning, spreading, sliding into alignment like the atmosphere was adjusting itself for emphasis.

Everything down here stayed ordinary. The parking-lot pole light from the old SAIC HQ lot hummed. A few cars idled at the intersection, unaware they were framed under something cosmic. Even the glassy building on the right burned with the same office-after-hours glow it always does. But above all that, the sky was busy writing a footnote on the evening — one we were lucky enough to see at the exact moment ink hit the page.
For a minute or two the County felt suspended, held open by that bright coin of a moon and the crossed vapor trails drifting into place. Then the winds shifted, the lines softened, and the sky returned to its usual business.

But for that brief slice of 18:25, we caught it. A live, unfolding reminder that even here — fifteen minutes from everything — the universe still bothers to put on a show, if you happen to look up at the right second.

Central and West Coast readers still have a chance to see it in person!

Copyright 2025 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com