The year she turned 12 was the year that the top floor of the house became the second highest floor in the house. She still remembered pulling around the corner as the birthday cake house came in to view.
"Oh they couldn't have! For Pete's sake!" Her father saw the house first.
"Oh that's really interesting." Her mother caught sight of it next.
"Wow. It's a...well..." Stacy wasn't sure what she was seeing.
"It's a DOME! They've built a dome on top of the house! Why in the world world they...how in the world did they?" Her father was sputtering now.
Aunt Bets met them in the driveway, she was already smiling.
"Paul, Sally, Stacy! We've missed you!" She held her arms out for hugs and kisses.
"What did you do?" Her father was not to be distracted.
"Well, Gloria needed an new observatory, the tree is too thin at the top to support her telescope and with the solar eclipse happening, this just made the most sense."
They had planned their vacation to be with the Aunts this year for the solar eclipse. It was going to be full totality over their house. Her mother said it always was, which didn't make sense at all since the path of totality changed every eclipse, but Stacy just smiled when she said it.
Her father stepped back away from the house to take it all in, "This does not make sense. How is it even stable on those things?"
Those things were doric columns coming from what used to be the top floor of the house. On top of the columns was a new floor to the house which had a dome shaped roof. Looking at the house now the columns made it seem almost more wedding cake than birthday cake, but she still liked it all.
"Well we needed the columns to make sure the floor would be level, Paul, don't be silly."
"Oh of course I wouldn't want to be silly." Her father was truly exasperated now.
Aunt Gloria came out of the house then, "Oh lovely you are here! We don't have much time to get set up. Sally, we'll bake some tomorrow I promise, today is going to be too filled! Stacy? Please go inside and find your Aunt Perry. She needs some help carrying things to the observatory."
Stacy hugged her Aunt Gloria on the way by and went searching for Aunt Perry.
"Wait until you see what we've done with the place." Aunt Perry said as soon as she saw Stacy.
"I can't wait to see the inside!" Stacy took the plates from her Aunt and followed her upstairs.
On the bedroom level of the house there was now a spiral staircase where the fireman's pole had been. "It's only temporary, but we didn't think your parents would want to climb the tree to get to the observatory. And this makes it easier to carry things as well."
They took the spiral staircase to the library. Stacy smiled and wished they had time to read a little.
"I have a few books about the eclipse right over there," her aunt gestured toward the door, "Please grab them on our way out."
Stacy added the books to her stack of plates and they went out the door. The staircase led them around the house to the door of the tilted room but now there was another set of stairs that continued around to the what used to be the top of the house.
What Stacy couldn't see from the ground was that this wasn't just open space between the floors. The columns lined the edges of the roof leaving the center open. It was a large open space, much higher than what it looked like from the ground. The floor had tile inlays that made a compass rose with a spiral staircase in the center of the floor that led to the observatory. But that wasn't all. There were planters everywhere so the space looked like a garden and there were four porch swings hung, one facing each cardinal direction.
"We will come swing later. They are magnificent. You feel like you are flying."
Stacy couldn't wait. As she walked up the staircase she noticed that there was more than just the compass rose in the tiles. There were numbers.
"The staircase is a sundial! It's really very wonderful. Your Aunt Bets designed it all and Aunt Gloria made sure the calculations were exact and I chose the colors!"
Stacy already knew she would be spending a lot of time on what she now would call the garden level. It was probably going to be her second favorite level after the library. But then she saw the observatory.
There was a glass dome as the roof so it was completely open to the sky. There were murals of the constellations circling most of the walls except for one space where there were, Stacy counted very quickly, 30 orange and red circles. "What is this?"
"Wait and see!" Her aunt practically giggled at her. "Wait and see!"
There was low shelving with paper for note taking. There were books on astronomy and some on astrology as well. Which Stacy tucked a little to the side before her father could see them. There were pillows on the floor just perfect for lounging on to stare out of the dome. She could just imagine what it would be like at night time.
"Yes, we can." Her Aunt Perry smiled at her.
Stacy laughed. She had just been about to ask if they could sleep up there sometimes.
Just then her parents and her other Aunts joined them. Each carrying a tray or a pile of books or dishes.
"Right on time!" Her Aunt Bets declared. "Everyone find someplace comfortable to relax for a while. I've got passages marked in these books that we can share."
Her mother was smiling, ready for the adventure. Her father was trying not to look impressed. "I need to go back down and get the eclipse glasses. I left them in the suitcase."
"Paul, Paul, Paul, did you think I would design an entire observatory and not have eclipse glass?"
Aunt Gloria touched a button on the wall and the glass dome darkened and shifted. "You can safely watch the whole thing now."
"You made the whole dome out of eclipse glass? How is that even possible?"
"Settle down, it's starting. Perry? Are you ready?"
"Oh I am!" Aunt Perry picked up a sheet from the counter and walked over to the wall opposite the circles. She slid it into a holder that Stacy hadn't noticed before and then pointed out what she had done. It was a pinhole viewer for the eclipse. The holes in the pinhole lined up perfectly with the yellow and red circles on the wall behind her. Thirty little shadow viewers.
"Why did you make that if we can just watch?" Stacy asked.
"Because there is more to life than just watching. Set the timer!"
"Timer set!" Aunt Gloria replied.
"The timer will chime every five minutes. Starting now." Aunt Bets announced.
The first five minutes passed with them all settling in and getting comfortable. When the timer chimed Aunt Gloria put a piece of tape over the first pinhole on the cut out. "Can you see it?"
Stacy looked closely and could see just the barest sliver of shadow covering the sun. "Yes!" Then she turned to look at the wall behind her. Her Aunt Perry had taken a charcoal pencil and traced the shadow line on the second yellow orange circle on the wall.
"OH! I see!"Stacy's mother was very excited. "It will be a mural of the eclipse!"
Stacy's father tried again not to look impressed but he was failing. Each time the timer chimed they would cover a circle on the chart and Aunt Perry would shade a circle on the wall.
They watched the shadow move across the sun and when the point of totality was reached a loud gong sounded somewhere in the house. Aunt Gloria hit the button and the eclipse glass faded away. "You can look directly at the sun for the next few minutes. The gong will sound again when I need to put the shade back in, but for now, look. Just look."
The sky was amazing.
The stars came out.
The glow of the sun threaded out in jumps and lines from around the shadow of the moon.
Stacy got goosebumps.
Aunt Perry colored in the shadow and then stood with her sisters hand in hand looking at the sun.
"There are things in this world and out of it that are so beautiful we can only stand to see their edges. Today we stand in the sunlight and in the moonshadow and we celebrate the unknown and the unknowable."
Aunt Gloria then handed them each a moon cake and cup of sun tea.
"Eat and drink and renew your faith that the light always returns even when the dark is unexpected."
Stacy had looked it up, the totality would last for 6 minutes over the birthday cake house. But time seemed to warp here like it did in the library. The all stood in awe of the ring of fire in the sky. Eating their sweet cake and drinking their tea. The timer went off for Aunt Perry to color her next circle, then the gong for Aunt Gloria to bring the glass back to safety.
They stayed in the tower and watched the shadow make its journey back across the sun. When it was complete they stayed for awhile longer. Talking about what they had seen, marveling over Aunt Perry's new mural and eating the leftover moon cakes.
Even her father had been impressed.
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