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When I got home the driveway was covered in tiny moving things. I was lying down in them.

What are you doing? I said.

Counting things that are better than me, I said. So far I am up to "everybody."

I lay my head back into the wet grass, eyes glued to the sky. Jes lies against me, her skin warm on mine.

"Look," I whisper, and point at the sky. The stars are dazzling points of light in the sky, they shimmer, lending light to the world. Then slowly, one begins to fall, making its way across the sky, leaving an orange streak behind it, the sky singed.

Then, as if some floodgate had been opened, they all fall, golden and blue streaks arcing through the sky, the animals and birds in the forest falling silent, shocked at this revolt of nature.

We could almost hear them as they fell, a low sizzle against the silence of night.