This is my sun before the eclipse, just before the eclipse, just before the moon’s shadow began to encroach on the Sun’s disc.

I remember the moment perfectly. The banks of the Lower Basin of the Charles. Sprawled together on the grass. Easy laughter. Easy talk. Learning that a man can also love a man. His guitar’s easy boom-chika, boom-chika strum.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere: “did you think, I enjoyed that?”

“Well, yes, I did think that.”

A single down stroke with the thumb. “Not likely, kiddo. I knew you were a fucking queer soon as I laid eyes on you.”

“I’m not a queer. Why are you joking like this? . . . It isn’t funny.”

“I’m not laughing, faggot. I got off, and now I need you to get fucking lost.”

Total solar eclipses occur when the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth and casts the darkest part of its shadow (the umbra) on Earth. A total solar eclipse can be amazing to see if you are at a place where this shadow falls. At totality, the Moon completely covers the disc of the Sun. Only the Sun’s corona is visible. This is the most dramatic stage of a total solar eclipse. At this time, the Sky goes dark, temperatures fall drastically and birds and animals often go quiet. (timeanddate.com)