buzz aldrin

three o’clock in the morning Buzz Aldrin called. This was the treat, an actual prize for something Jack had done. He didn’t know anything about it. They spent five minutes with the usual talk from a former astronaut, wow it’s you, that sort of thing. Jack was surprised,yet somehow calm about the call. Buzz was polite, low key, and seemed quite pleased about having to make the call, although thinking back Jack never knew why Buzz had called. It must have been for something Jack had written about him. He certainly didn’t enter any contest, so it wasn’t really a prize for anything. It was an honor, however. Jack asked casually how old he was and Buzz said twenty-one. That’s what he said. Google thinks Buzz is eighty-two. Jack remembers long silences in the conversation, times when Jack got up to get his glasses, or when he put the phone down and went to take a leak. They were on the phone about fifteen minutes. Nothing much was said. Jack eventually hung up and went back to sleep. He never learned why Buzz called.