Alex Trebeck Asks the Moon

“Oh, look at the moon!” PP exclaims as she follows Capt G out of the gym and into the night parking lot. “It’s so beautiful!”

“Yeah it is,” CG agrees, sighing happily after their idyllic evening of hot tub, steam room, pool, (It was 'crowded'! There were other people in the pool besides PP and CG—a swim team, another swimmer, a dad and his son playing catch. PP and CG had to even share a lane for 10 minutes. Imagine! But then the Swim Team got out, and they each got their own lane and it was lovely to be outdoors in the evening golden light shadowing through the pines.)

But back to the moon, which really was luminous.

“Alex Trebeck says, what phase is the moon in,” a voice echoes behind them.

Turning around, PP sees a tall shadowy figure that has followed them out into the parking lot; still has his/her (PP couldn’t specify the gender) towel wrapped round his/her waist as he/she (This system of pronoun reference, while usually a pain, is perfect for gender identification confusion!) waxes game show about the moon.




PP doesn’t understand the phases of the moon question or the reference to Alex Trebeck the Jeopardy guy. It wasn’t like Moon Phase Man/Woman had phrased his/her observation in a jeopardy question: What is the ________ phase?”

Laughing, CG jumps right in, “It’s waxing, not waning, right?”

PP doesn’t know. Always gets these two mixed up. Waxing reminds her of surfboards
and waning reminds her of nothing in particular.

Moon Man/Woman likes this answer though, “Yeah, it’s the Waxing Phase.”
“It’s a quarter moon,” PP offers, still perplexed but following CG’s lead.
“Yeah, it’s a Waxing Quarter Moon,” CG announces to everyone’s approval.

“It’s Moon Math,” PP suggests for no particular reason. Non-sequitors abound in the moonlight world of Alex Trebeck.

“I can’t even keep track of the laps I swim,” Moon Man/Woman announces.
“That’s not important,” PP asserts. “You’re swimming, that’s all that matters!”
They all laugh at this one and it’s true.

MMW leaves them. Gets into his/her car and slams the door as PP and CG head over to the Toyota and climb in.



“Did you understand that Alex Trebeck reference?” PP asks CG.
“Not at all. I just went with it.”

And she did. PP so admires this about CG. She’s got the question to the answer.

Even when she doesn’t!