In Orbit
IT MUST have been in the early Nineties, as the Soviet Union’s collapse rippled its way to Cuba, that I decided to build a spaceship. The plan was to collect anything made of metal: nuts, bolts, rebar. Also spark plugs, doorknobs, loose cables. I hauled large tin sheets blown off someone’s shoddy roof, rusty steel pipes left behind by the neighborhood plumber, the rim and spokes of a bicycle’s wheel. I even found the circuit board of a black-and-white television and the discarded innards of a radio, both of which, to my mind, possessed the dazzling intricacy of a computer. Within a few weeks, I accumulated enough to create an impressive mound of trash in my grandparents’ yard. The sheer size of it was promising: no doubt I’d be able to fit inside once I put everything together. I can’t pinpoint a specific event or reason as the genesis of my idea, other than a general aspiration to explore and the belief that, in time, I could actually pull it off. I do remember being fascinated by space, something I inherited from my grandfather. He introduced me to astronomy and science fiction at an early age. He’d spend hours talking about what to him were the latest discoveries (information usually trickled into Cuba on years-long delay), the possible connections between ancient cultures and aliens, the Soviet Union versus the United States space race. He spoke with an infectious air of wonder about human achievements. He claimed we were on a precipitous path toward time travel and finding other dimensions. Once, he saw a documentary on black holes, and that’s all he discussed for weeks. He liked to cite Hawkins, Einstein, Newton, though I could never tell if he was doing so accurately. Regardless, he passed on enough of a quasi-scientific vocabulary for me to develop a ravenous curiosity for the astonishing, ruthless world beyond our sky.
When he saw the initial pile of garbage sprouting up in a corner of his yard, he chuckled and slowly shook his head. I explained my plan with the hope that he would offer his full support. Luckily, his chuckle had been one of approval. He
