Star-Struck

By Francesca Moran

Star-Struck is a fictional space travel, embarked by two ghosts, discovering new life forms on a new planet, and back to Earth at a different time.

Furthermore, the collection content of its poem has been transcribed into a book of songs, entitled For Ever, by Francesca N.V. Moran and grandson Ezra Moran.

It is also a sequence of “Blown by the Wind,” depicting a true love story, between a diplomat and a student, in a twisted setting of time and place, the middle of a war-torn country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665550376

Francesca Moran

Author Francesca Moran got both French and American education. Her hobbies are literature, music, fashion designing, cosmology, and gardening. Author Ezra Moran displays his passion in music via playing both the piano and guitar, among other wide range of intellectual interests.

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© 2022 Francesca Moran. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/28/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5038-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-5037-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022901851

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

About the Author

Chapter I True Events

Chapter II Space Travel

Chapter III The Lost Planet- The Yuri Tribe

Chapter IV The Lost Planet - the Daigo and Yuri Tribes.

Chapter V The Lost Planet The return to the Daigo tribe.

Chapter VI The Lost Planet The Last meeting

Chapter VII Back to Planet Earth

Chapter VIII Back to reality

About the Author

Born at the end of the second World War, in South Vietnam, author Francesca Moran had a French elementary and high school education. She later continued her college education in Washington D.C. USA, where six years later she met a US diplomat of Irish/English descent, her husband-to-be, two years her senior. They have spent most of their married life with their kids around the globe.

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CHAPTER I

True Events

Virginia, December, 2019.

My darling husband,

This month marks two years of your passing. However, in my mind and heart, you are always by my side, as if you have never left. Looking back at the 47 years of our married life, oh, how much I cherish those lost days of happiness that I took for granted while we were together. I wish God would let us relive them once more.

Your leaving has left me bereft of zest in life, a deep pain in my heart, and an immense void in my existence. I miss you to no end, Honey. To me, life has lost its meaning. I just feel like existing, but not living in the real sense of it.

Sometimes I feel blue, I would call our two kids, Danny and Betsy, and cry…They console me for a while, and after the conversation ends, I would go back to be alone again, surrounded by the pictures of the kids, grandkids, and ours hung on the walls, all around the house. Everybody is gone, even the dogs! I have laid your portrait photo on the night table, by my bedside which I talk to every night before bedtime, pretending you are here to keep me company.

Please come into my dreams, talk to me, love me, and guide me to do the right thing that I have to deal with, all by myself from now on. The monologue soothes my loneliness and helps me fall asleep.

In the garden of Nursing Home IV, sitting on the red metal bench, holding our hands, leaning our heads on each other, you promised me your spirit would stay with me at all times, if ever you go first. Do you remember that, Love?

Fast backward to some fifty years past, we were engaged at the time. You were assigned to the US Embassy in Vietnam, writing home to me:

FOREVER, VELVET.

My love, let me hold you tight, so we could dance together.

Darling, stay close to me, so we could feel our hearts beat.

I dream of you in my sleep,

Wake up with you in my thought.

Sweet heart, into my ears, whisper how much you love me.

Velvet, wish you were here, so we could sing together.

My days are long without you.

My nights empty longing for you.

I want you to know,

My feelings for you will last till the end of time….

The separation was unbearable to both of us. But we looked forward to our upcoming wedding:

MY PROMISE :

My dear Velvet, wait for me.

I will come home at Christmas.

When snow covers the mountain top,

Birds of Paradise come out bright and red,

Meet me there in Hawaii.

I ‘ll take you to the Church,

Slip the ring on your finger,

And promise God, I’ll love you forever.

Then following our wedding and honey moon in Hawaii, you would have to go back to Vietnam, continuing your Foreign Service assignment, and I returning to my teaching job in Washington DC.

Air America Flight was rolling along on the Honolulu airport tarmac and finally docked the deck. We got up from our chairs in the waiting room. With one hand pulling my small suitcase, and the other holding my hand, you walked me toward the checking point. You let go of my suitcase, and put your two arms around my waist, saying:

KISS ME:

Kiss me, my love.

For tomorrow, we ‘ll part again.

       I will be far away ….

       Don’t know when I’ll be back home,

       Holding you in my arms…

               Kiss me, kiss me again.

               That’s all, I’ll bring with me,

               Your memory, my love …

Tears ran down my cheeks, and so did they on yours. To this day, I still can feel that pain, and remember vividly that sad moment of separation at Honolulu airport, any time I think of it. I took my suitcase with a heavy heart away from you. Walking through the terminal pathway, I turned back every two seconds, looking at you, still standing at the checking point, waving to me. Finally, I boarded the plane, and you were out of my sight. The stewardess showed me my seat. The whole time, my face was glued to the window, looking out toward the terminal, in search of your face. But I was too far to really see where you were. I was so sorry that you had to stay behind, for many long hours, waiting for your flight back to Saigon, Vietnam.

It was refreshing to get your letter a few days later, telling me you were safe and back to your job. Your writing was full of hopes and promises for our future:

COME WITH ME:

Come with me,

We ’ll sail to new horizons.

Together,

We’ll build new hopes and dreams.

I’ll take you around the world….

To the Eiffel tower in Paris,

The floating town in Venice,

The Taj Mahal in India,

The Great Wall in China.

               No more sadness,

               Goodbye loneliness,

               From today, your life starts with me…

               We dream together …

June 2018---

My beloved David,

I always cry after waking up from seeing you in my dreams, regardless the revelations are sad or happy. For I know, you are no longer in this physical world with me. They don’t last long either, only a few seconds and vanish in the next. Oh, how much, darling, I wish those sweet moments would last longer as if they were in real life.

Going back to Mid- June 2018, after six months of your demise, you appeared to me in real distress. It made me cry then, and still does at this moment. The image never eludes my memory.

MY LASTING DREAM:

Thanks for coming into my dream,

You look so young as we first met some fifty years ago.

Tears run down your cheeks, why so my love?

Waking up, I know, you left this world last cold Winter.

               My heart is aching so….

               Tears welling my eyes too.

               Please wait for me Sweetheart,

               We shall meet again… We shall meet again….

March 2019...

In my sleep:

From the dining room window on the second floor, I saw David standing at the bottom of the hilly backyard, looking up. Right behind him was a big oak tree, swaying with the strong wind.

I shouted out:

----- David, come up here! The tree is about to fall on you!

I did not see him going up the stairs of the deck, or entering through the kitchen door as he usually had done when alive. But in a blitz, he was standing right next to me, wrapping his two arms around my shoulders, gazing out the window, saying:

---- When it rains, the water runs downhill so fast, washing off all the dirt.

---- Don’t worry dear, it’s an easy job. I’ll get it fixed.

I woke up.

A week later, the weather was nice, I thought of doing some gardening. So, when I scouted the yard as usual; and sure- enough, some grass and chunks of dirt on the side of the garage had been washed way.

April 4, 2019---

David took me for a motorcycle ride. We passed by Danny’s house, but our son was not there. We then made a second round, and this time he appeared on the balcony, waiving to us.

May 12, 2019---

Today, our kids called home and wished me Happy Mother’s Day. That’s all they could do really, since they live out of State. Fortunately, my sister, Chi Ba and her daughter Beta came by and took me out to lunch at Eden Center to celebrate the event. Beta also brought me a pot of red roses. What a sweet niece she is! It made me cry! She is the one who helped me arrange your funeral, every step of the way, from picking our communal urn to talking to the priest in regard to the religious ceremony. Without her, I would have been left alone, dealing all by myself with such an important event while I was so devasted with grief of losing you, and my head was not on my shoulders. I was in such a state of shock and bereavement that I got lost in my driving, even on the same familiar roads.

After lunch, I took them to another shop to get three packages of crunchy raw rice papers, one for Beta, one for her mother, and one for me. This is new stuff. They were not on the market when you were alive. All we have to do is microwave one big round piece for one minute, and it will get inflated into a big round chip!

September 2019----

I woke up in the middle of the night, having a hard time breathing. I could barely inhale air through my right nostril. I have a history of allergy. Normally I would use the Nasal spray which is laid on my night table, always next to me. But last night, I ran out of it.

Tired of struggling with my breathing for a while, I fell back to sleep. Then David appeared. With a white piece of paper in his hand, he fanned it in front of my nostrils several times.

I woke up right after the incident, finding my two nostrils as clear as the air! Reaching across my night table, I got a hold of his picture:

---- Honey, thanks for the rescue. I love you so!

October 2019---

Next week, I was supposed to attend the wedding of my niece’s daughter, Thao. Instead of going out to buy a new dress, I wanted to try the old ones on, to see whether any of them could still fit me. I stood in front of the long tall mirror, with