“Whatcha watchin’, Kurt? _Armageddon_?”

“Nightly news.”

“Ah c’mon, Kurt. You’re pulling my leg, right? I mean, there must be hundreds of movies with asteroids, comets, or whatever destroying the earth on impact. This show must be one of them. Right?”

Kurt flips through the network channels. Every broadcast is the same. What looks like a still picture of an asteroid in space is on the screen. It looks like a chunk of earth, but there is only darkness all around it. And there is nothing to give any scale to the picture. Kurt flips back to his original channel. A graphic has been placed next to the asteroid.

“What’s that?”

Kurt replies without taking his eyes off the TV. “It’s a graphic to show scale.”

“That tiny picture of a semi is to show scale?!”

Kurt still does not turn around. “Yeah. They said the asteroid is like 10,000 times bigger than a tractor-trailer rig. Or probably even bigger.” The picture on the TV turns brighter.

“No way!”

“Way.”

“So why aren’t you packing or in your car or doing something? Anything?”

Kurt shrugs. His keeps watching the news.

“Listen, buddy.” Jesse’s voice quavers. “We’ve known each other for like forever. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this calm. I mean, this could be the real Armageddon, and you’re not worried at all. How come?”

Kurt shrugs again. But he gets up and faces his friend. Then, he motions his head toward the door. The two walk out. Kurt stands on the front porch and looks up. He shades his eyes in the bright sunshine. Jesse follows his friend’s gaze to what looks like a dark spot in the sky. It’s edges are starting to glow.

Jesse turns to Kurt and shakes him. “That’s the asteroid!”

Kurt nods. “Yep. We’re essentially at ground zero.”

“Ground zero! We’ve gotta do something! We’ve gotta get out of here!”

Kurt turns to his friend. “Where would we go?” He sits on the front step.

Jesse flops to the step with him. He wonders aloud, “How can you be so calm? Especially, knowing this is the end?”

Kurt smiles at Jesse. “Because my friend. My brother from another mother. Because this is not the end.”

Jesse can not manage a smile. But he turns his gaze to match his friend’s in watching their doom descend. They sit in silence just watching. Then, Jesse finally smiles too, for he realizes that this is definitely not the end.