There were only five people at James’s thirtieth birthday party, his parents, Andrew and his partner Steve and of course James. Every birthday James’s parents would reassure him that they were proud of him, they also got him a small basil plant so that he wouldn’t have to bother buying it anymore. Andrew and Steve got him a bottle of wine which they had over dinner. Max sent him a funny card with a dog on it and some money, it has been about six years since he last saw Max. Max ran away with his high school sweetheart Sarah and they settled down overseas and had a kid, Jessica. James enjoyed hearing about the escapades of Max and his family, the journeys into the wilderness and the white-water rafting. Every year, around Christmas, they send a card keeping him up to date with the happenings of the family and they invite him to come and stay with them for a while and get away from the humdrum of the city and every year James tells himself he’ll go and every year he either can’t find the time or the money. The rest of the birthday dinner seems to slip away, the cake is a sponge with passion fruit flavoured icing made by his mum. Andrew and Steve leave James and his parents with the dishes and when the dishes are done his parents leave him with half a cake and an almost empty bottle of wine.

That night James goes outside to the little patch of greenery, which the council calls a park, opposite his apartment block and he lies there looking up at the sky. He wonders where all the stars went, he was sure there had been more when he was a kid. He thinks about the enormity of space and wonders whether someday people will explore it all like they did with the Earth. He wonders if people will ever live on Mars or any other planet, he wonders if something already does. It’s an hour and a half before he decides it’s too cold to stay outside so he goes back to his apartment, locks the doors and climbs into his bed.