My oldest kid (“kid” hah… 25) is headed up (along with a wonderful partner) to visit a friend in Maine today, to see the eclipse in the 100% totality zone (meaning you see the full eclipse, and not just partial). Where I live, in Massachusetts, we're in the 93-95% totality zone.
As I looked at maps of Maine, I realized fictional Luview, Maine is really, REALLY close to the totality zone, and would be absolutely inundated with tourists on April 8, 2024. Which is the "off season" for the town of Love You, Maine - where every day is Valentine's Day.
April in Love You is a time to recover from Valentine's Day, get some much-needed rest, and prepare for the I Will Always Love You singing festival, and alllll the June weddings coming soon.
So, I started thinking: what would the residents of Love You, Maine, be doing on eclipse day? How are they affected? What hijinx are going on in our special town?
How about we take a quick visit over there and get a peek into their lives?
So here you go - a fun little story called Love You Eclipse. It's not a love story per se, but it is about love, community, friendship — and laughter.
Like all things in Love You, Maine ; ) .
"Abuela, no!" Selena Martinez shouted as she watched her grandmother walk straight up to a llama at the animal sanctuary, eclipse sunglasses in her gnarled, shaking hands, her pace slow but determined.
Rapidfire Spanish, mumbled so low only a close family member could understand, was all Selena heard before the llama grunted, then spat right into her grandmother's face. The lump shot straight forward with such precision the animal seemed to be part robot.
And then, to Selena's shock, her abuela ducked, the projectile missing her, smacking into the muddy earth.
"Selena!" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dennis Luview come running after shouting her name, a toddler on his hip as he ran. Ex-Army special forces and local lumberjack from the famous Luview family, Dennis crossed the space between the main house and the outdoor pen faster than anyone else she knew ever could.
"She's - oh, we never should have come," Selena moaned as she struggled with herself, pausing. If she approached the llama it would spit on her, too, and she knew how vile that hocker would be. The first spit was a cautionary bullet, more like saliva.
"Phlegm" didn't really describe what a llama coughed up if you didn't heed the warning shot.
More like a green stinky pussball filled with methane and rotten eggs.
"He needs the glasses," her grandmother said in perfect English, the hint of an accent still there, though she'd been here in Maine for sixty-seven years. "He will go blind. All of the animals need the glasses."
Dennis's eyebrows shot up, nearly touching his hairline. "Rosa?" he asked her gently. "You know that's a myth."
Confusion clouded her abuela's eyes, a look Selena knew all too well. Rosa Martinez was ninety-two, lived in an Alzheimer's unit at an assisted living home in Conway, and was spending the week with Selena. Each of her four children and eight grandchildren took her for a week at a time, and six of them lived here in Luview, still. Rosa and her husband, Antonio, had come to Maine from Puerto rico in the 1960s when he was stationed at a naval base in Winter Harbor, working in the radio station there.
Selena had developed her love of radio from so many hours of being with her grandfather.
"Myth?" Rosa asked, her voice hollow as she stared at the llama, who stared back, eyes narrow.
The damn thing was calculating where to aim.
"Yes, myth," he said softly. "The animals instinctively know not to look at the sun."
"How do you know?" her grandmother moaned, as if in pain. "They will all go blind today! We must save them."
Dennis caught Selena's eye as his little son Paolo wriggled in his arms. Now three years old and as adorable as could be, he had dark hair cut just like his dad's, short on the sides but longer on the top, and liquid brown eyes that could charm anyone.
"I want the glasses!" he insisted.
This seemed to shake Abuela back to the present, for she turned to him and reached into her purse, which was overflowing with folded paper eclipse glasses.
"What's going on?" Dennis asked as he watched her grandmother and Paolo carefully.
"She gets these ideas in her head," Selena said, pained to try to explain it. "Insisted I bring here here to see the animals. I thought we were, you know... killing time. Having fun. Abuela can be hard to keep occupied. She keeps asking for Abuelo and gets agitated, so I though we'd come see the animals. Then suddenly, she started talking about the animals going blind looking at the sun."
"Where did she hear that?"
"Who knows. Her best friend at her home gets all those weird magazines. UFOs, bat boys, you know. Tabloids. I wouldn't put it past her to have talked about it, and somehow, it just -- stuck."
"I've heard that happens with Alzheimers."
As Abuela adjusted a small set of glasses on Paolo, who ran up to Dennis and preened, Selena stepped closer to her grandmother, who looked at her, then the flock of chickens next to the barn.
"Los pollos! I don't have tiny glasses for them. All the chickens will go blind." Real tears filled her grandmother's eyes, and Selena steeled herself. It wasn't that she was self-conscious or embarrassed. Dennis wasn't the type to judge. If anything, he was the kind of guy who would try to help.
It was more that she hated seeing her grandmother so distressed.
"Daddy, can we collect eggs? Mama wants some," Paolo asked so sweetly. Dennis bent down before him and adjusted the glasses on his face.
"Sure, bud. A dozen, right?"
"Right." Paolo turned to her grandmother. "That's twelve!" he said proudly.
"Yes," she said with a distracted smile. "But the chickens need glasses, just like yours." An actual tear slipped down her cheek, and Paolo's brow furrowed. He reached for Dennis, who picked him up and stood.
"Rosa," Dennis called out. "You can't save every animal."
Abuela waved him off. The woman was stubborn. Too stubborn. Before Selena could react, she pivoted to a baby goat who appeared to the right of the llama, and put the glasses on the little beast.
"Saved!" Rosa said, deeply pleased with herself, until the goat flung its head, knocked the glasses to the ground, and began happily munching on his new snack.
Selena pulled her long hair back off her face, fingers threaded through it, scrubbing her scalp in frustration. Abuela had just arrived yesterday, and the eclipse started in three hours. Thank goodness it only lasted for a short time, which meant this was temporary. Abuela’s agitation would fade.
She hoped.
The creak of a screen door cut through the air and they all turned to see Mel Chassi and her ex-husband, Darren Duarte, coming outside. The town veterinarian and local curmudgeon, Darren stopped by Mel's animal sanctuary so much the locals joked they should just remarry so he could live onsite.
Selena didn't quite understand their relationship, but then again, who was she to judge? Perpetually single, she'd been unlucky in love for years, and now preferred the company of her cat, her gaming system, good books from the library, and an endless supply of good coffee.
Abuela marched up to Darren, fishing through her purse for another pair of glasses. "Darren," she said, determined and fierce. "You will understand. We need to save the animals' eyesight."
Mel looked at Selena, who gave her a helpless shrug.
"Rosa," he said, somehow managing to be both kind and stern, "that's a myth."
"Daddy already said that," Paolo piped up.
"No. They will look at the sun and go blind."
His eyes drifted to her pocketbook. "Please tell me you didn't spend good money on all those."
"They were free at my - at the - at -" She turned to Selena in confusion. "Where did I get these?"
"At your home."
"Yes!" Abuela perked up. "At my home."
"May I have some?" Mel asked. "I've been so busy, I forgot to buy a pair, and now the library's all out of the ones they were giving to residents."
"Of course!" Abuela said, eagerly handing a bunch to Mel, clearly happy to be useful.
"Humans need them more than animals," Darren declared.
"But the llama," her grandmother said with a whimper. "Such big eyes. How can we protect him?"
With a smile, Mel approached the creature, no spitting ensuing. She carefully placed the glasses on its face and turned to Abuela, whose face lit up with delight. The llama didn’t seem to care.
Selena's phone buzzed. Then someone else's buzzed as well. Within seconds, Selena, Darren, Mel, and Dennis all had buzzing devices.
"Weird," Selena muttered as she pulled hers out of her back pocket of her jeans. "It's like some kind of alert."
They all quickly read as Abuela eyed a ram across the pen.
Reef needs all hands, now. Come to LY Flowers, the text read from Rachel Hart, the town's Director of Business Development and Dennis's brother's fiancee. Bring coffee grinders and blenders.
Mel looked at Darren, who looked at Dennis, who frowned at his phone.
"That is the weirdest text I think I've ever received. Coffee grinders? Blenders?"
Dennis's phone rang.
"Rachel?" he said, picking it up. "What going - what? Are you serious? You are. Huh. Okay. Sure. I'll get Ana over there. We've got one. Uh huh. Got one of those, too. Why Love You Flowers? Oh. Got it. Okay. Of course."
Even Abuela was watching Dennis now, though Paolo was poking the baby goat who strained against the metal fencing to get closer to the little boy.
"That was Rachel. The town's inundated right now with tourists all here for the eclipse. Love You Coffee has a line two blocks long. Seems their grinder just died."
"WHAT?" Selena gasped, as if in pain. "Poor Reef!"
"Right. So Stella from Love You Flowers is organizing the entire town to come to her shop and have a Grind-a-thon."
"A what?" Mel asked, then started giggling.
"Sounds like an event at Love You Harder," Darren said under his breath, Mel elbowing him in the ribs. Abuela's hearing wasn't so good these days, thank goodness, because Selena didn't want to have to explain that joke about the local sex shop.
"Seems after the town came together to help Stella and Marty when they lost power a few years ago, Reef's coffee shop stored a bunch of the flower arrangements for them. Stella and Marty are returning the favor. Grab any coffee grinders or blenders that grind well and head on over to Stella's."
Selena took a moment to inhale nice a deep breath. Pivoting on a dime was not one of Abuela's strengths. Before the Alzheimer's, she was flexible and adaptable, but now...
"What is Dean talking about?" her grandmother asked, pointing at Dennis. Dean was his father.
"He's saying someone in town needs our help, Abuelita. Can you come and help? The whole town is working to support one of us."
"Of course! Do they need glasses?"
* * *
Thank goodness for her reserved employee parking spot at WLUV.
She'd taken the week off work at the town's radio station, her hours filled by an intern from University of Maine at Orono. Brice Mackelroy was earnest, nerdy, and majoring in biology. He'd done just fine yesterday, though she'd had to clarify what "love songs, and only love songs" meant when he'd played Christina Perri’s “Jar of Hearts.”
The "breaking news" came over the radio as she pulled into her spot, traffic at a crawl on Main Street.
Attention local Luview residents: the eclipse isn't the only dark moment today! If you're jonesing for a caffeine fix, Love You Coffee's the place to go, but Reef needs your help to give you that java jolt you so deserve.
Selena rolled her eyes. The guy was trying a little too hard.
Come join the Grind-a-thon at Love You Flowers! No, that's not a PornHub joke --
Selena damn near started choking. The guy was going to get WLUV an FCC fine!
Bring your coffee grinders and blenders that grind well, and head over to Marty and Stella's place. We're going to save the day and take this boo and turn it into brew!
She was going to kill him. Kill him dead.
To get you in that grinding spirit, Brice continued, here's Darling Nikki, by Prince. Talk about grinding!
Selena whipped out her phone, finding Brice in her contacts. Fortunately, he answered instantly.
"Hey, Selena, I - "
"DO NOT PLAY DARLING NIKKI!"
"But - but it's a love song," he sputtered. "You said love songs are fine."
"Brice," she said in a voice designed to kill via phone waves.
"It's about grinding and it's a love song!"
"It has the word mastur- " Her eyes cut over to her grandmother. "You know which word. Play ANYTHING else. Find a coffee song playlist."
"Um, okay. Will do."
Beep.
Abuela was already out of the car and chasing down Anne Petrinelli, who was walking a small black mutt that looked like a Beagle-Chihuahua mix. His name was Binky, and he was a rescue Anne had gotten last year from the town animal shelter.
"He needs eclipse glasses!" Abuela called out to Anne, who tilted her head in confusion, looking up at the sky, then at her grandmother's outstretched hand.
"Hi, Rosa. Selena," she greeted them, eyes jumping to the two coffee grinders Selena pulled out from the backseat. "Headed over to the flower shop?" Anne knew everything about anything happening in Luview, long before new spread.
"Yes," Selena said as Abuela tried valiantly to put the eclipse glasses on the little dog, who seemed to think they were a snack.
"What are you doing, Rosa?" For an uptight old woman, Anne was remarkably kind and patient with her grandmother, which Selena had to grudgingly admit made her nicer than she'd ever imagined. Anne was one of those town locals who made everyone toe the line when it came to regulations and rules, which made running the radio station a pain sometimes.
But, like every other human being on the planet, she was complex and nuanced. As she smiled at Selena's grandmother and let her try to put the glasses on Binky, who now seemed to think Rosa was playing a game, his head weaving around, successfully avoiding the glasses.
Binky 1, Abuela 0.
"May I ask why Rosa's putting glasses on my Binky?" Anne asked her as a new song came on the outdoor speakers. WLUV broadcast love songs downtown through outdoor speakers, at a low volume, but it lent the town a distinct air.
Led Zeppelin's “Whole Lotta Love” began. That was marginally better, but she needed to work with Brice on the rules.
"She's worried all the animals will look at the eclipse and go blind," Selena began to explain.
"Ah. I didn't know that was a worry. I read that the animals just think it's getting dark and so they tend to wind down and go to bed earlier. It's confusing for them, though. Like Daylight Savings Time."
"I hate Daylight Savings Time."
"Me, too," Anne confessed, then turned to Rosa. "Why don’t you give me the glasses and I'll make sure Binky wears them at the right time."
Abuela perked up. "Yes, please!"
They said their goodbyes and headed toward Love You Flowers, cutting through some back alleys, using a shortcut behind Kendrill's Market, the local grocery store. Even with the side route, Selena saw that Love You Coffee had a line two blocks long, maybe even three.
Fortunately, they encountered no animals long the way.
When they arrived, Love You Flowers was sounded like a sawmill.
Except they weren't cutting wood.
Instantly, Selena regretted not planning ahead. She had plenty of noise cancelling headphones back at the radio station. If someone could watch Abuela for her, she could run over and grab some.
Kill two birds with one stone, too, by giving Brice a little... in-person mentoring.
Lucinda Armistead, owner of Love You Chocolates and the only person in Love You, Maine who was older than her abuela, watched them come in, a rare grin covering her face as she spotted her grandmother. She set down a large platter of red foil chocolate hearts, crossed the room slowly, then opened her arms for a hug.
"Rosa," Lucinda said, though Selena wasn't sure she actually heard the word.
Skylar Lewiston, a barista at Love You Coffee, walked right up to Selena, took the coffee grinders from her hands, shoved the plugs into a giant powerstrip nearby, and poured beans into the reservoirs. Then she pointed, smiled, and moved on to circle the room, alternating between holding a large empty plastic container half full of ground coffee, and a bag of whole beans.
Lucinda pointed to the door and Selena followed her and her grandmother, until they were back outside and could hear.
"My goodness!" Lucinda declared as Rachel Hart touched Selena's shoulder, passing by to enter the flower shop. "Can't hear a thing in there!"
Abuela looked up at the sky, panic filing her eyes. "It's coming so soon!"
A plan formed in Selena's mind, quick and simple. "Miss Lucinda, can you watch - er, chat with Grandma for a few minutes? I have noise cancelling headphones at WLUV and can bring some back."
"Noise cancelling headphones? Like earplugs?"
"Sort of."
"Of course! Go! Anything to help my poor ears. I'm here to provide chocolate to anyone who comes with a grinder, so I would love ear plugs as I hand it out!"
It wasn't worth trying to explain the difference between noise cancelling headphones and ear plugs, so Selena took her shot and ran through the alleys to get to WLUV. As she walked past the back entrance of Love You Coffee, she was surprised to find Reef Matthews standing outside, leaning against a brick wall, eyes closed, a miserable expression on his face.
He held a small espresso shot coffee glass in his right hand, half full.
"Reef? You okay?"
She clearly startled him, his thick, dark locs jumping on his shoulders as he opened his eyes and glared at her. Exhaustion filled his big eyes, and she knew that look all too well.
It was the look of someone with responsibilities they knew they just had to get through. As the expression says, when you’re going through hell — keep going.
"Hey, Selena," he grunted. "Just need a breath or two. And some liquid reinforcement." He tapped his index finger on the rim of his espresso shot glass.
"I'm so sorry about the grinder. I'm getting noise cancelling headphones at the station, to help the volunteers next door."
He scratched his eyebrow, took a big swig of what was left in his glass, and looked at her. "Save a pair for me."
It wasn't a question.
"You get the best pair," she declared, then ran for the office. By the time she reached her desk, Led Zeppelin was over and Brice had mercifully switched to an old Carpenters song.
"Brice! Stick to existing playlists. No Led Zeppelin. No Prince. Existing playlists."
"But I - "
"Darling Nikki? Really? Come on. You know better."
"Grind! It was the grind part! I thought it would be funny. We're allowed to be creative in this job, aren't we?"
"You are."
His smile was a little too self-satisfied.
"You're also expected to exhibit some basic judgment regarding your audience, the station's mission, and FCC rules."
He winced. "Right."
"You're doing well. It's Day 2. Don't mess up so early, okay? I took the week off to be with my grandmother. You can pick the songs. Just pick approved songs."
"Got it."
"Thank you."
Sliding headphones on one forearm, she maxxed out at nine of them, crooking her arm and heading back to the flower shop. The line for the coffee shop seemed to have increased. Didn't people drink coffee elsewhere? Love You Bakery - known to locals as Greta's - had coffee, too.
But it wasn't as good as Love You Coffee, not that she'd ever say that to Greta or her son, Wolf.
Reef wasn't in his place at the brick wall, but the back door to the coffee shop was open, so she popped in, running straight into Skylar Lewiston at full speed.
"Ouch!"
"Ugh!"
Three headphone sets clattered to the ground, and a bunch of coffee dust shot up Selena's nose, making her sneeze instantly three times in a row, bang bang bang.
"I'm so sorry!"
Reef appeared behind Skylar as Selena tried to speak, but she just sneezed again. Reef bent down and picked up the headphones, handing two back to her. He put one set on, tucking his locs carefully.
"Ahhhh," he said, turning back to the coffee machines as Skylar stared at the headphones.
"These are for the grinders!" Selena shouted toward Reef, but Skylar guided her out the back and toward the florist instead.
"He needs them. Reef is a walking, talking nerve right now."
"Why? I've never seen him so agitated. Grumpy, yes. Agitated? No."
"We're short staffed. The grinder broke. He's kicking himself for not having a spare, but money's tight. Something about a balloon payment that he just paid on some loan."
"Yikes."
The vibration from the out-of-sync grinders at Love You Flowers reminded Selena of a middle school jazz band.
Then a beautiful, ecstasy-inducing aroma struck her like a tidal wave of bliss.
Coffee.
Skylar took a pair of the headphones, then walked around the twelve or so folks running grinders, emptying them of ground coffee, filling them with whole bean. Selena spotted Deanna Luview running three cone-shaped grinders, wearing orange foam hunting earplugs. Stella ran two grinders, while her husband, Marty, ran one.
"Here," he shouted to Skylar. "Your arms must be exhausted. Let me collect, and you refill."
"Huh?" she replied, peeling one earpiece off. As Marty explained himself, Selena searched for her abuela, who she found outside on a bench with Lucinda, the two laughing until they were crying, her grandmother holding a small ball of red foil in her hand.
Lucinda caught Selena's eye and gave her a covert hand wave, a gesture Selena took to mean, I've got this well in hand.
Grateful, Selena went back inside just as Marty finished filling the plastic container.
"I'll deliver!" Selena said, looking at Skylar and miming her offer. Skylar nodded, then took a bottled water from Stella, slumping into a chair.
If she ran, she could trip, and the container weighed at least 15 pounds, so Selena measured her steps carefully, pausing briefly to watch traffic. To her surprise, one of the stoplights blinked yellow, part of the road she'd worked to avoid. In the middle of the intersection stood local police officer Rusty Drummond, dressed in a red Luview, Maine police force uniform, his pink cruiser parked nearby. He was using his hat to wave the left turn folks, his other hand free to encourage drivers to drive on past him.
If police chief Luke Luview has ordered this, the town was full of more tourists than expected.
Reef was outside again when she reached the back door.
"How's the line?" she asked.
"Longer than ever. The weather changed yesterday suddenly. Our part of Maine is one of the few areas that'll have a full, clear view of the eclipse. The news says hundreds of thousands of unexpected tourists are coming through here. I think every damn one of them is ordering a cortado right now."
She hefted the container into his arms. "You have enough milk for that?"
"At this rate, we might need to just park a herd in the back lot and milk the cows on the spot."
"Randy the Moose would just try to have sex with them."
An unexpected smile and - was that a bit of a laugh? -- came out of him. It faded as fast as it appeared, like a shooting star.
She saw the emptied previous container on the floor behind him and grabbed it.
"Thanks," he said.
"No problem. Everyone's here to help as long as you need it. You'll get through this."
"You're right. I needed the reminder."
She gave him a thumbs' up and jogged back to Love You Flowers, where a symphony of coffee grinders awaited her, her abuela was laughing with an old friend, and suddenly, WLUV cut on, Brice's soothing voice taking over the air:
Two and a half hours to full eclipse and here we go, folks, with a song that'll get you in the mood. A flash from the past, here's that 1983 smash hit, Bonnie Tyler's -
"Nooooo!" she groaned. "Don’t do it! That's not a love song, Brice!"
Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Abuela Got Walter No
If you haven’t read any of my Love You, Maine books, start with Love You Wrong, which is 100% free:
Got an eclipse story to share? Let me know in comments!
Thank you for the story, it gave me a chuckle. A bit of sun on a darkish day
This story is hilarious! I love Abuela and her glasses for the animals