Every morning is the same. Dimpled aluminum seawater makes a crude mirror. People stir on their boats. Chatter bounces to shore like a stone on a lake. Birds fuss in the pines. Grey-bellied clouds stack like scoops of ice cream. The sun shines. Its light is eight minutes out of sync today. It's out of sync every day.

Our star is growing. We don't notice it now, but one day it will eat its young.

(Image credit: NASA)