In this “wonderful first novel” an astrophysicist struggles with returning to her career in science after putting it on hold for her family ( The Grand Rapids Press ). Raised to believe that she could do anything, astronomer Jillian Greer dreamed of going into space. When she and her research partner Kera Sullivan invented a specialized telescope, it looked as though these two dogged scientists would fulfill the dream they shared. But ten years later, while Kera trains in a space simulator, Jillian is married with children, packing lunches and helping her kids with homework. With her field’s archaic “all or nothing” mindset, maintaining both a family life and a scientific career seems like an impossible task. As her fortieth birthday draws near, Jillian decides that she must give her career one more shot. Leaving her family for ten days, one day for each year she has put her career on hold, she seeks solitude in the sand dunes of Lake Michigan, where she struggles to see if she can find her way back to the stars. "Maryann Lesert portrays engaging characters, along with breathtaking recreations of the natural world, and a fascinating introduction to the world of astronomy.” — Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife "Lesert's writing is remarkable... a wonderful first novel... Never have I dog-eared a novel as I have this one... [Recommended] to all who are finding their way through the maze of motherhood, marriage, love and dreams." — The Grand Rapids Press Maryann Lesert lives and works in West Michigan, where she is an assistant professor of English at Grand Rapids Community College. She received a dual BA in Art and English from Western Michigan University, and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University in Louisville, KY. Lesert is a prolific playwright whose works include Superwoman , The Music in the Mess , and Natural Causes , a finalist for the 2001 Princess Grace Foundation's National Playwright's Fellowship. Recently, she has published short plays in The Art of the One Act and The Best Ten Minute Plays 2007 . Base Ten A Novel By Maryann Lesert Feminist Press Copyright © 2009 Maryann Lesert All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55861-581-6 Contents 1. Day One — Settling In, 2. The Great Rift, 3. Time, 4. Day Two — Sully's Depot, 5. Day Two — Sunset, 6. A Long Smokies Day, 7. Peia Again, 8. Day Three — Inland, 9. Couples, 10. Open Drawers, 11. Day Four — South Manitou, Life on the Main Sequence, 12. The Call, 13. To the Roof, 14. Something and Nothing to Prove, 15. Day Five — The Old Man, 16. Bad Mornings, 17. Day Six — The Lighthouse, White Dwarf, 18. Any Woman, 19. On the Star Deck, 20. Evelyn Young, 21. Pictures, 22. Time in Heaven, 23. More Pictures, 24. In Tens, 25. Day Seven — His Body, Red Giant, 26. Namesake, 27. Day Seven — A Theory of Dreams, Binary Systems, 28. Day Eight — The Waters of Hamlin, 29. Day Eight — Telescope of Trees, 30. Day Nine — Late Night Radio Call, 31. Day Ten — Back to South Manitou, 32. Day Ten — What Mishe-Mokwa Knows, 33. Day Eleven — Call Home, Glossary, Acknowledgments, Afterword: Balancing Lives for Women (and Men) in Science by Florence Howe and Sue V. Rosser, Works Cited, CHAPTER 1 Day One — Settling In AFTER THE BLEACHING SUN AND asphalt of the expressway, Jillian's turn onto Forest Trail was a turn into a world of color. Yellows, greens, browns, blacks, heightened against a turquoise sky. Turquoise! The water, the big lake, must be feeding the sky. She had driven the busiest route on purpose — taking 23 north from Ann Arbor, 96 around Lansing, through Grand Rapids and on to Muskegon — to remind her, as she headed further and further north along Lake Michigan's shoreline, why she needed ten days alone. More than days. Through days filled with hiking to near exhaustion and nights standing at the water's edge, open to the stars, open to everything the stars had always meant to her, she would listen. She would listen so intently that only the cold water lapping over her toes would remind her she was of Earth, but still part of a great infinite stir. She passed a huge, brown sign with yellow-gold letters stamped into its painted wood, You are now entering the Manistee National Forest, and she slowed to take it all in: the bright yellow patches of poplar and birch leaves among the darker greens of oaks and pines, and the forest floor covered with ferns, deep greens tinged with rust. It had been an especially hot summer. Even the air flowing through her windows felt saturated with hot and cold and color, and she breathed deeply, smelling the overly sweet scents of wildflowers in the sun, the tang of pine in the shade. For ten or twelve miles the road cut straight into the woods, and she couldn't help thinking of her typical drive home: from the highway to the land of strip malls and research buildings on Victor's Way; past apartment complexes and condominiums and houses too big for their