about nine o'clock
She came in and had a beer with us and talked to Doc about his plan for educating Joey at home . But she could n't tell us anything more about the kid 's new fixation than we already knew . When she asked him why he stared up at the sky like that he 'd say only that he wants something to remember Charlie by . It was about nine o'clock , when Ethel went home to cook supper . Doc and I knocked off our cribbage game and went outside with our folding chairs to get some air . It was then that the first star moved . It moved all of a sudden , the way any shooting star does , and shot across the sky in a curving , blue-white streak of fire .