Mr. Vale’s classroom projector broke during the astronomy unit. With thirty restless children and no stars on the ceiling, he emptied peppercorns onto black paper and began arranging the night sky by hand.
The children loved it. Black pepper became distant planets. White pepper became moons. Pink pepper marked comets. One student pushed seven peppercorns into a crooked spoon shape and named it The Hungry Bear, because it appeared just before lunch.
Years later, one of those students became an astronomer. She discovered a cluster of young stars and, with official seriousness, named it after the classroom constellation that had started everything. Mr. Vale framed the announcement beside an old pepper grinder and told every new class that the universe could begin with whatever was already on the desk.