WELL, SOMEONE’S GOTTA GO TO SPACE
“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Ah, dang it!”
Well, someone’s gotta go to space and I guess it’s gotta be me. I kicked the lawn chair a good couple of times to make sure it was sturdy and everything. Seems pretty sturdy to me so I guess I’m pretty much good to go. I asked one of the nerdy kids with glasses where he got the fireworks from and he said they’re top-of-the-line firecrackers he got from his dad’s garage. He promised they’d get me into space but nowhere near the moon. I think that’s okay. I’d rather just go to space. What even is there to do on the moon?
One of the other boys stole that huge parachute from the gym during P.E. yesterday. It’s got some holes in it but the nerd promised me that it would still help me land the spaceship when it was time to come back to earth. During re-entry.
We’ve already got food and everything figured out. I heard it’s cold in space so I packed hot cocoa to warm me up and astronaut ice cream that I got on a field trip. I’ve been saving a pack for the journey, I just didn’t think I was going to be the one going up in the ship. I should have gone with scissors, dang it!
My space suit is made out of tin foil and this really sick hockey mask we found out by the creek a few days ago. I can’t see very well but I heard there’s not too much to see in space anyway because once you get up there it’s pretty dark. Lots of people don’t know that but me and the boys know all about space because we’re learning in class and have some books on it. There’s nothing to see in space because it’s a vacuum.
We have two-way walkie-talkies to help stay in touch on the mission. David’s older cousin got them for her birthday and he’s borrowing them for a little bit. They’ve got two channels so if we go out of range of one of them we’ll just switch to the other one. We ran a lot of tests on them around the neighborhood and they work really well except if you’re inside. David thinks the walls get in the way or something. No walls in space though, so we’ll be alright.
There’s not really any way to steer the lawn chair after takeoff so I’m just going to have to go straight up and then come straight down, but that’s okay. Like I said, there isn’t much to do up there anyway. Maybe, if I’m lucky I can see a shooting star.
At first I wasn’t very excited to go but now that I’m sitting on the ship I feel a lot better about it. I bet all the other boys are jealous they can’t go.
The nerdy kid (he’s new in town, I don’t know his name) adds more duct tape to the fireworks at the bottom of the ship and gives me a big thumbs up. David hands me the hockey mask and his bike helmet. I put them on and he asks me to bring him something back from space. I ask him what he means and he says he was just kidding but I don’t think he was kidding. David knows the least about space out of all of us. He failed the science test on space last week.
One time David got us all in trouble at school for stuffing paper towels and toilet paper into all of the toilets and having us flush them at the same time. My mom was not really happy about that and I got grounded. I don’t think David got in any trouble though. He never really does. His parents are not very strict. They’re also not home a lot, which is why we’re in his backyard right now. We built the launchpad out of cardboard a few days ago but it rained and everything got soggy. Nerd wanted to delay the launch but I told him I’d punch him if he did. He started going on and on about how rain could mess it all up and how beautiful the water cycle was so I punched him like I said I would. I did warn him though, so I don’t feel bad about it. I don’t usually feel bad. Sometimes I feel bad after I yell at my little sister and she cries. She’s just a baby though so maybe she won’t remember the yelling or the crying.
We do a quick walkie-talkie check to make sure they work and that everyone has the batteries in the right way. After that, they start to duct-tape me into the seat so that I don’t float away in zero gravity.
I’m ready to go.
David gives me a countdown on the walkie. Nerd holds a magnifying glass up to the fireworks and says we have to pause the launch until the clouds get out of the way of the sun, so we have to wait. And we wait.
Shawn (David’s little brother, the lookout) says he sees someone coming so everyone else scatters and hides because we’re not supposed to have fireworks anymore but I can’t scatter or hide because I’m taped to the ship.
I can’t see very well through the mask but I think I see my older sister biking off the sidewalk and towards David’s backyard.
“What do you want?!” I yell just in case it actually is her.
“Mom said you have to come home because dinner’s ready.”
That’s her voice. Dang it!
“Uh,” I try to think of an excuse but end up going with, “I’m not hungry!”
“Too bad, dude. You have to come home now. Are those fireworks?!”
“Uh, no!” David says from somewhere behind me.
“Okay well, whatever. Mom needs you home,” she says in her stupid voice.
I really want to argue but I know it’s over. What power does an astronaut have against dinnertime?
Love this one!