Astronauts on Pluto Read online

  I was a little excited because I would get to push buttons again. I like to push buttons. Nina and Madison got in their seats and buckled in so I did the same.

  “Are you ready,” Nina asked. Madison and I nodded our heads. “Okay. Let’s go,” she said.

  We sat back in our seats and got ready for takeoff. Again it was a lot like a plane. We just rolled along the ground and then suddenly we shot into the air. As we got higher into space, Nina put her headset back on and got ready to contact NASA.

  “Houston, this is Pluto III reporting back. Over,” Nina said.

  “Pluto III, this is Houston. It is so good to have you back. We will see you back on Earth. Have a good flight. Houston over and out.”

  Nina replied, “Thanks Houston. Pluto III over and out.”

  “Well, here we go guys. We are headed for home,” said Madison.

  ••Seven••

  The ride back to earth was pretty awesome too. We saw Neptune, Jupiter, Uranus, and Saturn!! Saturn was the coolest. We could see the rings around it. It was a smooth ride up until we got to the asteroid belt. I was sitting in my seat thinking about how I couldn’t wait to show mom my rocks from Pluto. Madison and Nina looked to be resting. It had already been a long day and we were all pretty tired. Suddenly I heard a ding outside. It sounded like a small rock had hit the spaceship. Before we could look up a much bigger ding was heard. That got all our attention. Nina grabbed the controls of the spaceship as we all looked out the window.

  “Do you see what I see,” Madison asked in a frightened voice.

  “What is it,” I asked.

  “The asteroid belt,” said Nina. “Everybody buckle up and hold on. It’s about to get bumpy!!”

  As we looked out all you could see were giant pieces of rocks floating through space. Some were as big as or bigger than our spaceship and some were smaller. But any of them could damage our ship if we hit one of them. Nina nervously steered her way through the massive rocks while Madison helped with some of the controls. I just sat back and watched. This was not the time to complain about pushing buttons.

  “Look out, Nina,” I yelled as one big rock came really close. Nina pulled on the controller hard and we all fell to the right but we missed the asteroid.

  “Thanks, Mark, that was a close one,” Nina said.

  “Just get us out of here,” said Madison.

  “I am trying,” said Nina. “Just don’t panic Madison. We have to all work together to get out of this.”

  “Okay,” replied Madison.

  Madison and Nina worked together in silence for a few more minutes when suddenly there was a loud noise. We would have fallen out of our seats if we had not been buckled in. The spaceship started spinning.

  “Do something, Nina,” shouted Madison.

  “I can’t!!” Nina shouted back.

  We were spinning out of control and I thought I was about to throw up. But I had to help my friends. I unbuckled my belt and tried to make my way to the front of the space ship.

  “What are you doing, Mark,” asked Madison.

  “We all have to work together,” I replied. I put my hand on the controller over Nina’s. Madison got out of her seat and did the same. Together, we all pulled on the controller until the space ship stopped spinning.

  “Wow! That worked. Thanks, Mark,” said Nina. “That was very brave of you.”

  “We did it together,” I said. “We can do amazing things when we all work together.”

  We all kind of just sat there for a minute after that letting our stomachs settle. I felt like I was going to be sick.

  “Look guys. We are out of the asteroid belt. There is Mars,” said Nina. “Look, it really does look red.”

  “This has been the most coolest adventure,” I replied.

  “It has been the maximum awesomest,” responded Madison

  “Look, I see Earth,” said Nina. “We are almost home.”

  We all stopped for a moment. The view of earth took our breath away. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. And in the past few hours I have seen some pretty cool things. Suddenly I can’t wait to get home. I miss my mom. I look at Nina and Madison and can tell they are looking forward to going home too. Just a few more hours and we will be able to reenter Earth’s atmosphere.

  ••Eight••

  “Mark, time to wake up,” I heard my mom say from somewhere far away. Time to wake up? It was just a dream? But it was so real.

  “Mark, I need you to get up, Honey. You have to get ready for school. Come on, Son. I have been calling you for ten minutes,” mom said sounding frustrated.

  “I’m up,” I replied sleepily.

  “It’s about time,” Mom replied. “You must have been having some dream. You never take this long to wake up.”

  “Yeah, Mom, it was a really awesome dream.”

  I climbed out of bed and got dressed for school while I was telling mom all about my dream. She listened and nodded all while trying to get me fed and ready for school. I almost forgot to brush my teeth again. But mom reminded me. She drove me to school and kissed me at the door.

  “Moooomm,” I said, “Not in front of the other kids.”

  Mom just laughed and said, “Have a good day, Honey.”

  When I got to my class room I saw Madison and Nina. I ran over to them and at the same time we all yelled, “I had the most awesomest dream ever last night.”

  Okay that was weird. Could it be we all had the same dream? We started telling each other about our dreams and sure enough we all had the same dream. How weird is that? We sat down for class as the teacher called roll. I couldn’t wait until recess so we could talk about our dreams some more.

  Finally the teacher let us go to recess. We gathered on the monkey bars in the middle of the playground. We were not really interested in playing right then. We had more important things to discuss. So we sat on top and talked about our dream.

  “How could we all have the same dream,” asked Madison.

  “Yeah, that is too weird,” replied Nina.

  “Well, it is weird,” I said, “but it was just a dream.”

  Just then I hung upside down on the monkey bars and something fell out of my pocket. I climbed down to pick it up. It was a rock. It was a black rock like coal on the outside with pink, purple, and blue on the inside. I stood up slowly.

  “Hey Guys?” Madison and Nina climbed down to see what I was looking at. When they saw the rock in my hand they reached into their pockets and pulled out identical rocks.

  “NO WAY” we shouted at the same time.

  Everyone turned to look at us but we just ignored them. We had just had the most awesomest adventure ever!!!

  ###

  About the Author

  Marie Jacobs is the mother of three teenagers. She enjoys reading as much as she does writing. The idea for these stories came from listening to her children discuss their dreams and adventures. What beautiful imaginations children have.

  ••Coming Soon••

  Baseball in Atlanta

  Madison has a really cool dad. He loves kids and he is always taking us places where we can play and be a kid. He is kinda like a big kid himself. One day he took us to the mall to play video games at Chucky Cheese. I like going with Madison’s dad to Chucky Cheese. He is so much fun. I try to beat him on the basketball games but he always wins. But I beat him on the skateboard game.

  Well, this time we were walking through the mall to go to the video games when we saw a long line of people.

  “What are all those people standing in line for,” asked Madison.

  “I don’t know, Honey,” Madison’s dad responded.

  When we got closer we could see the line of people was coming from the Comic Book II.

  That store has all kinds of baseball cards and coins and other things people like to collect. I drag my mom in there every time we come to the mall. I like to
look at the baseball cards. Sometimes mom will let me buy some. I have a whole bunch of them at home. I like to trade them with my friends at school.

  “There sure are a lot of people trying to get in that store,” said Nina. “I wonder what they are looking at? What in the world could be so interesting in a comic book store?”

  “Maybe they are looking at a baseball card,” I said.

  “Are you kidding? No one would stand in a line that long to see a dumb ole baseball card,” says Madison.

  “Look,” said Nina. “There is a guy in a baseball uniform. It looks like he is signing autographs.”

  “Wow,” I exclaimed. “Who is it?”

  “How am I supposed to know? You’re the baseball fan. You tell me,” replied Nina.

  “I can’t see him,” I said standing on tiptoe trying to look around the crowd of people.

  “I can,” said Madison’s dad. “It’s Justin Thomas from the Atlanta Tomahawks! Can you believe it?”

  “Oh boy,” I yelled. “Can we get his autograph? Pleeeeaaassssseee?” I asked in the whining, begging voice that adults hate. I can’t help it. I love Justin Thoma. I would die if I had his autograph.

  “No, dad,” Madison said, rolling her eyes at me. “I don’t want to stand in line. I want to play video games.”

  Madison’s dad looked from Madison to me and back again. “Tell you what, Angel Princess. What if I go right over there and get cookies and frozen cokes for us while we stand in line,” he asked looking at the cookie store.

  Madison flipped her hair, crossed her arms, and wrinkled her nose. You could tell she was thinking about it real hard. She loved cookies and frozen cokes from the cookie store but she hated baseball. I gave her my very best pleading look.

  “Oh, all right,” Madison said.

  “Yipee,” I yelled, jumping up and down. “Justin Thomas, here we come!!”

  Madison’s dad walked over to the cookie store and we got in line to wait our turn. I was so excited I could barely stand still.

  “Mark, calm down,” Nina said. “You look like you need to use the bathroom dancing around like that.”

  Madison giggled, but I stopped moving immediately. Madison just laughed harder.

  “I can’t help it,” I said. “It’s Justin Thomas. When I grow up, I am going to be a baseball player just like him.”

  Madison’s dad came back with cookies and frozen cokes for each of us. He knows just what we like. I get the M&M cookie, Nina the chocolate cookie, and Madison the sugar cookie. It took almost half an hour but soon I was standing there in front of Justin Thomas. He signed the baseball cap I was wearing but I was so tongue tied, I could only stare at him. Madison’s dad had to do all the talking.

  After we left, we went to play video games, but all I could think about was Justin Thomas and the autograph. It was so cool.

  Later that night, I told mom all about meeting Justin Thomas and him signing my baseball cap. I was so excited and she was trying to calm me down. She wanted me to get in bed but didn’t she understand there was no way I was going to sleep tonight!

  “Honey, I know you are excited, but it is time for bed. Now lay down,” she said firmly. She gave me that look that says she means business and turned off the light. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t go to sleep. This was the coolest day of my life. Justin Thomas talked to me. I know I didn’t talk back, but Justin Thomas actually talked to me!

  I could not wait for school the next day so I could brag to all the guys in our class. They are gonna be so jealous. Maybe Madison and Nina won’t tell them I choked and couldn’t talk to the man.

  It took a while but I finally was able to close my eyes and drift off to sleep. What happened next was amazing.

  ###