The Spaceship
For as long as I can
remember I've wanted to go into space. It always seemed so far away,
so alien, so not here.
When I was eight or
nine I would spend much of the summer holidays in the back garden
peering at the Moon with a spy glass one of the teachers from school
gave me. It wasn't much good, and it was certainly no telescope, but
I was captivated when I saw that rugged, grey ball dangling before my
eyes. Back then I thought that the lunar seas actually were
seas and I would spend hours dreaming-up all manner of animals that
would swim and splosh about in its dark, broad surf. When I finally
found out that the moon was barren and lifeless I was devastated; all
the animals that I'd dreamt-up were made extinct in an instant, their
eggs unhatched, their fossils never found.
My despair was
short-lived however, for then I started to read about other planets
like Mars and also the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and then on one
bright summer evening I remember a man on the news talking about the
latest planet that they'd seen orbiting other stars. After that I
didn't even need my spy-glass (I begged my Mum and Dad to buy me a
telescope but they said that they couldn't afford it) to peer into
space. All I needed was a clear, star-filled night and my imagination
would run wild. I would picture myself journeying from one planet to
another in some super-duper spaceship, as I met a whole host of
fantastical aliens, whilst I climbed mountains higher than Everest on
planets bigger and more exotic than Earth.
I clearly remember the
night before Gaz Finch beat me up – I'd lost another pen fight
again – and I'd been staring up at the silver webs of stars asking
– no praying - to be taken away to somewhere up there,
anywhere so long as it wasn't on Earth and I wasn't at that
school anymore and the kids weren't even remotely human. I didn't
expect my wish to actually come true though. I mean how many kids who
wish for a better life away from teachers and homework and bullies
actually get one?
For as long as I live
– and judging by my current situation that may not be long at all –
that day will be forever etched into my mind with indelible ink. Gaz
had only just stopped clubbing me with his knuckles when I saw that
thing swoop down through the pearl-blue sky like a huge,
silver dart. I still don't understand why I wasn't afraid when I saw
that thing hanging over the field – I mean as Gaz punched and
kicked me all over my body I was so scared that I could barely
breathe, let alone hit him back. But when I saw that thing dangling
there like a giant silver tear drop I actually felt calm enough to
walk up to it and touch it. Was I mad? What was I thinking of? Would
I go up to a lion at the zoo and pet its nose?! I should've ran away
back to my parents, back to my cold and draughty home, sat in front
of the T.V and forgotten all about space and spaceships.
But how was I supposed
to know that the outside of the spaceship was one big Jack-entering
button? No sooner had I touched the thing but what I re-appeared
inside the spaceship, alone but for my awe-struck reflection peering
back at me from the other side of the wall. No matter what I tried I
couldn't get out. It didn't matter how much I hammered away at the
walls a door didn't open and no emergency space beam zapped me back
out into the meadow. I was stuck.
And that is why I'm
now walking around these corridors, completely and utterly lost, my
heart speeding like a race car, wondering if I'll ever get out. Me
and my stupid wishes ...
If you want to read more of my adventures you can check out:
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