Bill and the Boom Box Rocket

Bill always dreamed of flying to the moon. One summer evening when Bill was trying to go to sleep, his big brother Ron was playing his new boom box too loud. Bill put on his headphones and played a tape that had the sound of the ocean waves.

Bill’s eyes closed, and he began to dream about flying to the moon in a rocket ship.

The rocket ship was just big enough for two astronauts, he and his brother Ron.

Bill said, ‘Navigator ready?’

Ron called back, ‘Navigator ready.’

‘Mission control ready?’ Bill asked into the headset.

‘Mission control ready. We will begin countdown in ten seconds, nine seconds, eight seconds’ . . . Bill’s heart began to race . . . ‘two seconds, one . . . BLAST OFF!’

Bill and Ron were thrown back into their seats. They could feel the skin on their faces stretch back. Their arms felt like they weighed 100 pounds each. Their rocket ship zoomed up into the sky so fast everything out the window was just a blur. Just a couple of minutes later everything got really smooth and quiet. Now they were in outer space!

Bill was sitting in the front seat and Ron was behind. Bill asked Ron, ‘What does it look like out the back?’

‘The Earth is just a blue and white ball. You can see clouds and oceans, but you cannot see any cities or trees.’

Ron asked, ‘Can you see the moon coming up?’

‘Yes, I see it,’ Bill said. ‘I think we will be there in 30 minutes. We’re going 25,000 miles per hour and it is about 50,000 miles to the moon.’

‘Cool,’ said Ron. ‘I will listen to some music on my boom box.’

‘You brought your boom box?’ Bill was annoyed.

‘You know I don’t go anywhere without my boom box,’ said Ron. He turned on the music and the boys listened. Time quickly passed.

‘Mission control to Bill,’ came over the headsets.

‘Bill here.’ ‘

Prepare for landing in two minutes, ‘said the voice.

‘Roger,’ said Bill.

The rocket ship landed very roughly. Both Bill and Ron’s airbags were deployed.

When they came to rest, Ron asked, ‘Bill, are you Okay.?’

‘Yes, I’m okay but that airbag hit me in the face. Let’s look around and see if the rocket ship is Okay.’

‘Good idea,’ said Ron.

They put on their moon suits which were big and heavy. It had air conditioners to cool them in the heat and a heater to warm them up in the cold. Since they were in outer space, it could be below freezing in the shade and get so hot in the sunrays that you could get burned. When they stepped outside, they were floating on air for they only weighed about six pounds. They bounced when they walked; about ten feet with each step.

They picked some moon rocks as souvenirs. Then they began to examine the rocket to make sure it would fly for the return trip. Things did not look good. A part of the ship with the rocket starter was damaged. The batteries were completely destroyed. The boys were afraid that they might be trapped on the moon.

‘What are we going to do?’ asked Ron, looking scared.

‘I don’t know,’ Bill answered. ‘Let’s call Mission Control and see if they have any suggestions.’

They went back inside, and called Mission Control. ‘We will get back to you’ was the answer. They needed time to think.

‘We only have food and water for one more day,’ Ron reminded Bill.

‘Yes, we will really need to save it.’

 Nervously, they sat in their seats and waited for Mission Control. No reply.

After a while, Bill jumped up and said, ‘I’ve got it! Give me your boom box.’

 Ron gave his boom box. Bill took it and turned it on and smiled.

Then Bill turned off the music and flipped the boom box upside down. He opened the battery compartment and took out the eight large batteries. ‘I think we can tape these together and make one big battery that will start the rocket,’ said Bill. ‘Hand me that duct tape from the tool kit.’

 ‘Sounds like a good idea to me,’ said Ron. Bill lined up the batteries and taped them together. He connected a wire to the batteries on each end and hooked one up to the starter. He took the other wire and ran it back up to his seat. Bill told Ron to get into his seat. ‘If I touch the wire to the metal on the dashboard, the starter should work and we can blast-off.”’

Ron hoped that he was right. ‘Are you ready?’ Bill asked Ron, ‘Here goes!’ As he touched the wire to the dashboard, they could hear the roar of the rocket. Before they knew it, they were zooming back through space towards earth.

 ‘Yippee!’ Both yelled.

Just then, Bill’s mom pulled the headphones off and told him to go to sleep. It was easy for Bill because he hoped he could pick up his rocket ship dream right where he left off.