Sally's Rocket Adventure

            by Clio Berhardson-Massolo

 

            Once there was a little girl named Sally, who always loved to look up at the stars. She would lie in her backyard in the summertime and imagine what other planets must be like. She thought that they must be amazing places with strange and wonderful beings living on them.

 

 

            One day, Sally decided that she wanted to visit these places herself, so she set about building a rocket ship. She got some sheets of metal and a few nails from her father, and pretty soon she had an honest-to-goodness rocket ship sitting on her back lawn. All she had left to do was get some snacks, a change of clothes, and Pookoo, her teddy bear, and she was ready to take off.

            Sally got into her rocket, closed the door, and pressed the big red button, and soon she and Pookoo were soaring through the skies. All at once, they broke free of earth’s gravity, and there they were, in outer space!

 

 

            Sally saw stars everywhere, and pretty soon, she saw a big brown planet coming up.

            “I wonder who lives there?” she said to Pookoo. “Let’s go and see.” So Sally steered her rocket towards the planet, and landed with a plop on the rough, dusty ground. Stepping outside, she noticed that the air was very, very dry. Soon she saw someone walking by her. He had a big backpack and he looked like he was going somewhere in a rush.

            “Excuse me,” Sally piped up. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”

            “Well,” said the alien. “As you can see, there is no water here. We were very foolish and wasted it all, and now we have none. Since we all need water to survive, we have to move somewhere else.”

            “How did you use up all your water?” Sally asked.

            “We all thought that there was so much of it, that it was going to last forever. However, we were all very mistaken. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to find a new place to live.” With that, the alien trundled off.

 

 

            “That’s very sad,” Sally said to Pookoo. “I hope they find somewhere to go where they won’t waste water anymore. I’ll make sure I never waste water, so that I don’t end up like them. There’s not much more to see here, let’s find some other planet to visit.” So Sally and Pookoo got back in the rocket, pressed the big red button, and were blasted back into space.

            After traveling a while longer, they came upon a large red planet. “This looks like a good place to go,” she said. “I wonder who lives there?” Again Sally steered her rocket towards the planet, and landed smack-dab in the red dirt. When they got out of the rocket, she noticed that Pookoo, since he didn’t have a spacesuit, was having some trouble breathing.

            Suddenly, an alien rushed past her with a large suitcase in his hands.

            “Excuse me, sir!” called Sally. “Wait! Could I talk to you?” The alien looked at her and frowned, but then waited for her to catch up to him.

            “I haven’t got any time, miss!” the alien cried. “Since we used up all the trees on my planet, not enough oxygen is being produced! We might run out at any moment!”

            “Oh, no!” said Sally. “That’s terrible!”

            “Yes,” said the alien, “It is. We thought that there were so many trees, we’d never run out, so we kept making everything out of wood. Now I have to find somewhere else to live.” The alien scurried off to find a home.

 

 

            “How horrible!” said Sally, “I’ll make sure I never waste trees. I want to be able to breathe for the rest of my life. Let’s visit a different planet, Pookoo.” So they got back into the rocket and pressed the big red button. Soon they were zipped back into outer space again.

            After traveling a little while longer, Sally and Pookoo found yet another planet, this one was huge and gray. “Let’s try one more planet, and see if it is any better than the rest, huh, Pookoo?” Pookoo agreed, so Sally steered the rocket towards the planet and crunched onto the hard, concrete ground.

            All around them on this planet were big, dirty buildings and giant smoke-spewing factories. The smog in the air was so thick, Sally could hardly see Pookee right in front of her, but she managed to see a large alien bustling away from her with a shopping cart full of things.

            “Hold on, mister!” shouted Sally. “Could I talk to you for a bit? What’s going on here?”

            “Well I was right on my way to the airport, missy, I haven’t got much time to talk, or I’ll miss my flight,” said the alien. “This planet has become so unpleasant to live in, everyone is moving away. Everything has been cleared away to make buildings and factories, so the lack of habitat and all this pollution has made all the animals go extinct! No one wants to live in a world without animals, so we’re all moving away. Hopefully we can find a place to live where the animals won’t be afraid of us.” And he stomped off to the airport.

 

 

            “This really is a tragedy,” said Sally. “Those poor animals are all gone. I’ll make sure to do my best to preserve wildlife as long as I live! Well, Pookoo, it’s getting late. Maybe we should go home. I just realized how much work there is to do on planet earth if we don’t want it to end up like these planets.” So Sally and Pookoo got back into the rocket one last time, pressed the button one last time, and zoomed out to outer space one last time.

            Soon they got near to their home planet, earth. Sally landed with a soft thump on the green grass in her backyard. It was getting very late, so she went inside and gratefully went to sleep in her own soft, warm bed, cuddling with Pookoo.

 

 

            The next morning, Sally and Pookoo went to work right away. The first thing Sally did was to build a big tank right next to her house, where the water from the gutters would go when it rained. This water could be used for almost everything in the house except drinking. She also convinced her parents to put in a dishwasher and toilets that wouldn’t waste as much water. That way, she could help the world conserve water.

            The next thing she did was to go around her neighborhood with a big bag of seeds. Every few feet, she knelt down on the ground, made a small hole in the soil, and planted her seeds. She planted big trees, small flowers, and everything in between. This way, in a few years, there would be many plants and more than enough oxygen.

            The last thing she did that day was to build new habitats for animals in her neighborhood. She built cozy nests for birds, with birdfeeders hanging next to them. She made comfortable little burrows in a field for the mice to live in. She created homes out of empty flowerpots near a pond for toads to live in. This way, all the animals would have a place to live and would stay in the neighborhood.

            At the end of the day, Sally felt very tired, but she felt proud in knowing that she had helped the world grow a little bit better.