The House on Maple Street

It was a perfect lift-off. Everyone was there, watching, as the first men to walk on the moon began to fly. The sky was getting dark, the air smelled of popcorn and gasoline, and all the little kids’ faces turned up towards the sky as their heroes began a legendary journey into space. Space, the final frontier, where every single child in 1969 wanted to be. It’s where I wanted to be.

The loud noise of the blast off hurt my ears, but the sight was fantastic. I could feel the boom under my feet and see it right before my eyes. The space ship rocketed through the atmosphere into the thousands of glittering stars and the open abyss of space. I marveled, amazed by all things around me. I could hear the giant sound of the lift-off still spinning in my ears, smell all of the mechanics and feel the heat of the launch still blanketing the spectators. Up and up, it kept going, and the farther away it got the less I could see it. My neck was so far bent back I was afraid I might lose sight of the precious spacecraft. All too soon, it was lost into the cravasse of weightless space.

That night, long past my bedtime, we got home and I crawled into bed. Dad came in and slid my glasses off, setting them on the nightstand, and then tucked me in like a hot dog in a bun. "Night, daddy," I smiled. "Goodnight, son," he smiled and shut out the light. As I drifted into sleep, I sighed. Precious memories of the launch danced in my mind and filled my thoughts as I slid into a different weightless space- sleep.

A low rumble shook my bed and filled my nostrils with the same smells of the take off earlier that evening. It was still dark in my room, not time to get up yet, and the big tree outside my bedroom window kept getting smaller and smaller. I ran to the window and looked outside, absolutely shocked by the fire under our house. It was a lift off of our very own and it was just as unreal as the rocket launch earlier! The Maple Street sign faded and all of the houses next to mine got smaller and smaller as we greeted the stars. I held on to the windowsill and tried to see out of the window farther; but by now we were too far away for me to see anything but the ocean and the very small lights of the city.

Soon, my home city was far gone and all that filled my vision were stars and the far away sphere of blue and green that was Earth. Our house was still going fast, pointed straight for the moon. I ran down the stairs and to our patio door, where little droplets of water had stuck to the glass pane outside and ran down it in cracklike patterns. The great cratered moon loomed in the distance and our house began to slow for a landing.

The room shook as we hit the ground, and on the horizon I could see strange movements, disturbances on the surface of dust, as if little tiny people were walking around. Slowly, I opened up the door, not sure of what the stirring was in the distance. I didn’t know where my family was, but I assumed that they must be asleep, and I deemed that it was safe to explore. With each step I bounced a little as if I was hopping on a trampoline. The terrain was powdery and chalky, and my shoes built up with a new layer of the dust every time I planted my foot down in a new place.

Farther and farther away from the house I ventured, and I came upon strange little footsteps with only three toes. Following them, I found a small hole in the ground. "Hello?" I shouted down the passage. "Who’s in there?" Nobody answered. Slowly, with as much caution someone as excited as I could muster, I sat on the edge of the gap and let my legs dangle in. Nothing happened, so I slid the rest of the way. Dark obscurity embraced me and I spread my arms onward to help me find my way.

A small pin of light was glinting in the distance and I dashed towards it, hoping it was a way out of this tunnel or a way to whatever I had seen marching earlier. As I arrived at the dot of light, I saw that it was actually a button, like a doorbell. Slowly I reached a trepidatious finger to the button and pressed it. A small, three fingered hand reached out to me from the darkness and I held onto it as it pulled me into another passageway. As we approached another light I saw that it was blue in color and very short, with two arms and two legs. It seemed to be rather humanoid, without hair.

"Where are you from?" It whispered in a small, timid voice.

"Earth, the planet that this moon belongs to," I answered.

"We see Earth," It smiled, knowing I was a friend. "What is your name?"

"Douglas," I whispered, seeing many other blue people appear as we approached a clearing from the tunnel. "Do you have a name?"

"I have a name, of sorts. They call me Cosmo."

"Oh." I was nervous. Many of the little people were watching me and I was afraid. "Why did you bring me here?"

"You came here yourself," Cosmo said, with a small frown. "I assumed you were the one."
"The one?"

"Yes, the great ruler of Earth, here to take home our treasures and change the world forever."

"You’ve been mistaken. I must be getting home…" I trailed off nervously, hoping they would let me go. My legs were hurting from each hopping step I had taken earlier and my head was spinning from all of the eyes directed upon me.

"If you wish, however remember that you could be setting back Earth hundreds of years. Do not leave because you are frightened; only go if you know your home planet is not ready for great and amazing technologies such as ours," Cosmo frowned and pulled a lever on the wall, dropping me through the floor and back onto a plush, familiar surface.

As I opened my eyes, I realized that I was home. We were no longer on the moon, Cosmo was gone, and the Maple Street sign was just as perfect as always. Dad rushed into my room.

"Douglas!" He said. "Hurry, come watch Neil Armstrong take the first steps on the moon!"

‘Wrong.’ I thought. ‘The first steps were all mine.’

The End