Jumping on his friend Elijah’s trampoline, James felt like he could fly. He was high above the ground and felt like gravity had nothing on him now. But that didn’t mean he was invincible. At that moment, James realized he hadn’t given back his sister's stapler! But he was all the way across town, how could he get it to her by the end of the day? He would have to find a way. With only a few words to Elijah, he rushed outside. He hopped on his bike and began riding down the street when CRASH! He rode straight into a tree and the chain on his bike had come loose! That bike was very old, so it would come loose very often. Still, there was no time to fix it; he stood up quickly, barely able to keep his balance, and ran to the bus stop. Without any hesitation, he hopped on the first bus headed east. The sun was already beginning to set, and he had to hand over that stapler by dusk.
Suddenly, he felt the bus come to a halt. It had broken down right there in the middle of the street! Cars honked and passengers groaned - many of them had been coming back from work and were complaining about wanting to get home. James was the most distraught of all. The bus driver assessed the situation and thankfully, no one was injured, but he sure would be if he couldn’t give his sister back that stapler.
That’s when he spotted it: a skateboard! Bright green with orange, worn down wheels. He grabbed it and went flying down the street. Thank goodness that the bus had stopped; no one was able to get down that street, so it was nice and empty. He rode that skateboard all the way down to Craver Street until halfway there, when he hit a rock and the front right wheel popped straight off. It looked like there was only about ten minutes before the sun would be all the way behind the horizon, and he was still a ten minute drive away, with no way to drive. He walked back and forth on the street when, out of nowhere, something fell on the ground next to him with a THUD! What could it be? A generator? A metal backpack? Oh my, it was a jetpack!
He immediately threw it on his back and pressed a big red button on the strap. WHOOSH! He was levitating off the ground and leaned forward in the direction of his house. Eventually, he got used to the machine and found it quite easy to use, like riding a bike! Never having seen the sunset from this perspective, James admired the colors of the sky: the outro from day to dark was something he had taken for granted. Having been in a rush this whole time, he now finally got to appreciate the slow, steady loss of the daylight. He made it home in only 5 minutes, dropping the advanced piece of equipment on his front lawn just like he would his old bike and running into the backyard like a maniac. He swiftly grabbed the stapler from under the deck and pounded on the patio door, yelling at someone inside to let him in.
His sister answered the door. “Finally, I was looking for this all day! Stop touching my stuff, James.” Finally, he let out a sigh of relief and sat down, exhausted.