Want to hear Chapter 3 read to you? Click the player to the right. Mr. Petty's wife did the reading.
Or you can read the chapter yourself here...
As usual, Bob was having an emergency and he was angry.
“Ship,” he grumbled, “Did I hear that right? You said the chihuahua is loose and he’s HUGE??”
“Yes sir. I know we are so close to landing on Earth. I hate to bring it up now, but yes, it’s a big problem.”
Bob sat back in his seat and folded his arms. He always did that when he was about to yell at the ship, Leah or the Universe in general. Leah didn’t have to be told. She leaned forward and took over the controls as Earth came into view through the window. It looked like a little, blue marble in the distance.
Bob snapped. “How did this happen...and how big is the dog?”
The ship started explaining. “Jack was feeding him and he accidentally left the cage open.”
“Who’s Jack? I didn’t know anyone else was on this ship,” asked Bob.
“Sorry sir, Jack is what we call the feeding robot. I forgot you call that robot ‘The Old Pile of Junk’. Should I continue my explanation?”
“Yes, quickly!” Bob barked.
The ship started again. “Well, The Old Pile of Junk left the door open. The little dog got out quickly and he ate the...growth pills.”
Leah looked at Bob to see his reaction. If he was going to blow his stack, she wanted to be prepared. He wasn’t quite that mad yet.
“That old pile of junk!” Bob blurted out. “We need those pills. In case Leah and I are too short to look like human kids. I sure hope he didn’t eat more than two!”
“Oh, he ate all the pills, sir.”
That’s when Bob blew his stack.
Leah knew it was coming, so she didn't even flinch when he yelled.
“HE ATE ALL THE PILLS!!!???” Bob raged, as the ship shook a little. “If he ate ALL the pills he’d be HUGE.”
Leah calmly pressed a couple buttons and pulled back on the rocket controller. The Earth filled about half the window and it was beautiful.
“Yes, sir. As I told you, he is huge,” said the ship.
At that moment both Bob and Leah turned around to make sure the door behind them was shut. It was. When they both realized they were looking at the door at the same time, they almost laughed, but not quite. At least they did feel safe for the moment. That calmed Bob down slightly.
“How huge?” Bob asked the ship.
“Well, the dog accidentally stepped on The Old Pile of Junk and now the robot is flat.”
“Oooh, that’s too bad,” said Leah. “Jack was such a helpful robot.”
“Don’t worry Ms. Leah,” said the ship. “They can fix him when we get back home and--”
Bob cut him off. “I don’t care about that robot right now! Is the dog back in his cage?”
“No, there’s no way the dog will fit in the cage. He is loose and causing quite a fuss with all the helper robots. Uh, oh. There's another flat one now.”
“Feed it the tacos,” Leah suggested without a thought, as she continued flying the ship.
Bob turned to see if she was serious. “The tacos? Those were meant to last us all month. I love those things.” But in his heart he knew she was right. The tacos had to go.
The ship asked Bob, just to be sure. “Captain, shall we feed him the tacos?”
“Yes,” said Bob, softly, like it hurt deep in his stomach. “Yes, feed him the tacos. We’ll find a more permanent solution for the dog when we land.”
“Sir, the robots opened the tacos and I’m happy to say the dog is already eating them with great glee. He is not tearing the ship apart anymore. He should be busy for at least the next 10 minutes.”
Bob tried to forget about his tacos. He turned to Leah. “Will we be landed before then?”
“Yes, in about five minutes, Captain Bob,” she said confidently. “We just need to swing around to Colorado and find a field or forest.”
They were so close to Earth now that the large blue planet filled the window. Instead of heading into the brightly lit area before them, though, Leah turned the ship to the darker side, away from the sun’s rays. “As we planned, it’s night in Colorado. We will be able to slip in without anyone noticing us.”
“Perfect,” said Bob. He was more relaxed now, as the mission continued. “Let’s go over the plan again.”
“Ok, we land at night. We hide the ship in a field or forest, then we look for the two kids who will be our friends during the visit,” Leah said, as if she was taking a test.
“Right,” Bob told her. “And what are their names?”
“You’ll be friends with Justin. My new friend will be Evangeline.”
“Good,” he said. “And we should meet them at school tomorrow morning. We will talk more about the mission after landing.”
Leah was now close enough to let the ship control the rest of the flight. She pressed two other buttons and eased back in the chair. She looked at one of the small monitors.
“There’s just one thing that confused me as we came close,” she told Bob. “There isn’t much activity. The computer shows most people are in their homes. And the roads are not very crowded.”
Bob didn’t seem surprised. “It’s night. They’re all asleep, right?”
“No, not just here. Even in the daylight. I mean the whole planet. It’s like almost everyone just staying home.”