It was 10:30 at night and everyone in the house was asleep. A warm August breeze was gently floating through Kayley’s open window making the curtains jiggle. There was a full moon out and it was shining brightly, lighting up the yard and even into Kayley’s bedroom. Kayley’s eyes began to flicker as the moonlight got brighter and it eventually woke her up.
“Wow,” said Kayley “The moon is sure bright tonight. It’s almost like day time or as if my bedroom light is on.” She rolled over and over and tried to hide under the covers to avoid the bright light. She even closed her blind and curtains but still the light came in. Now she was wide awake. She thought to herself, “I wonder what it is like on the moon?” Kayley opened her bedroom door and peered across to her sister Hannah’s bedroom. It too was all lit up with bright moon light. She put on her housecoat and slippers and crept over to Hannah’s room.
She gently shook Hannah’s bed and pulled on her sheets until Hannah opened one eye and muttered, “Hey Kayley, turn the light off. I can’t sleep with it on!” Kayley said, “Your light is off, that is the moonlight shining so bright.” Hannah sat up and said, “Gee, it is just like daylight in my room and even outside.”
Then Kayley got an idea. She said, “Hey Hannah, remember that time you made your bed fly way up in the sky and we went to Candy Land, Bubble Land and Toy Land?” Hannah said with a yawn, “Yup, that was awhile ago.” “Well,” said Kayley, “Why don’t you see if you can make your bed fly again and this time lets go to the moon.” Hannah then replied, “Well I guess you will keep bugging me until I try.Hop in and hold on tight.” Like a flash of moon dust, Kayley jumped into Hannah’s bed and grabbed tightly onto a side rail with one hand and covered her eyes with the other.
Hannah stretched out her legs and lifted them slightly, clenched her fists tightly and her bed began to shudder a bit and then it moved forward and rose off the floor. It gently passed right through the bed room wall and outside into the warm clear evening air. Kayley removed her hand from over her eyes and yelled, “Hannah! Your bed still can fly! Let’s go!”
Hannah’s bed flying skills came back quickly to her and she veered left and accelerated quickly over the ocean and up into the night sky towards the moon. The bed sheets were flapping and the girls were laughing.
Soon the lights of Campbell River were just a faint blur. There were a few large white fluffy clouds around and Hannah flew between them, not wanting to take any chances of flying through them and picking up ice on the sides of her bed. After about an hour of flying she slowed down a bit to get her bearings and plot out a course to the moon. The moon now looked really big and bright. Just then a white misty image appeared beside Hannah’s bed and it seemed to be following her. The image got closer and came up beside Hannah and suddenly yelled, “Hannah! What the heck are you doing way up here?”
Hannah and Kayley were both a little frightened at first but then realized that it was Windy Winnie. Hannah stopped and just drifted in the air next to a big cloud then Winnie came closer. “Kayley and I are going to the moon to see what it is like,” said Hannah. “Wow that will be quite a trip and adventure. This is about as high up as I go because there is not much air or wind at high altitudes,” said Winnie.
She further explained, “Did you know there is no weather on the moon? No air, wind, rain, or clouds, and the temperatures are either very hot or very cold.” “You have a long way to go yet as the moon is about 364,000 kilometers from earth. Well I have to go back to work now. Have a safe trip and say hi to Brightley and Heatley if you see them. They usually hang out way up in the sky near the sun and moon.”
Then with a gust of air Winnie disappeared into the darkened skies. “Wow, that was cool seeing Winnie way up here,” said Kayley. “Yeah, it was.” said Hannah. “Good thing my bed is equipped with a special Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) for us to use when we get to the moon. As Winnie mentioned, there is no air there,” said Hannah. “What the heck is an EMU?” asked Kayley. “It is a Space Suit to wear that protects us from the heat, cold, small flying objects and it enables us to breath in places where there is no air,” explained Hannah. Hannah then accelerated quickly again and the bed raced deeper into space.
After another hour of flying, Kayley noticed two bright yellow spots way out in amongst the stars. The spots seemed to be getting closer. Hannah slowed down a bit and took a look at the spots through her binoculars.
“Hey Kayley, its Brightley and Heatley, and they are coming our way!” shouted Hannah. Within seconds the two sunlets were along side of Hannah’s bed. “Hey, great to see you guys again,” said Heatley. “The last time we saw you both was at the beach in Campbell River, when we had that good picnic in November.
What are you girls doing way up here?” he asked. Hannah said, “Kayley wanted me to take her to the moon to look around a bit and I wanted to see if my Magical Bed could still fly.” “Well your bed is amazing” said Brightley. “Did you know that the moon has no atmosphere or source of light? As a matter of fact, the moonlight that you see back on the earth is caused by the sun reflecting on the moon’s surface. Right now our parents, The Sun, look after that but when we grow up it will be our job to light up the moon. You are about half way to the moon now so if you want to go there and back home before morning, you better get moving.”
Just then Brightley noticed some smoke coming from the edge of Hannah’s bed where Heatley was standing. “Hey Heatley! Get back away from Hannah’s wooden bed! You are starting to burn the wood!” “Oops, sorry,” said Heatley, “I forget that I heat things up quite a bit if I get too close and sometimes even set them on fire.” Hannah said,” Oh no problem, I could probably cover the burn mark with a little paint when I get back home.” “Have a safe trip and maybe we will see you again on the beach at Campbell River in the spring or summertime,” said Brightley. “Oh, by the way, Winnie says Hi” said Kayley. “Say Hello to her too from both of us,” yelled Brightley.
Then Heatley and Brightley floated off in between the planets and stars and out of sight. “Nice seeing those guys again,” said Hannah. “But now, let’s get going.”
Hannah leaned back, squeezed her fists real tight and raised her legs. The bed shot off into the dark. After about another hour of flying time Hannah checked her Star Map and navigation plot graph. She set her final course to the moon. “We should be there in about 5 minutes” Hannah said. “Put on your EMU and hold on tight.” Hannah slowed her bed down a bit and made a wide turn in between two planets and a twinkling star. It got pitch black and impossible to see anything. Kayley shone her flashlight out in front of the bed but still couldn’t see much. Hannah made another course change and began to descend.
Suddenly the bed shook violently and a few blankets flew off and were lost in space. Kayley looked a little worried and thought they might be lost. Hannah put her arm around Kayley and said, “Don’t be scared Big Sister. I think my bed will get us there safely.” Hannah then lowered the rear flaps on the bed slowing it down even more. She then made a sharp turn and began her final approach onto the moon. It was still black out and visibility was zero. Hannah thought maybe they were in some kind of an atmospheric dust storm or other cosmic activity.
Suddenly it became clear again and the moon was directly in front of them about 1 km away. Kayley screamed with excitement, “Woo who! We’re at the moon!” Hannah was concentrating on her final approach and told Kayley to hang on tight as she was not sure how the bed would adapt to the lunar surface. Suddenly it got real quiet, as the bed slowly drifted down to the moon’s surface. When they were about 100 feet off the surface Hannah decided to fly slowly across a few craters and small mountains first, prior to landing. She wanted to pick out a safe landing site. Then Hannah spotted a clearing between two big craters and a small mountain that had enough flat area to land on.
“Down we go Kayley, hang on!” said Hannah. She flew the bed between two large rock mountains and over a small crater and gently set it down on the surface of the moon. The bed sank down a bit into the moon dust but eventually settled and they came to a safe landing. “Welcome to the Moon,” yelled Hannah.
“Let’s go explore around here,” said Kayley. “Ok, but first I want to check our EMU’s to make sure they are working right and will protect us when we get out of the bed and begin to walk around,” explained Hannah.
Both EMU’s appeared to be fitting and operating just fine, so the girls jumped out of the bed and onto the surface of the moon. “Wow”, look how high I can jump,” said Kayley as she jumped right over Hannah and the parked bed. “There is not much gravity to hold us down here on the moon”, explained Hannah,” all things are lighter here. Let’s go exploring.” The girls walked and hopped across a small open area and then climbed to the top of a small mountain and looked far out into space.
“Hey Hannah, Look!!! I can see Earth way out there,” yelled Kayley. “It must be earth. I can see some blue ocean and a bit of land mass, but I can’t see Campbell River,” said Hannah with a chuckle.
The girls continued their walking adventure for the next hour, picking up small moon rocks, dust and looking into the deep craters. “No trees, dirt, water or much of anything here except rock and dust,” said Hannah. “I don’t think I would want to come here to enjoy my holidays,” said Kayley.
Just then Kayley noticed what she thought were big hail stones beginning to fall onto the ground and motioned to Hannah to take a look. Hannah said,” I think those are pieces of rock off meteors hitting the ground and they could be dangerous, so I think it is time for us to leave.”
Both girls hurried back to the bed and jumped in. Kayley held on tight as Hannah raised her legs, leaned left and clenched her fists real hard. The bed took off quickly up into the dark sky just as more pieces of bigger rock began to fall hard on the moon’s surface. As they sped away they could hear rock hitting the side of their bed. Both girls ducked down low behind the head board and Hannah accelerated faster to get out of the danger area.
Soon they were high above the moon and out of danger. “Boy, oh boy, that was close,” said Hannah. She now felt relieved and more relaxed knowing they both got out of there without any injuries or major damage to the bed.
Hannah checked her watch and said, “Yikes it is 3:20 am, we better head back home fast before Mom and Dad discover us gone, as it will take at least 2 hours flying time to get back.”
After about an hour and a half of flying through space, around the planets and stars, Kayley tapped Hannah on the shoulder and pointed to a huge Candy Cane way off in the distance. “Yes, that is Candy Land way over there. Too bad we don’t have time to stop by for a snack,” said Hannah. Hannah checked her GPS and onboard navigation system and confirmed she was on course for touch down at Campbell River in about 30 minutes.
She would be re entering the earth atmosphere just above Alberta on a westbound heading. It was overcast in Alberta but most of British Columbia appeared to be bright and sunny, especially all of Vancouver Island. At 5:15 am Hannah popped through the clouds just over Vancouver. She continued across to Vancouver Island and did a low fly by at Nanaimo to take a look at their cousins Elsa and Kamma’s house. Then she did a loop around Mount Benson to see their Grandy and Grandma’s house. Now it was full speed ahead up island over Parksville and Courtenay and then they prepared for their final approach back into Campbell River.
Hannah noticed white caps on the ocean and felt a strong wind blowing. She knew this landing was going to be a little more difficult in the wind compared to the moon landing with no wind. “Ok Kayley, we are about 3 minutes to touch down in my bedroom, hang on tight,” said Hannah.
Kayley pulled the one bed sheet remaining in the bed up over her head and held on tight. Hannah banked the bed steep left and dropped to about 500 feet above the Island Highway and flew directly into the wind to stabilize the bed to prepare for the final approach. She then leaned right and accelerated, put on full flap and side slipped the bed just above their Ba Pa and Gee Gee’s residence. She was now on a direct line to her house and bedroom. Hannah carefully now glided over the tree tops and power lines and managed to gently come to rest back into her bedroom.
“Ok Kayley, we have landed back home,” said Hannah. Kayley removed the covers from her head, looked up, gave Hannah a Big Hug and said, “Good Flying Hannah.”
Kayley then jumped out of bed and ran back into her bedroom and snuggled under the covers. Hannah got out and looked at the damage to her bed.
There was a small burn mark on the corner from Heatley and about 10 dent marks from the meteor rocks on the leading edge and side of the bed. Hannah placed a blanket over the damage so her parents wouldn’t notice until she could make repairs. She was very tired and climbed back into bed and fell fast asleep. It was now 6:00 am. At about 7:30 am
Hannah’s Mom walked into her room to check on her. She noticed Hannah only had one blanket on and saw another one hanging on the side of the bed. She took the blanket off the side and placed it over Hannah to keep her warm. Upon removing the blanket she noticed the burn mark and damage to the bed. What the heck happened to Hannah’s bed, she thought to herself. I will have to ask Hannah when she wakes up. Hannah’s Mom then closed the door quietly, checked on Kayley and then went downstairs for breakfast.
She picked up the morning paper from the front door and sat down to read it. The front page headlines read: Unidentified Flying Object spotted on radar racing across skies in Alberta and British Columbia in the early morning hours…NASA and Local Authorities have failed and were unable to locate or obtain any more information on this mystery craft. It appeared to fade out of radar range in the Campbell River area. CFB Comox is continuing the investigation along with Space authorities in the United States and Canada. “Wow” said Hannah’s Mom as she took a sip of her coffee. “Maybe it was a visitor from outer space?”
Just then Kayley and Hannah came downstairs and into the kitchen. They each hugged their Mom and said, “What’s for breakfast?” “Did you girls have a good sleep last night?” asked their mom. “Pretty well” said Kayley. “But the moon was sure bright, and it kept me awake for awhile.” “Me too, it was shining bright right into my room and onto my bed” said Hannah.
“I noticed a little damage to your bed Hannah, some dents and holes and what looks like a burn mark, I wonder how that happened?” inquired Hannah’s Mom. “I am not sure. Maybe the bright moon light burnt my bed a bit and a wood pecker flew into my room and pecked at my bed looking for bed bugs while I was sleeping,” she replied. “You sure have a great imagination Hannah.
Would you girls like some good blueberry pancakes and eggs for breakfast?” asked Hannah’s Mom. “Yes Please,” answered both girls, “We are real hungry after our very long flight last night.” “What!” remarked Hannah’s Mom, “Flight? What are you talking about?”
Then Hannah said, “Oh, we meant we had a very long Night last night, not being able to sleep because of the moon light. “Oh you girls!” remarked Hannah’s Mom as she stirred up the pancake mix.
Both girls relaxed on their favourite chairs and waited for breakfast. Each had a mischievous satisfying grin on their face, knowing that they had been to the moon last night and still made it back home in time for breakfast.
