A Gift from Above

“Goodnight Carter, sleep tight!”

My mom just tucked me in. Tomorrow is Saturday and I can’t wait! Me, Lexi, and Beth are planning on meeting at the pond first thing in the morning to catch frogs.

You see, Lexi, Beth, and me are all next door neighbors, we are the same age, in the same fourth grade class at Baker Elementary, and we are best friends. We live on a street called Bouncy Loop. It’s really cool. The street makes a big loop, the houses are on the outside of the loop and there’s a park with a little pond in the middle. Sometimes we play soccer, or volleyball, or blow giant mega-bubbles in the park across the street; but tomorrow, Lexi wants to catch frogs. My Mom calls us the “Bouncy Loop Group”.

I can hear Mom and Dad talking downstairs about something important. I wonder what’s going on? I throw off the covers, hop down from my bed, tiptoe down the stairs, and peek around the wall.

My Mom and Dad are both watching some news story in the living room. I can see the backs of their heads. The whole house is dark except for the flashing bluish light coming from the video screen in the living room.

I hear my Dad say excitedly, “Can you believe this? They’re saying might be a UFO! This is live news. It’s happening right now. And now they’re showing video of lights moving around in the sky!”

I’m peeking behind the wall as Dad is rushing back and forth from the window to the news story.

“Oh my God, and look! That’s only two streets down from us!” said Mom. “There’s the Taylor’s house!”

“Ah, looks like it’s gone now, they can’t seem to find it now. Wow! What a weird thing to have the news so close to our house!” Dad says with his eyes glued to the screen.

Dad stands up and walks over to the window to look out. He sees a media truck leaving the neighborhood. He gazes up at the stars, “All clear now.” he says shaking his head in disbelief.

It looks like the show is over. That was weird. I skip up the steps and jump into bed. With my eyes getting heavy, I fade out.

The next morning I wake up with the bright sun shining through my window. It’s Saturday! I change out of my PJs in a flash, run down the stairs, and open the front door to see if Beth and Lexi are outside yet. Before I can even look for them, I notice a strange thing about the size of a refrigerator in our front yard. It looks like an empty rocket ship. I walk closer. Whoa! It is a rocket ship!

It reminds me of one of my toy space ships only it’s real and looks like I can fly it up in the sky. It has a single seat and tiny rounded wings that don’t seem big enough to give it flight. The front of the ship is rounded off like the nose of an airplane. It’s shiny and has a royal blue color. There is a clear and curved glass bulge that sits on top of the single-person-cockpit. It looks like if I lift up the glass I can climb in. On the back of the ship there’s a crank-like metal handle that looks strange when compared to the other smooth lines of the ship. On the side just under the glass top it reads: “Carter Bridges”. Pausing for a moment while remembering the letters of my own name, I blurt out, “This is for me?”

Just then, I hear a surprise scream from next door as Lexi makes the same discovery. I run over.

“I know, I know. It’s sooo cool!”

As she examines her sleek bright orange rocket ship, Lexi shouts, “Look! It says my name, right there under the glass top. In fancy white letters, it says “Lexi Stuart”.

“I know, mine has my name on it too. Mine’s blue but otherwise looks just like yours.”

Our heads turn at the same time towards Beth’s house as we see Beth open her front door to meet us. We run over. Beth has the same surprise! Beth’s jaw drops and her eyes widen. She walks around her rocket ship in total awe while feeling the curvy little wings with her fingers. She gently touches each cursive letter of her name. Beth’s ship is blue just like mine.

Lexi says inquisitively, “Can you guys figure any of this out? We wake up one day and have this gift. It has no instructions and no explanation of where it came from. What are we supposed to do with it?”

Lexi paused momentarily, and then enthusiastically answers her own question, “I’m going to see if I can get mine to fly.”  

Beth and I follow Lexi and her excitement.

Lexi focuses on the handle and starts cranking it. She continues spinning it and doesn’t stop.

“I tried that too; it just spins and nothing happens.” said Beth.

Ignoring Beth’s comment, Lexi keeps pumping the rotary crank. Just as she’s about out of breath, something happens. The ship lifts off the ground about six inches and starts to make a humming sound. “I did it!” said Lexi as she lifts the glass and jumps inside her orange machine.

She grabs the metal handles that together vaguely resemble a steering wheel and hovers slowly around her yard.

“Awesome!” Me and Beth start cranking our own rockets. Within minutes, the Bouncy Loop Group is flying around the pond and through the park. We are zipping under the volleyball net, around the trees, over the pond, and through the jungle gym.

I shout out from inside my cabin, “Whoo hoo! This is the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life!”

Thirty years later.

Beth and I are sitting at a table in the busy Italian restaurant awaiting the full reunion of the Bouncy Loop Group. Lexi had moved to Oklahoma just before fifth grade and neither Beth nor I have seen nor spoken with her since.

“I haven’t seen Lexi since we were ten years old.” says Beth.

“Me either. I’m not sure I will even recognize her.” I say.

Just then, a woman approaches our table. Her face is glowing and I immediately recognize the twinkle in her eyes. “Lexi, it’s you!”

“So catch me up on the past thirty years.” Lexi says with a chuckle. “Tell me about how you guys used your charm?”

“Charm?” I said.

“Yeah, the rocket ship we had when we were kids. I forgot, I started calling it my charm.”

“Oh, I can tell you some stories about that rocket ship.” says a smiling Beth.

“Let’s see, when I was in high school, I kept it hidden in the garage because it was a little embarrassing having a rocket ship when none of my friends, except Carter, had one.

“After a while, I stopped flying it around because it took too long to crank it up. I always think about going in there and taking it for a spin but can never seem to find the time.

“In college, I once had an astronaut-themed party at my house for Halloween and I put the rocket in the center of the room. We neatly arranged all the drinks and appetizers around it. People absolutely loved it. I got lots of compliments.

“A few months ago, I wrote up a little story about us when we were kids and attached a photo of the rocket ship on Facebook. It got almost 300 likes!” said Beth with a little grin.

I chimed in, “I keep mine in the spare bedroom in the house. I figured out that it can do all kinds of calculations, just like a computer but faster than anything out there. I keep track of all my expenditures and personal financial information. I also discovered that it can keep watch on my house in different areas. The computer inside the rocket can alert me whenever people enter or leave my house. It gives me good peace of mind. My desk is right next to it. I like having next to me when I work because it reminds me so much of all the fun we had when we were kids.”

Lexi had been quiet while Beth and I rambled. “What about you Lexi?” I said.

Lexi paused as if hesitant to speak but then she said in a matter-of-fact tone, “I’ve used my charm every day since that day I found it in my front yard.”

“Every day, huh? Well where is it right now?” says Beth.

“It’s in my pocket.” Lexi says casually. “Once you figure out the shrinking sequence you can shrink it down to the size of a pack of gum. I always have it with me.”

Beth and I were a bit puzzled as we listened to Lexi continue.

“As a kid, I realized that with my charm I could travel faster and farther than the other kids. After we moved to Oklahoma, I started collecting canned foods from neighbors and delivering them to food shelters. I was never shy about using my charm. And I figured out how the instant-start-riddle-feature worked. I sure don’t miss having to crank that handle!”

“In college, I got really interested in marine life. Ha! Remember catching frogs? I moved to California and lived in a little cottage on the beach. Every morning I’d take the charm about fifty miles out and explore the ocean floor and marine life.”

I interrupted, “You mean the rocket goes underwater?”

Lexi continued, “Yep, I would use my charm’s specimen acceptor to retrieve plant life at the bottom of the sea floor that had always been too deep for close exploration. And then I figured how to use the charm’s ‘cognitive communicator’ to interview and interpret sophisticated sea creatures, such as dolphins and whales, to see how they were being affected by pollution. I handed over all my findings to the marine biology department at the local university.

“Then, I got really interested in weather patterns. I figured since I had this charm, I could investigate parts of the planet that are unreachable to others. I spent six weeks in the mountain tops of the Himalayas collecting data on air temperature, moisture, cloud formations, and other weather patterns. I would feed the localized weather data into the calculation panel and compare it with historical weather patterns to see how the weather has changed over time. And I made some predictions based on the data.

“Once I discovered the hyper-warp-speed gear and realized I could travel anywhere in the world within a few minutes, I took on some more adventurous tasks. I was called by the Bolivian government to rescue some scientists who were stuck at the bottom of a ravine. I was able to bring them food, supplies, and tools so that they could be air lifted out.

“Now, I’m running some tests and plan on visiting the moon over the next couple of years. Sometimes it takes some effort and a few minor crashes but so far, my charm has yet to let me down. It can do anything.”

I was absolutely stunned listening to Lexi, her adventurous stories, and how she used her rocket ship. Beth’s expression mirrored mine. We both sat dumbfounded staring at Lexi. We were thinking the exact same thing. And then I said it, “Wow! Can mine do all that?”