Home in the sky

Dodo was mid-dream when a crash woke her up.

Her favorite dress was in the wash.

And Oscar had eaten the last marshmallow.

Three sour things. All before breakfast.

Dodo roared so loud the milk jumped off the table.

She did the unthinkable.

‘Naughty little girl,’ said mum and shut the door.

Dodo clenched her fists and stuck out her tongue.

‘I’m leaving!’ she shouted.

‘For something better!’ she puffed.

But where to go?

Dodo looked outside the window. The brightest idea came to mind.

‘Obviously,’ she thought.

And so, she started working.

One sharp edge. Then another. Then ten. They stacked up rather well.

She fitted them all morning.

She fastened them all afternoon.

She climbed higher past dinner.

Higher still in the night.

Board by board. Nail by nail.

Up and further she got, until the house became a dot, until the garden looked like a brushstroke of green.

Her new home, round as a button, drew closer and closer.

Board by board. Nail by nail.

Until she reached out —

and clasped a star.

It was slippery but she held on tight. She rode the solar wind, swung a comet by its tail, and then…just before a shadow grabbed her toes…

Dodo stepped onto the moon.

There was no one here but her. The Earth looked like half a coconut.

‘You can’t send me to bed!’ Dodo shouted, to no one in sight.

She yawned. 

After all, it was way past her bedtime.

And so, she slept.

When Dodo opened her eyes, the Earth looked the same – half a coconut, glazed in blue.

‘I can sleep for as long as I want!’ she giggled.

But the sky was painted black. Dodo wrinkled her nose.

‘Is it still tonight, or is it tomorrow?’

Since the sky was stubborn, Dodo let her stomach decide.

And so, she had breakfast.

The moon, it turned out, was made of exactly the right things.

She ate one marshmallow.

And then another.

Then ten.

Then one hundred.

She saved the last for Oscar. But when she called him, there was no sound of paws.

She sighed and let go of the marshmallow. It floated peacefully, until it stuck to an old satellite, gray and quiet, going around and around with nowhere to be.

Her belly was full. That was that.

She looked around.

‘Up here, I can wear whatever I choose!’

And so, Dodo made herself a dress.

It had planet rings instead of a skirt. A ribbon of light held them in place. Tiny ice crystals shimmered at the hem.

She put it on.

‘Just see me twirl!’ Dodo laughed as she spun and spun.

 She slowed and then she stopped. She waited a moment, then sat down.

Moon dust rose around her. When she stood up, the dress was no longer shining.

It needed washing.

Dodo looked back down at the half-coconut Earth.

There was the garden. Smaller than a brushstroke. There was the house. Smaller than a crumb. And there — a spark far away — one window, lit up warm. Someone had left it on for her.

Dodo looked at it for a long time.

And so, she started climbing back. Nail by nail. Board by board.

When she arrived home, Oscar was waiting for her.

Dodo gave him a big hug and looked up at the moon.

‘I can come back anytime I want,’ she said. ‘Just not today.’