The Inkblot Volume VII: Space by falconnewsfeed

The Inkblot is a production of the Creative Writing program at Green Hope High School. It is intended as a forum for Green Hope students to share original work, including poetry, drama, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. Students often choose to write about issues and subjects that are personally meaningful to them, and potentially challenging for readers. Students may even adopt a fictional persona/perspective for the purposes of artistic exploration and expression. The views and feelings expressed in this collection do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of school administrators, teachers, or students.

Table of Contents Suspended in a Sunbeam -- Camryn Diagonale………………………………………………..4 Empty Space – Lynne Chen……………………………………………………………………….9 Sammy the Space Slug -- Kari Eskridge………………………………………………………..10 The Space in Between -- Erin Kennedy…………………………………………………………13 Stardust -- Emily Apadula…………………………………………………………………………17 Orbit of My Mind -- Arden Stockdell-Giesler……………………………………………………19 Stars and Universes and Galaxies -- Aaruba Ayesha………………………………………....22 Best Friends* -- Molly Canina……………………………………………………………….……23 Package of Importance -- Drew Fitzgerald.……………………………………………….…….25 Two Galaxies, One Space -- Julia Langenderfer and Elizabeth Wilson………………….….28 WordsandSpace -- Rosie Williams………………………………………………………….……30 Starlight, Love, and Silver Rings -- Catherine Edbrooke………………………………….……31 Socks? -- Bryn Walker………………………………………………………………………….….34 To Love an Introvert -- Marina Catullo……………………………………………………….......36

My Parents Were Not Scholars* -- Scotty French……………………………………….……37 The Stars Above Us -- Emily Apadula…………………………………………………...….……40 Earthlings -- Angelica Edwards……………………………………………………………………41 Above and Below -- Bri Conroy……………………………………………………………………47 inter sideres vagatur -- Sarah Dugger…………………………………………………………….48 The World Beyond Us -- Asma Hafiz…………………………………………………………......50 Space Barz -- Arden Stockdell-Giesler, Kari Eskridge, Drew Fitzgerald, Erin Kennedy…….59

*These pieces contain content dealing with family problems that may be difficult or troubling for some readers. If you are struggling emotionally or feel unsafe, please seek help through the counselors in Green Hope’s Student Services Department.

Highlighted pieces have also been adapted into a multimedia format on our YouTube channel. Check them out here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaFJodKvr9e--Kvf3iLXDPg

Suspended in a Sunbeam

The dictionary defines a voyage as a long trip to a faraway land, and a voyager as the one who embarks, who travels, who wanders. Historically, an explorer. One who navigates the unknown. An adventurer.

In 1977 NASA sent the Voyager I and II probes into space.

Because they would be the first spacecrafts to travel beyond our Solar System, a panel of scientists composed golden records carrying messages for potential extraterrestrial life.

The records are a time capsule of human existence, and include photos of canyons, skyscrapers, Olympic sprinters, cells, diagrams of the makeup of Earth. Songs representing different styles of music and greetings in fifty-five languages. The records will likely outlast all of human life and possibly even the Blue Planet itself. They will remain, navigating the great cosmic ocean for millions of years.

I wonder if one can really be a voyager if their destination is unknown.

It’s hard not to feel extremely small thinking about those spacecrafts, hurtling through the final frontier at 35,000 miles a second. We’re trying to talk to aliens but we haven’t even finished charting our own oceans. I looked up at the sky last night when I took my dog out and thought about those records and the fruitlessness of this existence-my life, a microscopic blip on this great blinking timeline.

There are potentially 134 habitable planets within thirty four light years of us, but it takes the Voyager crafts 17,000 years to travel just one single light year. I find this extremely frustrating. It will be 40,000 years before the crafts get anywhere near another star other than our Sun and I’ll be gone and everyone I’ve ever known and loved will be gone and there might have been wars and there might have been love and happiness and new things that none of us right now could even imagine, and maybe aliens will find those records and Earth will look absolutely nothing like what it does in those 116 humble images.

All those airports and busy highways, mountain climbers, cotton harvests. Little university towns, computers.

Superficial wounds on our fresh-faced planet.

So here I am, driving in my car, singing along to good music and here I am going to the movies and going to concerts and here I am worrying about college and my friends and the rest of my tiny life and there are probably other life forms out there and we’re probably not alone and everything I am doing will never be anywhere close to significant.

As of this moment, Voyager I is 20,073,807,603 KM from Earth and I’m thinking about what cereal I want to have for breakfast tomorrow morning.

I guess it’s hard not to feel like a waste of time and space when you know you’d never make it on a golden record. I’m writing hasty poems in class and learning about United States government and we’re trying to communicate with aliens who are too far away for me to even fathom.

Those records, that small attempt to sum up human existence, that sad little encapsulation of everything we hold near and dear to our mortal hearts, pays tribute to our need, our desperation to communicate everything with others.

“Tell me about your day.” “How are you feeling?”

“I want to hear all about it.” “I love you.” “Let me know how it goes.”

Most are familiar with Pale Blue Dot, the image of Earth that the Voyager sent back to us before exiting our Solar System forever. There we are, a tiny little smudge, a nearly indistinguishable blob of pixelated blue suspended in a sunbeam. That’s home. That’s you and me and everything else and seven billion other people and all of our mostly uncharted oceans and every single blade of grass.

None of us know what will happen next, but we sent spacecrafts outside of our Solar System, outside of the heliosphere, outside of anything we’ve ever known just for the chance to say “Greetings to our friends in the stars. We wish that we will meet you someday.”

All along I knew Earth was a romantic.

Empty Space

Empty space.

His fingers float above the keypad, but there is no sound. There is no light tapping or clicking of words, no flow of imagination. There is nothing but fingers floating silently over unpressed keys.

His eyes focus on the space bar, large and empty. Empty like his document and his mind. A large blank gap, a space, filled with nothing. He longed to not stare anymore at this emptiness and for it not to reflect what was in his mind. Or rather, what wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t in his mind. He rubbed his eyes and scratched his head and then returned his hands back to their hovering positions over the keypad.

Empty spaces. He hits the key over and over.

There is nothing, yet, the black cursor glides over his document moving more to the right each time he taps the bar. He wishes for this wide empty space to be filled with words and letters instead. Then it hits him, it can be. Above this large empty space on his keyboard, there are letters. 26 letters that can form a billion combinations, all he had to do was look and type. All he needed was to land his floating hands down onto the infinite amalgamations.

Empty space, it is between each word he now types.

Sammy The Space Slug

June 1st Hello! I am Sammy, I am a slug. I found this journal while here on this spaceship. Oh, did I not say that. I’m on a spaceship. I’m not really sure how this happened, I was just crawling on this silver thing and there was an open door, so obviously I crawled into, what else do you do when you see an open door? Then there was this really nice little hidey hole, so I took a nap. When I woke up the door was closed and there was this really loud countdown. Then I figured out I was on a spaceship. It was easy after lift off happened, and I realized we weren’t going back down. I’m actually really excited, because this means I am the first slug in space! I will miss my family, Simon, Susie and Sarah, I’m 3 weeks old, that means I’m old enough to call my mom Sarah instead of mom. Well, I’m really sleepy, so I’m gonna go take another nap, I’ll probably do more exploring tomorrow.

June 2nd I did go exploring today. I found out there is a little garden here on this spaceship! I decided to make it my home. I’m by a nice little carrot plant, which is so yummy by the way. I have so much experience with being the gatherer for my family since my father Solomon had an unfortunate accident with some salt… It’s totally fine though, means Simon and I are the men of the house, so thats pretty cool. I guess it’s just Simon now though, since I’m gone… Again, totally fine. I met a few people on the ship today! Ok, I didn’t really meet anyone, I actually just saw them from afar. I don’t know there names, but I came up with little nicknames to help me remember them. The first guy I saw was the gardener, I tried to hide from him, gardeners don’t like slugs much. I’m not sure why, because I just live here! Why would someone hate me? I’m such a cute slug. I also saw someone, who I think is second in command, but he only ever ran around trying to get things for the captain. I don’t get it, why can't the captain get water himself. We are just floating… Anyway, I guess that was my adventure for today! I’ll tell you more tomorrow after I sleep.

June 3rd I’m too worn out to talk, I’ll explain tomorrow

June 4th Ok, so today I took it easy because yesterday, this girl SAW me! She is the only girl I have seen on this ship, I think she is the mechanic's assistant, but she was the one doing all the work. She came to fix some of the sprinklers near where I was, and she SAW me! She flipped out! She she ran and told the Terrible one, he’s the gardener, but he really is terrible! He ran around chasing me! Acting like I was some sort of animal! The nerve! I am not just any animal! I am a slug! Now I am hiding out, hoping he won't find me, I think I heard him say something about some salt…..

June 5th Another day of running! This time, the idiot saw me, I think he is the mechanic, but the girl does a better job. He went to go tell the Gardener, but then forgot when he saw a cool looking fruit. I thought I was in the clear. That was wrong. Apparently, the terrible one has been looking for me all day! He put up SALT traps! Have I mentioned how much I hate salt? I’m now stuck in this one area of the garden!

June 6th The salt traps have gotten worse, he is slowly trying to cage me in… I haven’t been able to eat in a while, he might see me…

June 7th I don’t think I will last much longer, if you see this, tell Susie that I love her, and she should be good for Sarah, and tell Simon that he is the man of the house, and he should be strong, just like we were after Solomon.

June 8th They have confined me a small area of the garden, I haven’t eaten much in days. I’m sorry, I couldn’t tell you more

On June 9th, the gardener found one of his slat traps had been moved around, there was nothing remaining of the slug that gave the crew so much trouble.

The Space In-Between

7:44 am, September 1st, en route to Grand Street Station There were so many things I could have said, so many possibilities, paradoxically exponential possibilities, but all I could think of was one word: Hi. The subway car shook as it thundered through the tunnels with enough force to push me closer to you. The scratchy seats, patterned with a gaudy yet festive print, irritated the sensitive skin of my thighs that protruded from my too-small shorts. You wore army green jeans and a peaceful smile as you bobbed along with the music I heard through your earbuds. A slight hum escaped your lips, and you opened your eyes to see if anyone saw. I saw. I always saw, every day, the same route, always slinging your messenger bag over your shoulder and rising from your seat exactly one minute before the car’s stoppage. I saw how you run your hands through your hair when you're nervous, when you're bored, or just even when you've just gotten a haircut. Back in the passenger car, you smiled at your phone, and I can't help but wonder what made you grin like that. Who made you smile like

that. A coagulating rush of jealousy clawed its way up my esophagus and I pushed it back, pushed it back, pushed it back. The subway car doors open and you step out. I sigh. Another chance passed, another opportunity gone.

7:39 am, December 24th, en route to Grand Street Station Your knee bounced up and down, up and down, the heel of your black boots clicking softly against the scratched plastic floor of the shaking car. You glanced up, and I was a coward. My phone buzzed like a heartbeat, buhbuh buhbuh, and I noticed the turn of your head, which I knew was because your phone did the same thing when you got a text. I realized your eyes are not just brown, as I previously thought. They are the color of mahogany wood, the color of towering redwood tree bark, a mixture of maple syrup and fallburned burgundy. You smiled and I realized I was staring. My cheeks burned with the fire of ten million suns, and I'm sure I looked like a lummox. Suddenly my body had a mind of its own and subtly gestured for you to sit in the empty seat next to me, even though I saw milliseconds later there was no such seat. You grinned and looked side to side, checking to see if the path is clear. “Is this strap free?”

Your eyebrows furrowed and I thought you were genuinely confused, but you laughed and gripped on to the leather loop. “So, you come here often?” My eyebrows raised in disbelief, and contrary to my introverted appearance, I opened my mouth to speak to you for the first time. “You really think that will work on me?” You laughed again, your gleamingly white teeth glistening in the fluorescent light of the car. “No, but it got you to talk, didn't it?” My cheeks reddened, partly of embarrassment and partly of anger. “Oh, I had you completely wrong. Feel free to find your way back to your seat.” You held your free hand to your chest, looking mockingly hurt. “Oh, I’m wounded.” You turned your head back toward your seat, which had been occupied by an elderly man who was previously holding on to the hanging strap with an arthritic hand. You turned back with your head cocked, as if to say, “Oh, well.” “I like your accent,” you had said, leaning inwards. “Where’re you from?” I sat back in my seat, crossing my arms uncharacteristically. “Born and raised in London. And you?” You adjusted the strap of your bag so it rested more comfortably on your shoulder. “Brooklyn.” I pushed up my glasses (tortoiseshell-rimmed Ralph Lauren Havanas) along the temples, combing the hair caught under the right earpiece away with a hand adorned with multiple rings. “My very own Captain Rogers, it seems,” I smiled. What are you doing? I think to myself. Who are you? You’re not like this at all. You’re a lawyer, not a rebel. I ignored my conscience and settled as I checked the time on my phone. 7:44. “Do you get off here?” I asked, already knowing the answer as the slowing train rattled. You grinned widely. “That depends. Agree to meet me at the Rockefeller Ice Rink at 8:00 and I’ll stay.” My heart palpitated as the train came to a stop, forcing me to make a decision about something I had hoped would happen for months. You backed up slowly, reaching out for my hands. An older woman harrumphed as you backed into her, and my mouth opened in shock, but I was laughing. As the doors opened, you looked at me with a puppy dog eye smolder, and I had given in. The space between us lessened and lessened until there was only hands against hands, skin against skin. Your hands were soft and rough at the same time, calluses lining your fingertips, like you played a stringed instrument. Guitar, maybe. As the mechanized subway doors slid shut, you

moved to sit next to me. Our hands were still loosely entwined, and your thumb lingered near the heart-shaped ring on my left index finger. “I don’t even know your name, how’s that for a story?” I laughed and brought the twist of hands to my lips, gently pressing them against the silver tribal-print-engraved band on your middle finger. “I don’t know yours either, but somehow we’re working so far.” You laughed again, and we were laughing together. We got mixed emotions from our audience: some smiled and nodded, reminiscing of times when things were simple, but some gave us stern looks and squinted at our pestiferous, loud behavior. I was lackadaisical, surfing an emotional high I didn’t want to come off of. That was five years ago.

7:44 am, present day, en route to Grand Street Station I stare at the seat where you used to sit every day now, waiting for you to stand up at exactly this time.

I don’t wonder where you’re coming from, I know the way to your apartment like the back of my hand. I don’t imagine a life with you, I can only imagine a life without. The cancer came quickly, stage four and in your precious brain. The doctors called it “glioblastoma,” which meant you were going to die, and very quickly. They couldn’t help you, and I couldn’t watch as you slipped from the very fingertips that held yours that fateful day on the subway. I begin to sob, remembering every detail of your body, the good and the bad, like the scar that ran down your back from when you slid off a tree and got caught on a branch when you were seven, or the strong arms that would hold me when I could not stand. A hand strokes my shoulder, and for one millisecond, I believe it is you, but it is just the elderly man with the arthritic hand who witnessed the day we met. It’s funny how those things fall into place, like puzzle pieces in a gigantic puzzle, and how the space between people, whether it be near or far, changes lives forever. I loved you when I loved nothing else. I was the Peggy to your Captain America, I was the hand to your hold, and above all else, I was the anchor to your chaotic life. I remember the last day, sitting on your hospital bed, oxygen tubes and heart monitor cables attached to you like something out of the Matrix. I heard the shuffle of the door opening,

and I knew somewhere in me it was the doctor, giving me the final report. I waved him away, as you were asleep, and I breathed in deeply, resting my head on your chest. I laid there until your chest stopped rising to the rhythm of mine, like it had for the past five years. I laid there until the monotonous drone of the heart monitor alerted doctors, and I laid there until you were taken away from me. At the funeral, so many people told me that forgetting you would just make it worse. I told them, “How could I ever forget him?” You wouldn’t want me to mourn or grieve, you would want me to move on, but I can’t. Not without you by my side. Your name was Stephen Henry Ellis, and you were the best thing that ever happened to me.

Stardust

You began your journey as nothingness. There was no light, No space, No time. Nothing.

Then, out of the nothingness came something, An explosion, a sort of bang... And everything began.

Stars were born and destroyed. Planets were created and demolished. All while the universe kept expanding...

And you, you were a part of it all. Every star, Every planet, Every moment contained a little piece of you.

One day those stars, And planets, And moments Arranged themselves together on the pale blue dot we call home. And you were forged, Fashioned from the stardust.

Your eyes contained a galaxy of their own. A universe grew in your mind. The freckles that dotted your checks mirrored the stars in the sky.

You are part of the Cosmos Part of all that is,

Or ever was, Or ever will be. Stardust to stardust.

Orbit of My Mind

There is a solar system within each mind, Within each personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soul. The stars illuminate the street and the meteors spark creativity. The sun is the center, the focus, the ideal.

Mercury is my eldest sister, Abbie. Cratered, burning hot, closest to the sun. The smallest planet in our solar system, besides Pluto dense with drive and courage. Burning with passion and rippled on the surface. A molten core, full of a trivial past.

Venus is my best friend, Naiya.

The second brightest in the night sky, right along with the moon. Similar to the familiar Earth yet so abstract. A day on Venus is longer than a year, like the way you hear more once you are deaf. Venus rotates the opposite way of the other planets, She is entirely her own. She is beautiful and lives by her own word.

Mars is my father. Red, fiery, determined. Welcoming to people and is seen as a potential new home. Safe. Powerful.

Jupiter is my mother. She is the most influential planet, Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what I strive to be. Jupiter takes the most hits from the solar system The meteors constantly raining upon her. All planets revolve around her and she is the grandest in the solar system.

A gas giant, not quite stable Yet nothing is able, stable, or certain.

Saturn is me. Second largest in the system and gaseous like Jupiter. Rotates so rapidly as the world goes by, watching the galaxy become a blur. Only to be seen by aircraft four short times, Guarded by rings and shields against the universe. Seen as a beauty and as a symbol of courage. But is in fact fragile and frightened of the unknown.

Uranus is depression. An ice giant, the largest. Invisible. Second least dense; almost like it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t there, but is.

Neptune is my best friend, Corina. Third largest, spins rapidly like Saturn. A blue ice giant, only to be visited by a passing craft once. Closed off and shielded But the universe sees the extraordinance.

Pluto is my little sister, Elise. Most petite. Disregarded. Underestimated. A heart lays on the face of Pluto as they are gentle but fierce.

There is this swirling galaxy within this mind of mine And I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always seem to make sense of it. We are never fully able to make sense of our galaxy though, Are we?

Stars and Universes and Galaxies

You glance up at the stars, the moon, the ethereal universe, Examine the complexities of the galaxies above. You know what is beyond the veil, beyond your world. The moon, the sun, the nine planets of the solar system. But that is not all; there is more. Sirius and Arcturus and all the star systems you only know from books. But that is not all. The Milky Way and black holes and nebulas upon nebulas It is easy to feel insignificant, like nothing; You are only one person. Amongst stars and universes and galaxies, Do you really matter?

Yes, you do. There are others who examine the complexities of you. How your fingerprints are like no otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, How your bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s systems function in perfect synchronization. Your DNA and molecules and atoms, The protons and neutrons are all woven together to make you. Do not look outside, but look within To see what you are worth. Do not look at the skies To witness stars and universes and galaxies But rather, in you.

Best Friends

It was a typical Saturday night like every other. We pitched our old, beat up red tent in the backyard space halfway between our two houses and set up the usual array of blankets and pillows inside. Thomas had been my next door neighbor and best friend in the entire world for 16 years and counting. We’d been living next to each other since before we could form proper sentences, and once we could, we never stopped talking to each other. We did everything together, from pulling all-nighters playing video games, taking walks on the train tracks all the way to our spot at the lake, talking through walkie talkies and even going to each other’s family dinners. I looked up at the sky; the sun was beginning to set. “Casey?” I jerked my head over, Thomas had caught me off guard. He laughed. “Shut up, you’re not funny.” I muttered in a playful tone. “Are we almost done?” He nodded and I let out a sigh of relief, flopping down onto the cushioned floor of our tent. Thomas dropped down next to me and looked up at the sky above us, which you could

conveniently see through the big hole we ripped in the ceiling of the tent three years ago. “You know,” I stated, “Once it gets warmer, this big hole will let bugs in.” Thomas kept his eyes fixed on the twilight sky. “It lets in bugs every year.” I nodded, keeping my gaze in the same spot as well. “We should invest in a new one. Right?” He stayed silent. Something was wrong. “Thomas, what’s up?” No response. I turned my head to face him, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Dude.” I said, a little pushier this time. “What’s wrong?” Thomas groaned and looked at me with big eyes. “Things are just…” he trailed off, but I waited. “Things are just getting bad again.” I nodded. “At home, you mean?” He didn’t reply, but I knew that was the case. Thomas had always had family problems, this wasn’t new to me. He let out a sigh. He didn’t want to vent, not right now. “Well, let’s not think about it, then. Right?” He chuckled bitterly. “That’s kinda hard. You know that.” I looked back up at the sky, which was now completely black, the only light provided being the stars that shone above us. We were silent for a moment before I broke it. Looking up into the universe, I couldn’t help but let my imagination run wild. “Wouldn’t it be cool to live in space?” I asked. He looked at me like I was crazy.

“What?” I said in a shy voice. “Wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it be cool? We wouldn’t have to worry about anything. None of the stupid crap that we have to worry about down here, like grades and rumors and parental issues.” Thomas looked at me with perplection on his face. “We’d run out of oxygen,” He said. I scowled. “Okay? Tommy, this is totally, completely and 100% theoretical. You think we’re actually going to go live in space together?” He lighted punched my arm. “Whatever,” I smiled a little at the lightness in his tone. “Think about it. Dude, we could do whatever we wanted up there. Eutopia. Our rules, no one else’s. We’d be like kings, or whatever.” After this statement now, I really did expect him to blow me off and call me a dork. However, he took me by surprise, something he’s rarely able to do. “We could have sausage pizza for dinner whenever we wanted, huh?” He said, chuckling. “And no, not your mom’s homemade pizza, ew. The pizza we always get from down the street.” I laughed. “Yeah! Always! But hey. My mom’s cooking isn’t that bad.” Thomas raised his eyebrows and I caved. “Alright, fine. But not everyone can own their own restaurant like your mother.” Thomas smiled. The rest of the night was spent talking more about our own planet in space. We stayed up all night in that tent fantasizing about our own little world, the one we used to escape the one we were really in.

The Package of Importance

The hangar bustled and bumbled with swarms of shiny disc-like robots carrying dull brown cardboard boxes. In the midst of all this chaos a stout, plump man leaned against a yellow and white striped delivery spacecraft. He twirled the tips of his impressive thin mustache and tapped his feet to the catchy, yet irritating elevator music softly playing over the loudspeakers in the hangar. In the blink of an eye a jet black, space cruiser entered the hanger passing through the translucent lime colored force-field. The robots dodged and dipped around the cruiser like they were programmed to do. The cruiser landed smoothly right in front of the man, jutting steam out from the sides as the pressure lock released on the door. Two slender men in suits stepped out of the ship; they looked almost identical with their slicked back haircuts. One of them held a large wooden crate. They formally greeted the pudgy man, “Hello Mr.Electron, we have the package you are supposed to deliver.” The one on the right said holding up the wooden crate. “Mr.Electron, we mean to inform you that this is one of the most dangerous galactic

weapons ever. It is important that you deliver this shipment on time and safely to CRYSTAL Laboratories, located in the center of the galaxy, so the traffic may be a little backed-up.” Mr.Electron nodded and pointed to the logo on his yellow polo, “No problem boys, ‘We are the best movers in the galaxy’ after all.” The two men remained expressionless and shook Mr.Electron’s hand. They entered back into their cruiser and raced out of the hangar. Mr.Electron loaded the wooden box carefully into the back of the delivery truck, tethered it to the floor of the truck and shut the heavy metal door. A teenage boy rolled out of the cockpit of the truck, and strolled over to his father: Mr.Electron who was leaning against the door of the delivery truck. The young boy had long sandy colored hair and pale white skin, he greatly resembled his father in his facial features. “What’s wrong, Pa?” He said to his father, who looked more and more in pain by the seconds. “It’s alright Junior, it’s just that Martian food we ate last night, it is really not settling well with my stomach.” Mr.Electron reached in his khaki pants pocket to pull out the keys to the delivery ship, he handed them to the young teen. “You’re old enough to drive the ship. I’m not feeling well enough to make this delivery, can you make it for me? It is MAJORLY important that you get this package to CRYSTAL Laboratories as fast as possible.” Junior nodded and swung the keys around his finger,

“So what’s in the back?” His father broke into a sprint toward the restroom, “Something dangerous! Just don’t worry about it!” Junior stuck the keys into the ignition and turned it, hearing the purr of the loud engine. He slowly exited the hangar into the vastness of space. He selected the coordinates to CRYSTAL Laboratories on the console, pressed the autopilot button, and leaned back in his pilot's seat with his hands relaxed behind his head. His eyelids began to slowly close over his sky blue eyes, but they flashed opened when he heard a noise: thump...thump...thump… The noise was quiet, yet noticeable. Junior grunted; if anything, he wanted to stay in his comfortable, leather chair and catch up on the sleep he had missed in the last few days attending Jupiter University. It was weekends like this, however, when he would help his dad out making shipments all over the galaxy. It was a good way to make credits (or money, as Earthlings call it). The thumping grew louder and Junior felt obligated to go check on what was making all the racket. He slowly creaked open the door that led the cabin of the ship to the back of the ship. He flicked the light switch revealing the wooden crate. It rumbled, squealing and squeaking. Junior carefully approached the crate and undid the tether around it, he then spent the next thirty minutes wondering if what was in that crate would actually kill him. Finally, his curiosity got the best of him and he flipped the lid open. What he saw inside was unlike nothing he had ever seen! Inside was a small furry green creature, an alien! It had a large and long pink tongue and it was a spherical shape. Junior had never seen an alien ever in his life; he had thought they never existed. The alien jumped on Junior’s face and began to lick it as a dog would. Junior laughed trying to wrestle the alien off his face. Once he had succeeded in this task he noticed a note inside the case, it read: Hello all scientists of CRYSTAL Laboratories! We have discovered a planet on the brink of our galaxy that has the potential of harboring life! We have gathered a life form in which you may perform multiple experiments on (dead or alive) that may help our research on this planet. Here is specimen: FRO-5423. “FRO-5423?” Junior mumbled looking down at the cute little puffball of an alien. “Fro fro!” The tiny alien squeaked. Junior traced his finger over the words ‘(dead or alive)’. “I can’t let these monsters do this to you! I need to get you home!” He announced to the green alien who was running around in the back of the delivery vehicle squeaking: “Fro fro! Fro fro! Fro fro!”, until it hit the wall the vehicle and fell over. Junior got up and rerouted the ship to the alien’s home planet. “I’ll get you home buddy!”.

The alien responded back happily “Fro fro!”. Junior buckled the seatbelt over FRO securing him in the passenger's seat. “Hold on bud, to get to your planet we're gonna have to travel by lightspeed!”. Bobby Electron Sr. leaned over the sink squirting cherry scented liquid soap in his calloused hands. He washed them very thoroughly, before exiting the bathroom. After exiting the lavatory he dialed a space-cab and sat in the lobby of the delivery hangar watching ‘Milky Way Nightly News’. The channel was suddenly interrupted by breaking news, “According to officials a teenager in a moving van has stolen what we are told is one of the deadliest weapons in the galaxy. We have no idea of what he may do with this weapon, but police officials are heavily responding to this act of terrorism.” Mr.Electron looked at the screen in disarray as he saw his moving truck being pursued by hundreds of galactic officers. “My son...my company…”. He muttered under his breath before passing out on the cool metal floor.

Heavy lasers fired at the delivery truck as Bobby Electron Jr. inched closer to the alien’s home planet. One laser fired and obliterated the side engine of the delivery truck sending it spiraling into the planet. “Fro fro!” FRO muttered in a fearful tone. Junior noticed that the police had stopped tailing him into the atmosphere of the planet, probably assuming he was dead. All that was left to do now was to brace for impact. Bobby cinched his seat belt tighter as they plunged into the canopy of foreign foliage. The glass shattered on all the windows as they made a rough landing. Finally, the ship rested to a halt and Bobby kicked open the door gasping for precious oxygen. FRO slipped through it’s seatbelt and rested next to Bobby. He looked up, thousands upon thousands of different colored aliens just like FRO looked up at them. “Fro fro!” FRO cried out to all of his fellow aliens. They all bowed at Junior, “Fro fro!” they responded. “I could get used to being king.” He said with a wide grin.

Two Galaxies, One Space

SpaceIt is endless and forever with stars and galaxies stretching as far as the eye can see. It can also have endless possibilities, Neverending ones, that lead to questions no one can answer.

Space is infinite, there are things far away, ones we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even see. Things that, for all we know, May as well not exist. But we know they are there, lurking out in the dark, vast unknown. Stories upon legends circle about this place , this place called space. Great beauty and danger live side by side, in this airless vacuum filled with wonders. Some see it differently, they notice things others donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. Patterns and pictures made by the stars. Humans, are rather insignificant, If you think about it. We think weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re important and smart, But are we really, Who can say if there are others out there. Infinitely intelligent and far more advanced than us. Who can say There aren't?

Questions arise on everything about space. The stars, the planets, the galaxies does it all matter?

When did it first start? What’s out there that we’ve passed by? Does everything in space have a purpose? How do we fit into all of it? Is there a true purpose for our existence? Or is it all just make believe? Because as scientists move on, How do we know they didn’t miss something?

Space is forever and we’ll never know everything that’s there, No matter how much we study and explore. We can believe we are onto something, amazing, But truthfully, in the grand scheme of things, It’s just as insignificant as us. Someday we may be able to see some things we know are there,

But have never seen. Although the universe is always expanding, We’ll never see everything.

WordsandSpace

Space. It’s everywhere. It’s between every Word, no one seems To question it but why Not? Who decided how big the Spaces would be? Why can’t we just Write? We would save so much time and Paper if we didn’t. The ancient Romans didn’t use Spaces. They just wrote. Why can’t we? It Doesn’t make sense. We are taught from Kindergarten to use spaces but no One ever told us why Other than we do. Doesthisnotmakesense? I guess not. Nevermind.

Starlight, Love, and Silver Rings

The star mimicked light glinting off a necklace chain, bringing a shining silvery gleam to the dark galaxy. The light illuminated the planets circling the star, spinning around and around in a seemingly eternal dance. One of the planets was ruby, the color of a lady’s lips as she laughed with friends. It was orbited by a graphite gray moon, a small child trying to catch up to its parent. Cruising between the ruby planet and the graphite moon was a sleek, cerulean space ship. The space ship soared through the sky peacefully, for its inhabitants had no reason to dash through the galaxies. They were going somewhere, sure, but not in a manner that would strip them the right to observe the universe. They were watching the stars and planets as they flew by, pointing out the celestial bodies as they passed. Eleanora Ayling and Carol Ruzicka were amazed by the stars, planets, comets, and meteors they saw as they flew through the stars. “Look at the blue planet right there. Its sapphire glow is only the second most blue,

shining thing I have ever seen. And that purple planet right there- it’s a lavender planet, the color of a bridesmaid dress. Oh, and that small star is as gold as a wedding ring, and as bright as a newlywed’s grin. Do you see that planet up ahead? Have you ever seen something as green, even in your lover’s eyes?” As Carol finished gushing, she turned to Eleanora, the move full of the grace of someone who has always been the most elegant dancer. Her emerald eyes watched Eleanora, the beauty keeping her more captive than the beautiful planets and stars ever could. She watched Eleanora’s beryl eyes and fawn-colored satin-like hair with so much care that she didn’t notice when her hand fell onto Eleanora’s until she felt the other’s soft skin under her hand. The blush on her cheeks rivaled the pink of a planet lethargically passing by. The two hands stayed touching as Carol looked out the windows once again, not speaking in fear of talking garrulously over the quintessential symphony of her heart. She watched as the universe flew by, as ballet shoe pink planets and flaming tangerine meteors flew past the content blue spaceship. Then, a planet the color of diamonds from the finest jeweler with the engagement rings the sky gives to the sea every time there’s a full, silver moon. The planet reminded Carol of mornings spent with her mother told her about how her father swept of her mother off of her feat, dancing with her from when the sky was setting in the West to rising in the East. The planet filled Carol with a feeling of love and hope, of a dream of a future she would work every day to

achieve. The planet caused something in Carol to promise to stay where she was, to always be where she was with the one she would vow to protect. Another planet caught Carol’s eye, this one the pink of lace dresses and picnics and first dates. First dates similar to the one Carol went on with Eleanora, back on their home planet. They had met up at a park near Carol’s house with soft, verdant grass and graceful dirt trails for walking. Tall, brown trees protected the inhabitants of the park with its spring green leaves, and wildflowers provided pale pinks and blues across the hills. The air was filled with birds singing and people laughing, the sounds combining to make the most romantic song. Carol and Eleanora went for a walk across the park, laughing and talking as they went. The couple bonded over funny sibling stories and a shared desire to observe the entire universe, not just travel through it. They ate their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as they speculated about what the different galaxies look like. Carol asked if there really are colorful planets and holes that contain everything. Eleanora laughed and added that if there were holes that take in everything, then there must be holes that emit everything. Carol had smiled and whispered, “I want to see those with you.” The words were a question, a hope, a dream, a promise of a future Carol and Eleanora were now living as they soared by planets and stars the colors they described. Carol would’ve skipped seeing all the planets and stars if Eleanora couldn’t come with her. She realized it wasn’t the stars or the planets she was most excited to see- it was Eleanora’s face, full of wonder, as she beheld the universe. Overwhelmed by this emotion, Carol leaned forward and kissed Eleanora’s cheek. The movement was as soft as a satin-edged blanket. After Carol leaned back, Eleanora started speaking, her voice empty of the puckish humor Carol had come to love and instead filled of the feeling when one randomly makes cookies for another. “Carol, my love, we have known each other long enough that we can tell when one’s heart is the slightest bit broken. We have been together long enough to have therapy cookies made for each other, even if the other hasn’t told us anything’s wrong. We have spent so much of our lives knowing each other, and I was wondering- I was hoping that we could-we could spend our whole lives together. I want to see the entire universe with you, listening as you gush about every planet and star in the sky. I want to settle on a planet that captures our hearts, as if it were the home we have been searching for. I want to watch you dance in the middle of a park when we are eighty as you wait for me to come. I want to walk along trails and streets, just talking about the universe and our lives until long after the sun has set. I want to spend my life

with you, until we are in a hospital with our family and friends are surrounding us, talking of how we loved each other more than any couple has loved before. I want to marry you, with beautiful dresses and a fancy ceremony. If you want to, o-of course.” With these words, Eleanora reached into her pocket and gracefully brought out a black leather ring box. When she opened it, Carol saw a silver ring, looking as if it were made to imitate the beautiful, brilliant, silver planet. Carol beheld its wonder and Eleanora’s expression, before answering that she would always wish, always want, to spend her days with Eleanora, whether they were eating picnics in picturesque parks or soaring through colorful planets. Eleanora lovingly grasped Carol’s hand as they flew through the planets, starting their long lives together. Carol’s silver ring glinted and glittered as they flew out to their future.

Socks? The socks were in the dryer. And then, it seemed, one wasn’t. The load had finished, but one sock was missing. It wasn’t in the dryer, it wasn’t tangled up inside a shirt or anything obvious like that. It just… wasn’t. It was like it no longer existed, and never had. The only evidence that it had ever been was its lonely other sock, left pairless. The world cried that day. Just kidding. No one cried. No one ever cries over a missing sock, because then everyone would be crying all the time. Everyone in the world has lost a sock. Losing a sock is just another one of those things, something that happens every day to someone, somewhere. To cry would be silly. No one cried. Not even the sock that had been left behind, because it wasn’t even sentient and therefore did not have any feelings nor the ability to shed tears. The lost sock, the one that had disappeared from the dryer, was screaming. Silently, though, because space is a vacuum. And, oh yeah, the lost sock was now in space. A different sort of space, though… certainly not the type of space that typical humans think of when the word “space” is mentioned. The void was not an endless black sprinkled with the tiny pinpricks of stars, there were no dull gray rocks floating around, no blisteringly cold and deathly gasps of a lack of air. This other-space was still most definitely a vacuum, though, so the deathly non-air gasps were still a possibility, most likely. On the other hand, socks have no need to breathe, so…. you know. That wasn’t really an issue. Anyways, this other-space was more of a really dark blood red, sort of. It was like the color that humans can see when their eyes are closed, just really dark and slightly red. And there were piles upon piles of socks in all sizes. The lost sock promptly stopped screaming soundlessly upon seeing this. And then began again after coming to the conclusion that all of the other socks were dead. As dead as socks can be, anyways. The lost sock’s cousin Jimmy was just a little ways over, a hole torn in his head. The lost sock screamed in horror, this time aloud, surprisingly enough, upon taking in this sight. A human strode into the laundry room, heading toward the dryer. Strangely enough, a high pitched squealing seemed to be issuing from somewhere underneath the dryer. Shrugging, the human proceeded to unload the clean laundry, taking the lone sock away. The human left, still unaware that a sock was missing. The lost sock continued squealing. Meanwhile, the lost sock had come to the conclusion that he was not actually in another space, just merely underneath the dryer. His only chance of escape had just left with his twin, the lonely sock. He was slumped next to his dead cousin, Jimmy, and his breath was running out. His desperate scream, which truly did sound more like a squeal to human ears, petered out,

cracking forlornly at the end. All remaining hope drained away, and the lost sock closed his nonexistent eyes. The despair was so overwhelming, the knowledge that he would never be rescued, never again see the darkness of the inside of a shoe so awful that his will to live simply left him. His breathing stopped, his imaginary heart slowed, his edges frayed, and his mouth went slack. It was over. Jimmyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gaping head was laid exactly where it had fallen, but now there was also the frayed hem of the lost sock to join it, the memory of a sock-scream hanging over the both of them like an unspoken wish. A useless wish, but a wish all the same.

To Love an Introvert

To love an introvert is learning the truth behind the cliche “it’s not you, it’s me.” It’s space and solitude and phone calls left unanswered, constant ringing that echoes in your head and follows you to bed. It’s hurt feelings during the times in which you’re not welcome in their life. It’s reflection and miscommunication when they read in between lines in which there was nothing to be read, when they think an accidental cold-shoulder means goodbye and a voice-crack is the end. To love an introvert is the stale taste of rejection as you are pushed further and further away, replaced by more and more space, because empty air is more appealing than your love. To love an introvert is trying, deep, and terrifying. It is an absence of small talk, of niceties and safety. It is a refusal to discuss the weather, and a demand for connection and secrets and knowing. To love an introvert is open heart surgery and crumbling walls. It’s slow. It’s reflective. It’s pure. To love an introvert is a game of show don’t tell. It’s little things that speak volumes and actions that move mountains. It’s recognizing the complexity of thought that goes into every touch, understanding the information that isn’t put into words. To love an introvert is to love someone who has the entire world trapped inside of them; galaxies, stars, space. To love an introvert is not for everyone.

My Parents Were Not Scholars

My parents were not scholars. They were not socialites. They were not bright, optimistic, souls with hope for their futures. They were, in fact, kids who grew up too soon with ugly pasts and sad, sad scars, not knowing how to function in a hapless world that moved too fast for their liking. There are pictures, boxes of them. There are albums and folders and envelopes, filled to the brim with photographs that captured memories of a time gone by. When I was young, I looked to the few I had for hope. I looked to them to fill the hole I had in my heart with memories I was not yet there to make. There is a lesson to be learned from every marriage and every divorce. A lesson that heaths the rush and warns of the day you’ll wake up next to the person you fell in love with and see a stranger.

I never knew my mom when I was little. Not really. But there are photos I can learn from now and Facebook status updates I can read. Back then I had nothing. I had no memories aside

from her departure.

My parents met because they had a mix of the same friends. It was purely a coincidence, in my opinion, that their spatial orbits happened to intertwine one night. At this point in time, my dad lived in a one bedroom house in Middletown. He worked long hours to keep it. At one point it got so bad that he would come home around midnight, sometimes later. Well, my dad had friends whose work hours didn’t match his of course. On an autumn night, around two in the morning, my dad got a call from his friend. Sure enough, my dad is asked to hang out with the group despite the fact that he got home just two hours before hand. Now, my dad was never one to appreciate being woken up at two in the morning, especially not to go to an amusement park, but his friends ‘needed’ him. Really, they needed his car. So off he goes, into the night to pick up his friends. It was basically his friend Lorrie and her brothers, and Lorrie brought company. What my dad didn’t know was that this friend of Lorrie’s would be the love of his life (for 18 years or so). My dad has told me that the first time he saw my mom, he knew she was the one. I can’t deny it to this day, because of the way he looked when he said it. His eyes screamed a passion lost long ago.

I ask my parents about how they met and where it all went wrong sometimes and I know it hurts them to dig up the past but I truly believe I need to know these things in order to learn for my future.

My mom said no to marrying my dad three times. Actually that was just on the night they met. He’s where I get my persistence from. When they did finally start their lives together, they didn’t understand the complications they would face. Mom’s parents didn’t approve of their daughter dating a black guy who was seven years older than her (this was the 80’s after all), and neither of them had any experience being with anyone but themselves. I think a lot of the things that my parents did were done because they thought it had to be done. I think marriage was expected of them, a whole life waiting on a ring to prove that you’re not alone in this world. Insanity.

“There’s never an easy answer for life”. My mom told me that when I asked her when she knew she had to leave. My parents tried, they really did, but things start to take a toll on you very quickly when all the sudden you’re thrust into married life with two kids and barely a means of getting by. Things were over before they began.

And then there was the house. The original five-hundred square foot home could not sustain a family, so we built upon it. My dad wanted to be the father he never had. I say any father is better than the one he had, but that’s a story for another time. Actually, it’s not. My dad grew up separated from his siblings, raised by a pathological liar of an aunt who told him he was his mother. Can I really, truly blame him?

He wanted a place for his kids to be kids, but he ended up ripping his family apart. Every nail, every board placed in that house created a space too big now to be filled with the sounds of laughter and joy. You can’t build a house, have two kids under the age of five, spend maximum just thirty dollars a week, and be content under a one income household. It just doesn’t work.

It isn’t easy to pack up and leave your life behind after eighteen years, I know that. But it would be a lie if I said I didn’t ever rescent my mom for doing it. No matter how much I know, how well I understand things or how much I change. I’m still the little four year old that my mom left behind; still confused, still angry, still hurt.

It isn’t easy. It isn’t easy knowing that your brothers helped your mother through the pregnancy more than your father. It isn’t easy knowing that when you were born, your mother was all alone with you in the hospital room for days because your father thought she ‘needed time alone’. It isn’t easy knowing that your father would've rather gone to jail than pay child support for you if your mother left him. It isn’t easy feeling like your mother only wanted to take you with her because her mother thought she had to and not because she wanted to. It isn’t easy being an accident. It isn’t easy not knowing where your next meal is coming from. It isn’t easy watching your mother leave and not understanding why no one was chasing after her like in the movies. It isn’t easy watching all the mothers on mother’s day in school be there for and love their kids and waiting for your mother to miraculously show up just to be let down every single year. It isn’t easy knowing that your mother left, not because she had to, but because she chose someone else over you.

It isn’t easy, but we still get up every single day and go through it. It will never get easier,

but with time it becomes less foreign and it becomes a feeling you get used to. Because you’ve never known anything else in the world. I’m sixteen now; my mom has officially missed three quarters of my life; I’m used to it. Not seeing her for years at a time is something I am used to. Knowing that there is three-thousand miles between us is something I am used to.

I am the product of two kids who didn’t know what they were doing. I am the product of growing up with no mother, a father who worked two hours away and brothers who are over a decade older than I. I am the product of flinching when someone raises their hand or voice, even if it’s not to hurt me. I am the product of low self-esteem and anger issues and problem after problem, conflict after conflict, all with no solution in sight.

There once was a space between my parents. A universe that brought them together and ultimately tore them apart. My parents tried. They really did. But sometimes trying isn’t enough. What can I say? My parents were not scholars.

The Stars Above Us

Look up, just for a moment, Find the stars shielded by the skies above. Mysteries reflect softly in your eyes, Wonders disguised as bright holes in the blanket of night.

Just for a moment, look up See the meteoroids dance and fly See the light that has traveled for so long Just for your eyes. Watch the moon as it is consumed Bit by bit.

How many ancestors stared at the heavens as you do now? What patterns did they create out of the stars? How many future generations will gaze up? What will they see?

One by one, will the stars be erased At the hands of those who seek to be among them? Or will we discover new possibilities Beyond what our own horizon holds?

But for now, look up. Just for a moment, and wonder.

Earthlings

Cast of Characters Stacy: Show hostess on alien planet. Director: The director of the film. He often tries to please Stacy. Cameraman/men: Film the show. Mother: Human mother. Lives on alien planet in disguise. James: Husband of mother. He also lives in disguise on the planet.

FADE IN:

Show set. A brightly lit kitchen.

In bright letters the words, “Standard Kitchen Tales” are lit in bright red letters. Cameramen are surrounding the set. The director counts down from three and filming begins.

Zoom to:

STACY. The shows hostess walks in on set. She is blue alien wearing an extravagant headdress. She wears extraordinary jewelry and bright nails.

STACY to camera Good evening! You might be wondering why I am speaking in such a strange language. Please refer to the subtitles at the bottom of your screen for assistance. Today’s episode is called,“Earthlings” and we will be doing several earthy things. Today we will be cooking earthy food. We recently acquired permission from the Supreme Leader to open the national archives and dig into ancient recipes of the human civilization.

Zoom to:

Picture of a smiling alien on the wall. It is the Supreme Leader.

Cut to:

STACY. STACY Since we obliterated the human civilization we have also acquired some of their languages, today I will adopt English. Let’s get started!

Stacy walks over to the kitchen counter and pulls out the recipe book.

STACY As stated before we will be speaking English today. As you know my name is (speaks in alien language) but today I will be known as “Stacy”. The first recipe we will explore is the “mac and cheese”.

Zoom to:

Cover of recipe book. A picture of Gordon Ramsey is on the cover.

STACY Prior to our imperialism of the planet Earth, the human civilization considered “mac and cheese” to be a luxury item. As she turns page to recipe: It involves a unique combination of ingredients that we have been able to acquire. First of all and most importantly we need cheese. We also need noodles. Those are the only ingredients! How simple!

Zoom to: Set. Cameramen are filming Stacy. They nod in interest at the “mac and cheese.” On a small screen the live footage is seen. Alien subtitles translate every word that Stacy says. The viewers can see this.

Zoom to: Stacy bringing out ingredients.

STACY Holding bag of cheese and noodles.

This is the cheese and this is the noodles. They were artificially preserved in the hydro chambers of the national archives along with the other ingredients you will see today. The recipe calls for boiling water. As she puts pot on stove: Let’s begin. This boiling process takes much too long.(Her eyes turn bright red and she laser beams the water. It begins to boil. Much better!

Zoom to:

DIRECTOR. A plump alien who directs the show. He is green. He gives Stacy a signal.

STACY And with that will go to a commercial break! Stay tuned! The lights fade as she walks off set.

Insert subtitles.

DIRECTOR In alien language. You’re doing spectacular!

STACY As makeup artists touch up on her makeup. In alien language. Of course I am.

DIRECTOR Softly in alien language. Try to be a little more enthusiastic though darling.

STACY Bitterly in alien language. Enthusiastic! It’s alien food! Who wants to learn about alien food!

CAMERAMAN

Let’s get back to work!

DIRECTOR In alien language. That’s your cue! Go! Be spectacular!

STACY Gets up from chair and walks back on set. Lights turn back on and filming begins as the cameraman counts down from three. With enthusiasm: Welcome back! Let’s continue! The mac and cheese calls for the mixture of the cheese item and the noodle. We must cook the noodles first. She throws box of noodles into the boiling water. The box begins to dissolve. Interesting reaction here. The instructions say to drain the water after the noodles are done. I think they are. Carefully pours out water.

Zoom to:

Noodles. They look unappetizing.

STACY Now we add the cheese item. Throws bag of cheese over the noodles. Now we mix them together. As she mixes them a hole punches through the bag and cheese disperses throughout the dish. Lovely!

Zoom in: Final product. Noodles, cheese, and plastic.

STACY Lets try another dish! The “piza.”

Zoom in: Page on pizza recipe.

STACY This was a world favorite! The “piza” is made up of bread, cheese, and other strange items. Today we will attempt to make the cheese piza. Mixes flour in a bowl with eggs and other wet ingredients then grunts. Wow that’s becoming hard to do. She adds cheese. What a finish!

Zoom to: Oven. Inside of it is the “pizza” that Stacy created. It’s basically a giant dough ball.

STACY Stay tuned for the final product!

Fade to:

CAMERAMAN. He is a alien that helps to film the show.

Insert subtitles.

CAMERAMAN To himself in alien language: What a strange episode.

Zoom to: STACY. STACY Welcome back! As our “piza” bakes let’s explore the wrap. It seems simple enough-let’s try it! Pulls out plastic bags containing flatbread and cheese.

Zoom to: Freezer. When opened cool fog is released from it.

STACY Pulls out frozen lettuce from freezer. This is lettuce! This green plant resembles some of our own. How nice to see that the aliens resembled us! The wrap was a delicacy in multiple places throughout the human civilization. It involves many combinations of items like cold lettuce,

peppers, chicken,etc;. Unfortunately we were not able to get permission from the Supreme Lord to acquire a chicken - whatever that is. Attempts to slice frozen lettuce. She assembles a “wrap” with frozen lettuce,cheese,and peppers. She doesn’t wrap it up though.

DIRECTOR Interrupting in alien language: FIRE!

Zoom to:

OVEN. The dough ball is on fire.

STACY In alien language: WATER!

CAMERAMAN Runs up on set with water and extinguishes the “fire.” He makes a pun: Well that's a wrap!

The lights go dark.

Cut to: HOME. A human family sits on a couch watching the cooking show as the events occur. They just watched the fire scene happen. The mother speaks.

MOTHER In English: I wonder what James will have to say about this.

JAMES Walks out door and puts on alien costume. They can’t even get pizza right!

THE END

Above & Below

Celestial constellations of benevolent beings come swimming to me. The darkness invading every orifice of my body. The cold engulfs every fiber of my being. How could something, so vast and infinite, make me feel so consumed and trapped? I gasp for breath time and time again,

I choke on the absence of oxygen.

Above and below, seemingly strange, seemingly the same.

inter sideres vagatur (he is wandering among the constellations)

He called me brother though we were far from it, for I was of noble distinction and he was a mere plebian. Roman custom dictated that we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t so much as to speak, but somehow we had grown closer than my own brother was to myself. In our pueritia, our boyhood, we met, while I was on my way back home from school and he was on his way to town to buy more fabric for the tunic his mother was making him for the new year. We spoke of nothing more than past good weather and made our paths separate. Even so, they always ended up crossing like two rivers, destined to meet at the mouth of the ocean. It feels like forever since last winter, since I spent a lifetime in his room, his floor, his arms, his embrace, his heart. He used to call me mellitus, honey honey-sweet sweetness darling, but now he could call me nothing. His lips are frozen in place, my suavis, sweet, boy, my brother through choice but not blood, is buried underground. My feet have long grazed his earth, for I visit him frequently and longly, longingly, lonely, and rest my forehead where his is below the grass, close my eyes, weep. I ache for you, you, you you you I tell him, digging my fingers into the ground enough to feel like we are as connected as all the times we ran through the cobbled streets singing and laughing, all the times I went to his house after school and taught him philosophy and Greek because he was much better than I was. Some days my body is floating and disconnected, severed from the world but I end up being jarred back into place by the retinentia, recollection, of his dead eyes when they lowered him into the ground. We would always speak of how he was like Castor and I Pollux, brothers by different fathers and different worlds. I never knew that it would come so true. When he died I wished I could have gone to my father to ask him to hang him next to me in the sky like Castor, but I was not Pollux nor was I immortal, though I often felt like it. He died so much more before I did, I felt immortal and eternal without my frater, brother, beside me. Defitiscor, I become weary, of days without him. I cannot help but to think of these words of Catullus,

Soaked with tears of a brother and into forever, brother, farewell and farewell.

The World Beyond Us SCENE I: Starts off with a spaceship that crashed onto the Earth’s surface. Three aliens (who look very similar to humans) came out of the door, panicking. They’re all in a white gowns.

ALIEN I: Where are we?

ALIEN II: While picking the grass off the ground. I think we are on some kind of pointy green planet.

ALIEN III: I think we landed on Earth.

ALIEN I AND II: Earth?!

ALIEN III: Yeah, remember our master Joku taught us about the planets in the galaxy? Well, I remember he said something about the weird blue, white and green planet. He called it ‘Earth’.

ALIEN II: What a weird name! ‘La Loochie’ sounds more normal.

ALIEN I: When can we go back to ‘La Loochie’?

ALIEN III: We need a device called a ‘battery’, at least that’s what Joku said would help us.

ALIEN II: I don’t know where you found items like that. The world beyond us is abnormal.

SCENE II: The three aliens visit an art museum nearby. As they walked inside, they found a desk with name tags on them, all of which mentioned the word ‘Assistant supervisors’.

ALIEN I: Should we pick one up?

ALIEN III: Yeah, we should have an alias for ourselves.

ALIEN II: True. They all picked up a name tag. ALIEN I had a name tag that says ‘John Henderson’, ALIEN II had ‘Rachel Brown’ and ALIEN III had ‘Alex Penwell’. ALIEN III decided that they should all call each other by their alias names.

JOHN: Okay fellas, welcome to Earth.

RACHEL: Why is everyone staring at us? They are the ones with the tacky pants and shirts. The humans with longer hair have short towels around them!

ALEX: Is it our clothes? I mean all three of us dress alike.

They all stared at their white gowns while all the supervisors started smiling and whispering to each other. Most of them silently pointed at the three aliens.

STRANGER I: Nice costumes, punks! HAHAHA!

STRANGER II: Yeah, are those your mother's dresses?

The two strangers started laughing and walked through the art gallery.

ALEX: Maybe we should go to a place called a ‘store’ or ‘shop’. They’ll probably have the unusual clothing that these humans have.

SCENE III: The three aliens made their ways to a place called ‘The Thrift Shop’. As they walked inside, the humans repeatedly look at the aliens and giggled. A human with long hair walk to the aliens, The person had a name tag called ‘Manager’.

MANAGER: Hi, my name is Allison. Welcome to the thrift shop. How may I help you guys?

ALEX: We are hoping to find new clothes.

MANAGER: Gave a quick glance at the clothes the aliens were wearing and smirked. Clearly. Do you need any help picking out any clothes?

JOHN: I think we can handle ourselves.

MANAGER: Okay. Let me know when you need something.

RACHEL: Whispering to ALEX: Did she not hear us? We said we could handle ourselves.

ALEX: Yeah, I think she’s partially deaf just like half the martians on ‘La Loochie’.

JOHN: GUYS LOOK! I found a shirt with the words ‘Goofy’!!

RACHEL: Yeah, so?

ALEX: It has a weird face with abnormal eyes and a tongue sticking out.

JOHN: Well...it sounds similar to ‘loochie’ so I thought it was cool.

SCENE IV: Rachel pick ups some pink and green neon clothes. Alex picked up T-shirts and ‘towels’. John

picked up all the shirts with the word ‘Goofy’ and baggy pants. They all went to the front desk with the manager.

MANAGER: Laughing: You guys think this is a joke! You guys are too funny, where are all the real clothes that you want to buy?

ALEX: Jokes? These are in style nowadays, the humans with long hair wears towels.

MANAGER: Continues laughing: Humans with long hair? Towels? You mean women and skirts. Are you guys from another country?

JOHN: Smiling big: Yes we are from ‘La la loo--

ALEX:

Put his hand on JOHN’s mouth. We’re from---what’s it called?---Japan!

MANAGER: That’s great, so the total is $30.39.

RACHEL: Whispering to Alex: What are ‘dollars’?

ALEX: Oh gosh, we forgot to bring money.

MANAGER: I’m sorry, you can’t pay without money.

ALEX: Yeah it’s our first day back from Japan and we forgot our wallets in our vehicle.

MANAGER: Okay that’s fine. You can put your clothes here while you get your wallets.

ALEX: Uhh...We actually parked it far away. Yeah, we had a long walk.

MANAGER: Okayy… Well since it’s your first day back, I’ll let you guys keep the clothes BUT you have to pay tomorrow. It’s the store’s policy.

ALEX: Okay, we’ll manage.

SCENE V: Alex, Rachel and John walked out of the store in their tacky clothes. RACHEL:

Soo.. how are we going to find money?

ALEX: We don’t.

RACHEL AND JOHN: What?!?

JOHN: Won’t she do something to us? I mean she knows our names.

ALEX: Our alias names. We have to go back to La La Loochie’ tomorrow.

JOHN:

YAY! THE MARTIANS WILL LOVE MY SHIRTS!

RACHEL: We need to find the ‘batterayy’ for our ship.

ALEX: Yeah, Joku says a battery can be found anywhere.

JOHN: (Picking up a small battery from a trashcan) I think I found one!

RACHEL: Good! Now can we go back?

ALEX: Nice going, John. Let’s go back to our spaceship.

Alex, Rachel and John went back to same spot their ship crashed. There was a sign that says ‘TOWED’. John heard something and turned around. It was a truck dragging the spaceship to some store with other cars. JOHN: HEY!! GET BACK HERE YOU BIG BOX!!

John ran towards the truck, Rachel and Alex followed him all the way to the Police Auto Records.

JOHN: Yelling at driver: WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?!?

DRIVER: I’m sorry sir, your ‘ship’ has been towed for an invalid license plate.

ALEX: I’m sorry we won’t do it again. May we please have our ship back?

DRIVER: Laughing. It’s not that simple, you have to report the police to get your vehicle back.

RACHEL: Whispering to ALEX: Who’s the police?

ALEX: Whispering back to RACHEL: I don’t know but I remember Joku said that ‘they would endanger the environment’. Whatever that means…

JOHN: Panicking. I think I’m going to faint. Fell to the ground and passed out.

RACHEL: OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU OZUKI??

DRIVER: Ozuki?

ALEX: Slapped Rachel on the arm and whispered angrily: Alias names. Alias names!

SCENE VI: The driver got out of the truck and tried to help out John. In the meanwhile, ALEX dragged the spaceship quietly behind the driver’s back and dragged it behind a store name ‘Jerry’s quick Autofix’. He quickly came back to Rachel and John. JOHN: Woke up and started coughing. What...what happened?

RACHEL: Thank Joku you’re safe. I thought you were dead.

DRIVER: Okay fellas, you guys be careful next time.

The driver went back into his vehicle and drove back on the road.

ALEX: Okay now that he’s gone, I brought back the spaceship. We can go back to ‘La La Loochie’.

RACHEL: Um… where is it?

Alex took Rachel and John’s hand and took them behind the store where he had left he spaceship. RACHEL: YASSS!

JOHN:

WE CAN GO BACK AND SHOW MASTER JOKU OUR SOUVENIRS!! Held out a stuffed animal with a handwritten name tag that says ‘Goofy’.

ALEX: We need the battery so that the spaceship will be able to function.

RACHEL: Pointing at aisle in the store labeled ‘Batteries and gasoline.’ Should we go inside and look for them?

ALEX: You’re a genius! Thank you, Azula--er I mean Rachel.

They all went inside the store and search through the batteries. While the man on the counter was sleeping, they all hold the triple AAA batteries in their hands and walked out silently back to their spaceship. ALEX: Okay, let’s go home fellas.

After a while, Alex finished fixing the spaceship.

JOHN: Yay, we can go back to ‘La La Loochie’. But first we need an entrance.

RACHEL: Rolling her eyes. Oh please don’t. Putting her hand on her face. The three friends walk into their spaceship and flew back home. The screen gradually turns black. THE END.

Space Barz Presents: Fun Fact Rap, Space Edition

Pluto: Ay, yo Jupes! Lay down a beat. (What would it be like to be on the moon) Venus: Space: the final frontier. Uranus: To help you learn about it, we are here. (Jupiter) (Venus) (Uranus) (Pluto) Jupiter: We have the funkiest fun facts here, you know!

Venus: Like Buzz Aldrin, we’re gonna break the switch And fix it with a ballpoint pen which

We’re gonna use to write more raps And then you’ll tap, your foot to this beat so funky Like Albert the Second, the first space monkey I’m Venus, I spin the other way With me, a year is shorter than a day There are 400 billion stars in our galaxy, The Milky way, no not the candy that’ll give you a cavity! Mercury is cratered, almost like it’s porous. Now, let's take it to the chorus.

Chorus: Oh whoa oh whoa Space. Space. Oh whoa oh whoa Space. Space.

Uranus: They call me Uranus, and I'm the seventh planet My bars are so hot, you could call them satanic

I've been getting lonely counting thirty thousand Earth days Ice Giant, I’m cold but they just call it a phase My days last 13 hours, So does noon really count as midday? 86 billion, friends make fun of how much I weigh I’m tilted on my axis so I’m feeling the sway The Hubble can see me from a billion miles away It really sucks because I'm gassy every-time of the day I'm happy, but I'm blue to my dismay In the end that’s all that I can say Uranuz Out

Chorus: Oh whoa oh whoa Space. Space. Oh whoa oh whoa Space. Space.

Pluto: Any free movin’ liquid will turn to a sphere, Not many people even remember I'm here The name’s Pluto, no not like Disney, It's Pluto, now say it with me I'm a sphere, check I orbit the Sun, check I may not clear the neighborhood of my orbit but At least I'm still a (dwarf) planet, whaaaat? Now a planet in the shape of a donut could exist, At least according to the laws of physics. Pluto (yeah) Pluto (yeah) Here it comes so here we go:

Chorus:

Oh whoa, oh whoa Space. Space. Oh whoa, oh whoa Space. Space.

Jupiter: I'm Jupiter, you can call me Jupes When I lay down these bars they bring out the troops Flaming, I'm taming, I'm claiming The title of the biggest, the baddest, the overall raddest Look at all these lil dwarves ain't they just the saddest? I'm a break from the norm You can call me disaster like my name is Red Storm! I'm the queen of the planets Shaped like a pomegranate

I've got all these little peasants all wrapped up in my presence J-U-P-I-T-E-R I orbit around a pretty swaggy star There's an asteroid belt between me and Mars And Saturn’s rings are a bit sub par As you know, I’m the queen of the galaxy Now bow down and say “your beautiful majesty”

Chorus: Oh whoa, oh whoa Space. Space. Oh whoa, oh whoa Space. Space.

Venus: Space: The final frontier. Uranus: We told you about it, give us three cheers! (Pluto) (Uranus)

(Venus) (Jupiter) Jupiter: We have the funkiest fun facts around, so tubular! Pluto: Ay, yo Jupes: cut the track!