August 2, 1998

Lucy

After a refreshing nights sleep, everyone decided that they would leave Paris (even though Taylor and Lucy didn't want to) and go off to Hollywood. It was time for the Academy awards, and Ike, Tay, and Zac were presenters.

So.

With a snap of the fingers, they all arrived in Hollywood, California. No one was terribly excited to be there, but since they were presenters....

Well, the awards were the next night, so everyone decided that they'd pick out their outfits today, and have tomorrow to do whatever. So.....Ike got black pants, funky boots, and a nifty white shirt and a joyous deep green jacket thing. Jos got a really cool pale blue semi-mini silk dress that was sleeveless and some heels to go with it. Taylor got just a black 70's ish looking funky suit thing with a burgundy shirt. Rose got a lavender dress...just like the one that she wore to prom. Zac didn't want to get anything, but Ike and Rose convinced him to get a groovy pair of navy blue cargo pants and a yellowish shirt. They didn't match, but Zac liked it, anyway. And, it did look pretty cool. (NO! not "kewl") Lucy got a long maroon sleeveless dress with a jacket-like thing.

They looked splendid.

Anyway....the shopping took just about all day, so they all went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning, they thought about maybe sightseeing, but....Zac had a better idea. DIRT BIKING!!!! Yeahoo!

So, they went biking for several hours. Jos felt the need to try racing everyone, and instead managed to crash into a dog, (we're happy to say that the dog is *fine*), fall off of the bike twice, and completely muddy herself. Well...at this point, Isaac said, "Why don't we stop this. I think it'd be the safest thing to do."

Everyone agreed. Jos was the only one who really wanted to stop, but everyone else could see how distressed that Jos was, and so no one put up an arguement.

Well, after this, everyone went back to the hotel, to get ready for the Academy awards.

The awards were SOOOOOOOOOOO boring! Well, Rose got to meet Nicolas Cage, and Jos got to meet Stephen Mason, but other then that ... everyone about slept through the whole thing.

So. There was a problem. Where to, now? Jos had an idea. Why not try the Moon? Well, no one needed a *second* to think about that one... Everyone wanted to go.

But, instead of just snapping the fingers, Jos thought that it'd be cool to go to NASA in Houston, and see if we were qualified to go on an actual launch. (it was a quick little flight. Just a few hours) Well, she was rather mad at herself for doing that. She and Ike and Rose were all not well enough to do that. See, Jos has a jaw problem, Ike had braces (I'm sure that they'll keep you on earth for that), and Rose was allergic to nuts...the main ingredient in astronaut food. Now, there was a dilemma. SHould they stay, and let Lucy, Zac, and Taylor go, or should they all stay? Oddly, Jos encuraged the three to go on (she is getting weird, I tell you) and she and Ike and Rose would all go to Stockholm, and see what was there. (none of them wanted to go to Stockholm, they just thought of a place).

Lucy promised to take pictures.

So. Now. Taylor and Lucy and Zac all had to go through some training so they wouldn't blow up the shuttle. The weightless training was the *BEST*!!!!!!!!!! They all about gagged when they got their first taste of space food. Zac wondered why they couldn't just take Twinkies. (they didn't have a good reason, they just said "NO")

A little while later, they were all starting to miss each other. None of them had ever been awat from eachother this long. (8 days) No one really had the urge to sit and moan their sorrows to the commander, so they just wrote letters, and looked at pictures.

(may I make a note of something? There were adults going on this expedition thing. Why would *anyone*--especially NASA--let three kids go into outerspace without an adult?)

After the tiresome task of hopping into their space suits, they were.....

...OFF TO THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

YEAAAAAH!

Meanwhile, Rose, Jos, and Isaac were trying to figure out what people did in Stockholm. They didn't know, and since they didn't want to stick around anyway, they went off to Tulsa. (close to NASA in Texas, and Ike knew of a thing of 2 to do)

9.....8.....7.....6.....5.....4.....3....2....1.....LAUNCH!!!!!!!!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Zac and Lucy screamed. Tay looked like he was gonna puks. Everyone just sat there. (some were screaming). It was a *weird* feeling. Being launched into space at a trillion miles an hour. (Hey, so I dont' know the actual speed). Fly....fly....fly....fly...fly. It was so cool. Finally, just cruising. They could hop outta their seats now. Just look out the window. Take a picture. Eat your sneaked in Twinkies. It was one of the coolest things. Looking out the window, and seeing earth. Wow. There were no words for this. Awesome. No, beyond that. It was amazing. Beyond that, too. Unexplainable. *BEEP* Oh. Time to land. *KTHUD* ON THE MOOOOOOON! They had to do some stuff, but then ... "One small step for man, a giant step for mankind." They were walking on the moon. It was awesome. Lucy was so excited. She took some pictures. It was fun just hopping around weightlessly.

"Hey!" Shouted Zac, "there's Oklahoma! I think so. It's the United States, that's the approximate place of Oklahoma....Hm. Too bad we can't see Stockholm." (These guys didn't know that the other 3 were in Tulsa, not Stockholm)

Taylor wasn't really listening. He was "laying" down. He kept "bouncing", though. It was a funny thing to watch. He stood up and got some moon dust. He decided that he wanted to keep it as his one souvenier of the adventure. I mean, what could beat moon dust? A little replica of the Taj Mahal? No way! This rocked!

"I feel like a fairy or something." said Lucy, "I mean, all this stuff, it's unreal! I feel not like a person, but...like a fairy. because I'm kind of weightless, and I'm just floating around, and....I don't know." It was too cool.

Well, the scientists had done their scientific stuff, so, sadly, back to earth. Tay, Lucy, and Zac wanted to stay here forever. It was the coolest place on eart....uh, in the Milky Way! (wait...we haven't gone to Mars!)

Anyway. Back to the feeling that you were being sucked into a giant straw. Da lauch. This time, the flight was a lot longer, because they were "sightseeing". (heehee) Lucy *had* to get pictures. She was thinking that "These pics are gonna turn to nothing in 5 years, but who cares?"

Rose, Jos, and Ike were waiting in the NASA center. They were just starting to wonder "Are they *ever* gonna be back? They were due back about 1/2 hour ago? Is this like MIR? Will they be there for months?" Then....

"Oh, yeah! 'No, sir. I have no twinkies.' Zac, YOU LIED TO A NASA PERSON! He works with the GOVernment! This could be on your permanent record!" They heard Lucy shout.

"Hey, no harm done! I mean, I don't see why I couldn't have the Twinkies on, in the first place!" Zac retorted.

"You guys are both probably gonna be in trouble! Zac, you with the Twinkies and the wooppee cushion, and Lucy, you with the silly string. Were those things *totally* neccessary?" Said Taylor.

"Well we needed a little 'we have arrived on the moon' party, and anyway, you were the one who said that we shou....HI GUUUUUYS! I GOT PiCTURES!" Shouted Lucy.

"FINALLY!" the three yelled.

"Hey," said Zac, "It's not *our* fault!" We were just cruisin' along, and there, in front of us, the dumb asteroid appeared outta nowhere! Man! We are lucky to be *alive*, and yoiu scream because we were *late*????"

"Zac quit lying." said Jos. "How was it?"

Lots of replies came at the same time. Jos couldn't figure out what anyone was saying, but she could tell that it was pretty cool, by the energy in their voices.

"Let's go sleep". No one knew who said this, but everyone agreed that it sounded nice.

The next morning, They discussed the last 9 days (the days that they'd been split) over a breakfast of bacon, sausage, and whatever else. Lucy tok her pictures to the "one hour photography" place, and showed to everyone. The best one, by far, was the one with silly string on the lens. :)

It was a nice stay in Texas, let me tell ya.

Now, there was the ever recurring dilemma of "where to, now?"

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