It's All Too Much!

 

            “Suzy!” said Toots one day, to her friend and confidant, “It’s hot here! I don’t mean average summer hot. I mean it’s August in Texas hot, Baby! If we had a sidewalk, you could fry an egg on it. I don’t know why anyone would do that, but they say that!”
            “I don’t know how you stand it, Toots,” said Suzy. “I believe I would purely croak!”
            “Look, I know fall is coming, but not for weeks yet!” said Toots, sighing. “How are things going in soggy WA?”
            “I’ll tell you how it’s going, Hon! It hasn’t rained except maybe once all summer. It’s dry as a bone here, and smoky! Do you know about that? It looks like a cloudy day outside, but it’s not. It’s smokey. I can smell it! Trees are burning all around!” said Suzy. “It’s not soggy here until late fall, Toots.”
            “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Suzy?” said Toots.
            “Maybe! But tell me anyhow!” said Suzy, with a virtual wink.
            “I think we’re overdue for a field trip to a cool place, don’t you?” said Toots.
            “Space is cool,” said Suzy.
            “Space is very cool,” agreed Toots. “Got any ideas?”’
            “Wanna take a ride in a red car, Toots? We could ride with Starman, and orbit the sun!” said Suzy. “We would be the only cats out there in the Feline Frontier! Imagine how cool that would be!”
“I’m working with it, give me a minute,” said Toots, but she was smiling… “Oh, heck, let’s go!”
And before you could say Bunny Boots, the two little explorers rose up, as little points of vision, into the outer reaches of Earth’s atmosphere. Once again they marveled at the beauty of the planet. They watched it roll beneath them, traced the shapes of countries, and watched storms form and then fade, and indeed saw the smoke in the US and Europe too.
            “No wonder I smelled smoke,” said Suzy.
            “I’m amazed I didn’t smell smoke,” said Toots.
            “Well, now, let’s find the red Tesla. It’s out here. It came up on SpaceX a few years ago,” said Suzy. “I think it would help if we pictured it.”
            So, they shut their virtual eyes, and thought about a red Tesla, like a satellite, orbiting the sun, around and around. It must have worked because when they opened their eyes, there it was. And what a sight it was!
            It was wild, crazy, incongruous to see. It was like a dream; the red Tesla Roadster suspended in orbit with the sun flaming below.
            “Front seat?” said Toots.
            “Oh yes, we’ll be able to see better,” said Suzy as they settled in beside Starman, shoving some random junk off of the seat onto the floor.
            “Hot wheels?” said Toots.
            “Meow! Weird,” laughed Suzy. “Is this guy just kidding around?”
            “I think if a guy has enough money, he can kid around if he wants to,” said Toots. “But it works like any other satellite. We don’t really have time to ride it all the way around the sun.”
            Starman made no comment, since he was just a crash-test dummy or something.
            “Look how tiny Earth looks from here,” said Toots.
            “It makes me a little bit sad and lonely,” said Suzy. “I think I’d rather orbit the Earth.”
            “Oh, let’s just go home,” said Toots. “There’s no place like home!”
            “There’s no place like home!” said Suzy, with conviction.
            And just like that, when Suzy opened her eyes, she was on her favorite corner of the bed facing the open window, looking out at the sky. It still looked smokey, but it was home, and she knew the smoke would end one day, and fall would come with cool rain, stormy nights, and falling leaves, and then there would be winter, and if they were very lucky there would be snow.
            And similarly, when Toots came back to her place, she was looking at her shop-mate Sammie, and she was so happy to see her. It was still warm, actually rather hot, but night was coming with cooler temperatures.
            “Everything in its own time,” thought Toots. “Just a few more days, and everything will change again.”
            “I hope we get some snow this winter,” thought Toots. And she dreamed a little of falling snowflakes, frozen grass, and breath in clouds because of the cold.

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