Storytime Blog Hop: Adventures in Space with Doot the Pig

The way the atmosphere shimmered with heat above the canyon, Meg half-imagined she’d catch fire if she leaned out the trolley window, even in an environmental suit. That wasn’t stopping half the other tourists, though, nor Janey, who had climbed onto Meg’s lap for a better view.

“I wanna see,” she whined. At seven, she was barely old enough to be allowed on the tour; Meg would’ve preferred to take her on one of the closed-capsule trolleys, but they were sold out and Janey was begging to go anyway and in the end, Meg’s desire to be the cool aunt won out.

“If you fall out the window, we’re leaving you behind,” Meg teased, even as she kept a tight grip on the back of Janey’s suit harness. Janey didn’t respond, though she at least stopped moving, sharp little knees pressing through two layers of spacesuit to dig into Meg’s thigh.

“Whoaaaaa,” she breathed, clutching the edge of the open window. “We have to bring Benny back a space rock.” She turned to look at Meg with the biggest, saddest eyes. “He didn’t get to come. It’s not fair.”

“I know, kiddo,” Meg sighed. Benny had gotten sick at the last minute and Lila, the twins’ mother, had to stay back at the hotel with him. Meg was probably going to be down for the count by tomorrow, too. Sick kids on vacation, ugh. “But we can’t get out to get any space rocks. You can pick out something for him in the gift shop, though.”

“That’s not the same as a real space rock.” Janey pouted.

“Maybe they sell space rocks here. We can look.”

“But they won’t be real space rocks,” she whined. “They’re gonna be Earth rocks painted to look like they’re from space. That’s not the same.”

Meg had to laugh. “Who told you that!?”

“You did, last year.”

Oh, whoops. Probably when trying to console the kids; they’d been too young to vacation in space last year.

“Okay,” Meg said, hunting through her empty vacation brain for a compromise. She was missing the scenery, trying to satisfy this kid. “Well, for now, make sure Doot gets a good look out there, too, so you can tell Benny all about it later.”

“Oh yeah!” Janey wiggled back into her seat–elbowing Meg in the boob on the way, somehow, and probably leaving all sorts of bruises on her legs–and dug in the pouch on the seat back in front of her. Out came Doot, Benny’s stuffed toy pig, swaddled in its own “space suit” so that it could be sterilized with the rest of them on the way back. And then Janey clambered onto Meg again to shove Doot out the window.

“Don’t drop him.” It was an obligatory warning and Janey, of course, ignored it. She perched Doot on the edge of the window, one hand to keep it steady, and slumped across Meg’s lap, dangling her other arm out the window. One sharp boot heel now dug into Meg’s inner thigh. Oh well. At least she’d stopped squirming.

Meg kept one hand firmly in Janey’s harness, but otherwise relaxed into her seat to enjoy the view. The canyon really was impressive, though it’d probably be even better if they could get any closer to it–the far side was an orange blur in the heat-haze and the bottom wasn’t visible at all. But hey, it was on another planet. That counted for something. 

Hopefully there’d be something in the gift shop Benny would like. There’d be other opportunities for him to get out and see stuff, and frankly Janey was bound to get bored in a minute or two anyway. But it was the principle of the thing. Meg had hated being left out of anything Lila got to do when they were kids, and they weren’t twins. Janey and Benny were attached at the hip most of the time. And Meg was the cool aunt; she had to make sure both kids had a good trip.

“Auntie Meeeeg,” Janey whined, right on time. She slumped further and, incidentally, jammed her sharp heel directly into Meg’s crotch. Meg yelped and jerked up, and Janey yelped too and flailed, and–well, Meg caught Janey before she fell onto the trolley floor. She did not catch Doot before it fell out the window.

“DOOT!” Janey shrieked. Meg winced and held Janey back from launching herself out the window after it. It was a good thing the other tourists were all on their own comm channels–Janey’s yelling came through Meg’s helmet alone.

“Hey, it’s okay, hey,” Meg said quickly, with the sinking realization that Doot was absolutely gone for good. “He’s just going on an adventure for Benny, right? He’ll come back later.” Dammit. Maybe the gift shop would have a stuffed pig? Not likely. She was going to have to warn Lila either way.

Janey gave Meg a withering look–she was old enough to know an excuse when she heard one–but at least she stopped trying to jump out the window. And then the tour guide pinged Meg and Meg had to tell him her niece dropped a toy out of the trolley, and yes she would pay the littering fee, and yes she understood they wouldn’t get the toy back. Janey crawled back into her own seat, sullenly.

“Can we still go to the gift shop?” she asked in a small voice.

Meg sighed. It wasn’t like Janey had thrown Doot out the window on purpose. “Yes.” 

Janey wiggled happily in her seat.

“But,” Meg added, “you have to help me write Benny a letter from Doot about his adventures. Got it?”

Janey bolted up. “Can we say he met some aliens?”

“Sure. Why not?” Benny would probably know it was made up, too, anyway.

“Yessss.” Janey tipped over to headbutt Meg in the shoulder. Okay, cool aunt status secure, at least for this twin. There’d better be something good at that gift shop for Benny.