by Ted Staunton
All at once I am looking down from the cockpit of my Invincible Orbiter at a three-headed Zorpian sand dragon. Dragons will blast you out of the sky with lava spit unless you toss them glowing balls of Pluto-gunk food. You need good aim though, so the Pluto-gunk lands in a dragon mouth. If not, you make them angry.
I aim my first throw. Yes! But it’s tough to steer and throw while eating my emergency cookie ration. I miss the next few throws. Now I have to swoop down the escape chute and gather up the Pluto-gunk as fast as I can before the monster can get to me. I stuff gunk in my pockets and scramble back up the chute. There’s no time to run to the ladder.
I dive into the cockpit. Lava spits at me. I take evasive action just in time. What I really need is a co-pilot. Or if there were three of us and we had my water gun, we could take turns being pilots and sand dragons. One of us could throw, one could zoom down the chute, and one could zap with my water gun for lava spit. It would be way more fun.
Except there is no one else. It’s lonely on planet Zorp. What am I going to do?
9
Party Time?
It’s time for my party and I still don’t know what to do. I mean, I know I have to say I’m sorry, but I don’t know exactly how to do it. Thinking about just plain saying it feels scary. And when should I say it? And how? I don’t want to do it in front of everyone. And if I say “Sorry” to Aldeen, will she think she can noogie me if she feels like it? Do I want to say “Sorry” to Aldeen? She bought my racer even though she knew I wanted it. What if Charlie wants to stay mad anyway? What if nobody comes?
I am thinking all this while I help put up balloons and stack up paper plates and napkins. Dad is in the back yard getting games ready. Mom has the goody bags done. I have not told her anybody is mad and that they might not be coming. I am so nervous I am not even thinking about hot dogs or cake — or presents.
And then, bing-bong, there’s the door bell and I can hear voices outside and everyone is here at once. Mom opens the door and there’s Charlie and Aldeen and Matt and Mark and Sherry and Will and everyone else. Phew.
Dad comes in and hustles us all out back for games before I can say anything to Charlie or Aldeen. Outside, Aldeen cheats at the games and always butts to the front. Then, before you know it we’re back inside and I’m going to open presents.
Sherry gives me a board game with flying pigs. Mark and Matt both give me cards with money. Kaely gives me two books I like. Will gives me a movie. Cool, I can watch it with Charlie tonight — if Charlie is staying. I look over. Charlie is goofing around with Matt, who has ribbon from a present around his ears.
I open Charlie’s present next. It’s a Commander Crunch T-shirt. I put it on right then. The last present is Aldeen’s. It’s wrapped in colour comics from the newspaper. I open it carefully to save the comics to read later. Underneath is a brown box. I open it, too. Inside is the Thunderbolt Dune Racer. It looks just like it always did, except for a couple of scratches at the front that might be claw marks. What? I look at Aldeen.
She says, “I told you, cars are dumb. I only bought it for your birthday present.”
“Hot dogs!” calls Mom.
10
Flying Pigs and Sand Monsters
I thank everybody and we go to the back yard to eat. I have to sit beside Aldeen; I think the others are scared to. I’m thinking, Aldeen bought the racer for me. Before she even got invited. Just as if she liked me. Now it’s not just scary, or even weird; now I feel bad, too. I feel so bad I can’t even eat my hot dog till I say it. I take a deep breath. “Thanks again for the car. Sorry I got mad.”
“S’okay.” She shrugs. Then she looks around and her eyes go squinchy. “I don’t see any cake yet.”
“Aldeen,” I say, “I haven’t even had my hot dog yet.”
“Well, I have. Hurry up. Go see what’s taking so long. I better still get a corner piece and extra. We should play football after lunch.”
I am still chewing when I walk back into the house. Mom is talking on the phone. My cake is on the counter. I count the candles to make sure they are right. Then, from the den, I hear Rrrr Rrrr, Rrrrrrrr. I know that sound. I look in and there is Charlie. He’s playing with the Thunderbolt Dune Racer. Somehow he has it driving along, balanced on two wheels.
“Hey,” I say.
Charlie looks up. His face gets red. The Dune Racer bumps into the couch and stops. “It is a cool car,” Charlie says.
“Yeah,” I say. “You can’t even get them any more. We looked.” It feels funny just talking after we were mad. I still have to say sorry.
“Oh.” Charlie frowns. He looks at me. “Maybe we could play with it after lunch.”
“I thought you were tired of it,” I say.
“I was,” Charlie says, “but now I like it again. I wish I hadn’t sold it.”
And now I know what to say to Charlie — because I also know something else: I don’t really care if I have a Dune Racer any more. I’d rather be on an interstellar action team tossing balls of Pluto-gunk to lava-spitting sand dragons on planet Zorp. So I say, “Know what? You can have it back. I shouldn’t have got mad about it.”
“Really?” Charlie says. “Thanks, Morgan.”
“Are you still sleeping over?”
“Sure.”
“Cool. ’Cause after I made up this great game where —”
“Hey, when’s the cake? I thought you went for it.”
I turn around. It’s Aldeen. She has mustard on her chin.
Charlie says, “Morgan gave me back my Dune Racer.”
Aldeen snorts. “He can’t do that. I gave it to him for his birthday.”
“I know,” I say, “and it was really nice, but Charlie wants it even more than me and I feel bad.” And I do. Now what if I just hurt Aldeen’s feelings?
She says, “Well, he can’t have it. I paid him for it.”
“I’ll pay you back,” Charlie says.
Aldeen thinks. “When?”
“Tomorrow.”
She thinks some more. “Okay.” She turns to me. “Cake and football. And since you’re giving away presents, I get the flying pigs game. We’ll play it after football.” She grabs the game and carries it into the hall.
I open my mouth. “But —”
“Hey,” Dad calls, “where’s the birthday boy? It’s cake time.”
“Finally,” Aldeen says. “Come on.”
I close my mouth. We follow her out. I, Commander Crunch, do not say a word. I’ll tell Aldeen about the lava-spitting water gun later. You have to learn when to talk if you’re dealing with a Zorpian sand monster. If you do, it usually works out all right in the end.
Text copyright © 2011 by Ted Staunton Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Bill Slavin First published in the United States in 2012
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Staunton, Ted, 1956-
Morgan and the dune racer [electronic resource] / Ted
Staunton ; illustrations by Bill Slavin.
(First novels)
Electronic monograph in eBook format.
Issued also in print format.
ISBN 978-0-88780-968-2
I. Slavin, Bill II. Title. III. Series: First novels (Online)
PS8587.T334M674 2011a jC813’.54 C2011-903326-7
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