Birthday on The Moon

First Edit, Part 8

Adrian wanted adventure, and it wanted him but did not dare reach out for it. Going beyond the horizon would have expanded his comfort zone too much and stepping into the wondrous world was too much. What would he do there? How could he go somewhere? How do you actually travel? These were some of his thoughts that hounded and haunted his dreams and desires.

"Go there and do what?" he consolidated himself from his bedroom. Woody, who followed Adrian there was listening, he always did more thinking than talking.

"What could we do on the moon?", he thought out loud, worrying about it being dangerous and boring, "take pictures, collect cheese and come home", he reasoned, " adventure is a messy, dirty and a tedious task, but could it really be worth it?" sitting down in his chair, much to the delight of his books.

"Maybe," he continued, "it is about the journey itself or the experiences that happen," he reasoned to himself. Taking the first step would have been a world away from the comfort of his home.

"But the moon?" he said, flicking through a history book to look for an interesting chapter to try and distract him. He never thought about going to the moon before nor had not read much about it. It was not something that he was too interested, but being stuck at the home all day was not something of interest either.

"How could we go to the moon?" looking at the small dots of paint leftover that was smeared across his desk, trying to let his imagination loose to encourage and inspire him.

"A spacecraft?" he said, as he began daydreaming as he looked out the window with the birds chirping, the wind gently blowing the trees and the sun beamed down from space as twilight and night time was slowly approaching. Staring out the window as the beautiful chaos and calamity of nature unfolded before him.

"Space?" he said, slowly taking his eyes away from nature. He needed a kick in the right direction, here it was - a prime chance to go where few have gone before and as a birthday present but without his parents knowing. This was a chance he could or should not let slip past him, and he knew it! But he struggled to admit it to himself first.

He felt as though his chance for adventure was flying past him, as he all he dared to do was stand and wave at it as it disappeared into the distance. A part of him only wanted to stand, wave and return to his day-to-day life as it was once before, not wanting to rustle any feathers.

"Maybe..." he thought as he was staring at the pages, not registering the pictures or words, "maybe," as his attention drifted away, as he daydreamed again, "maybe." The more he thought the less he could speak.

"But how?" drumming up another obstacle for him; adventures are dangerous and he knew it.

"I know!" he said jumping from his seat, as he made Woody jump too. "I will go with grandpa," as the idea fully sunk in, almost forgetting that he would not be alone, "and we will come back," he continued to remember and his excitement started to get the better of him, "I will be back before mom and dad know it and I am sure Grandpa will be careful!" he said to himself, much to the dismay of his books - they could do nothing to dissuade him, "I am sure he knows what he is doing."

"But," as another idea hatched within his head "but what if it fails? What if we are lost? What if I am bored?" he could sit there all day thinking about 'what if' scenarios and achieve nothing. Such is the hallmark of procrastinators.

"Hmmm," he said aloud as he talked to himself a lot in the empty room as Woody looked up at him standing in the middle of it, he was thankful no one else could hear him - as far as he knew - as he did not want to make talking to himself a new habit. "I will go, yes!" he exclaimed to himself, "no!" he interrupted himself, " yes!" he whispered, cutting short his objections, "no!" he then said, suspending that wild ambition of his. "Ahh!" Adrian always had a way of making decisions, so he did the next best thing he could: dive into his bed with his hands covering his face.

With his head buried in the pillows he cast himself into the future, imagining himself 40 years from now, thinking about what kind of life he could have if he let fear, doubt and insecurity rule his life: he would become bored and lonely. He would become insecure, bland and like his parents: worrying more about the TV, the neighbours and the latest products more than their own life and destiny. Adrian could not allow that to be his future. He stood up from his bed and did the bravest thing he could do: turn the lights off and go to sleep, it was past his bedtime and he would decide in the morning.

With the light from a new day breaking through his window and bouncing around the room, Adrian woke up from a blissful slumber. With few moments of serene tranquillity as he woke up before all his problems and choices came rushing in to preoccupy his mind. That was what true peace and calm were like, but he was not sure whether he wanted that: he had a choice to make and he knew it. He was calm, stable and it was a little closer to his birthday. Throwing on some clothes he burst through Grandpa's bedroom door to be greeted by silence and emptiness. All his clothes, books and devices were left standing where they were from last night and his bed was made but there was no sign of Grandpa. Adrian studied the room but a clue but he could not find any. He turned to run downstairs, maybe he is having breakfast, he thought, as he ran down the stairs. His father was already awake too as he greeted him.

"Good morning, Adrian," said his dad, "did you sleep well?"

"Good morning," replied Adrian running past looking for his Grandpa, "have you seen him?" he turned and asked his father, who was enjoying his morning coffee at the kitchen table, reading his newspaper.

"No, why?" he asked, slightly turning from the newspaper.

"Never mind," he replied as quick as a bolt and just as fast he was gone into another room: the lounge.

"Wonder what got into him?" asked his father, putting down the coffee, risking it getting cold.

"Puberty," his mother replied, she was too busy with things to take proper notice.