Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 12, for Saturday the twelfth of October 2024.

We're Adults Now

by Elizabeth Guilt

We were around ten, I guess. The summer was hot, bakingly hot, and no-one noticed us building a spaceship behind the greenhouse. We used old plywood, the gears from Emily's bike, and a car battery, and blasted off for the Moon.

We were back in time for tea, of course.

Years later, worn by a messy divorce, I bumped into Emily. We went for a drink, then another. She remembered!

"Want to build another spaceship?" I asked. "Revisit the Moon?"

She shook her head. "We're adults, now."

I nodded, stupid with disappointment.

She smiled. "This time, let's aim for Mars."

Did you build a spaceship when you were little? We did. And we dug a treasure mine in the front garden, and figured out a machine for talking to aliens.

I think we could all do with a little more of that energy in our adult lives.