the spaceship

The sun was setting over the city and big snow crystals were shimmering against the dark sky, slowly falling towards whitened rooftops. The little fox Olof stuck his nose out the door, stuck his tongue out to catch a snowflake and then quickly went back into the comforting warmth of his home. Olof liked being alone. Not the kind of alone when it's completely silent and you can hear your own breathing but the kind of alone where you could hear the voices of others nearby but you still had room to think. I was new years eve, and the zoo was closed for visitors. It was a very old zoo that was situated on a hill just above the town. Olof watched the snowflakes that danced in the sky. He tried following a snowflake with his eyes but it dissapeared in a cloud of almost identical snow crystals. Since it was new years eve Olof knew that he could wish for whatever he wanted. When the clock struck twelve he would wish for something amazing. But the question is, what? First he thought of all the regular stuff, like ice cream, candy, trips to the amusement park, comic books, video games, but then he started thinking about entirely different things. Olof dreamt about travelling way past the moon, past Mars, Venus, Saturn, past Pluto, the Milky Way, past all the galaxies until he got to the end of the universe, and then when he knew what was there he would go home again. Olof went for a walk. He went past the bumper cars where a bunch of chimps were driving like crazy. Since there was no humans in the zoo that day the animals were enjoying themselves everywhere. The snow crackled under Olof's feet. The entire zoo was overflowing with excitement and Olof's expectations for the evening were massive. He strolled by the old giraffe Socrates' house peeped through the window. Even though it was snowing the full moon was fully visible. That's strange, thought Olof. There must be something special with this evening. Olof went home. His dad stood in the kitchen washing the dishes after dinner. A pair of boxing gloves, a christmas present, was laying on the floor. Olof put on the gloves, jabbed a few times into thin air and went to say hello to his dad who stood crawled up over the sink. "Dad" said Olof, "is there an end of the universe?". His dad turned around, his hands dripping all over the kitchen floor. Olof usually asked about everything and his dad always tried to answer according to his knowledge. "The universe, I think it just keeps going, as long as one can imagine I suppose, but yeah, I really don't know." he said and scratched his ear. "Why do you ask?" "I was just wondering" said Olof. Olof had begun to realize that his dad didn't know the answer to all questions. I wonder if anyone can answer that question, thought Olof. Not even Socrates who was the smartest animal at the entire zoo knew everything. It was a very special night, for the first the first time he got to leave the zoo and visit the town, his dad promised so. They would go down to the harbour to watch the big fireworks at twelve o clock. Wolfgang the wolf, Olof's best friend, sat on Olof's bed. He was also going to watch the fireworks. "I'm gonna wish for something amazing" said Olof. "Yeah, like what?" said Wolfgang. "I can't tell you, it won't come true then" said Olof. Wolfgang started thinking out loud about his potential wishes. "A ton of ice cream, five thousand Cornetto". At the same time he knew that it was ridiculous, he was once given fifty snickers bars by his mom and he ate until he threw up. Wolfgang hadn't eaten snickers ever since. That's a shame, he thought. On the other hand he was very excited from the thought of seeing the fireworks from a spot nearby. "Let's go, I don't want to miss it!" he said, jumping up and down on the spot. Olof said to his dad that they were about to leave. His dad answered with his thoughts far far way into the imaginary world of the book he was reading. "Sure, but don't go near the humans, they bite. And don't stay up too late". Olof and Wolfgang looked each other in the eyes and simultaneously wondered what dad meant with his odd statement, and then shrugged it off as a joke. They ran to the zoo exit, and then followed a stream of humans who were all going to the harbour. Olof had never seen so many humans at once before, but all of them seemed to be happy so his courage grew. Down at the dock it was so cramped and noisy that Olof and Wolfgang could barely talk to each other. A bang followed by a loud whistling noise interrupted Olof's train of thought. The fireworks had started. I was difficult to see with all of the gigantic humans surrounding them so Olof and Wolfgang climbed on top of a sandbox. A spiral of silver shimmered over the city. Olof lost himself in the bright colors that exploded over the ice. It was almost like there was something he wanted in the rain of brightness. Olof suddenly noticed that Wolfgang was no longer with him. He shouted, but no one could hear the thin voice of a baby fox in the massive wall of noise. It was now so loud that he couldn't even hear it himself. Olof jumped down from the sandbox, ran between the legs of the humans around him, got stuck, and then slowly carried around by the mechanically moving masses. Suddenly he felt a strong pressure towards his head. It didn't hurt, it was more like he was sinking, or levitating. "Come on now, hurry up!". Olof woke up, initially thinking it was Wolfgang but he then saw a mouse, elegantly wearing a tuxedo, holding up the entry to the sewer. Olof climbed down a ladder, right down to a conveniently placed motorboat. The boat started with a roar and the breeze was quite cold. "We've been waiting for you" said the mouse, " but I guess I've forgot to introduce myself, my name is Fredrik". He took off his tailormade leather glove and shook Olof's hand. "How do you know who I am?" said Olof. "It's one of those nights" said Fredrik "do you want to go on an adventure?". Fredrik didn't wait for an answer and just kept on talking, and since Olof felt a bit overwhelmed he just sat back and rested for a while. Fredrik drove the boat through seemingly endless tunnels. "It's not far now" he said "everybody is waiting for you". The stopped at a dock. A police dog stood on guard. Fredrik hopped off the boat and Olof followed. "He's with me" said Fredrik to the police dog, and flashed a paper that seemed to impress. The stepped into a glass elevator and went down. After a while a gigantic underground city appeared. It reminded Olof of the city above, but it was still very different. "This is our town" said Fredrik, "the animals are in charge here. Not the humans. We have a zoo here too, with humans. But lets talk about that more later, we're in a hurry. You're going to meet our president". They ran through the crowded streets until they came to a shiny palace at the exact centre of the city, passing by armed guards who one by one saluted them. The president, who was a pig, was sitting on a diamond encrusted golden throne. He nodded towards them and immideately started talking with his authoritarian voice. "This is a big honor for our town, a very important day in history. It's the first time..." he started desperately going through his pockets "where's that goddamned piece of paper when you need it, uhh, anyways, very important day...", Fredrik filled in "the great expedition! The spaceship! "Um yeah, the spaceship, you've been selected to be the first fox, the first fox who... yeah whatever, you like space right?". Fredrik interrupted the presidents incomprehensible speech. "Our city has built a spaceship, a spaceship that can travel faster and further than any spaceship before it. All we need now is an astronaut. So, Olof, do you want to travel further than any fox, or anyone else in general for that matter, has travelled before? The spaceship is ready for launch on the palace's roof. You want to go right?". Olof nodded before he even had the chance to think it through. On the roof flags were waving and a brass orchestra were playing march music. "In the spaceship there's everything you could ever dream of" said Fredrik and winked towards Olof. After a long ceremony with a lot of boring speeches the launch started. Olof stepped into the spaceship. A dome opened above the city and ahead of him was only the universe. The spaceship launched with a bang and suddenly Earth was nothing but a tiny blue marble. It was like sitting in the middle of some fireworks, except unfathomably more beautiful. A comet blazed through at the horizon and left a tail of fire behind. After a while he entered something that looked like a gigantic kaleidoscope. He suddenly got a strange feeling of seeing himself, his face covered the horizon and the tip of the spaceship pierced his pitch black pupil. Olof started exploring the spaceship, it had looked small from the outside but it felt almost never ending from the inside. He came into a room with all the issues of Spiderman ever printed, all in mint condition. Another room was filled with video games, and yet another one with table hockey games. He lazily shot the puck into the goal, thinking about Wolfgang. He continued exploring the ship. One ice cream room, one hot dog room, one balloon room, one arcade room, and all this for him. Olof went back to the cockpit. Outside of the spaceship everything was black and neverending. The stars had become more remote. They had begun to resemble thin clouds at the horizon. He waited and nothing happened. Olof felt very small and very lonely. He missed his dad so much. Suddenly the speed increased dramatically. The spaceship sounded like it was about to break. All of a sudden Olof was shot out of his chair, and at the same time he heard the loudest noise he had ever heard. The spaceship had crashlanded, and it was now stuck. Olof looked out through a window, the stars looked like lanterns on a foggy day. He found a toolbox, but as soon as he got out of the door he dropped it and the floated out into eternity. I can't give up now, he thought, maybe there's someone here who can help me. Olof had a rope tied to his spacesuit, on the other end there was a hook. After a few throws he managed to connect with the edge of the planet, and he reeled himself up. It was a very small planet, without any trees or bushes, just a small house. The windows radiated a cozy glow, and on a handpainted sign right next to the house it stated "THE END OF THE UNIVERSE". Olof went in. "Hello" said a tall man who stood behind the counter. "Can I help you with anything?". Olof understood that he had come to a café. Exhausted after the long trip he sat down at a table. The man behind the counter had a large set of wings attached to his back. Olof realized that he was an angel. "My name is Lorenzo" said the angel. "Do you want something to drink?". Olof said that he was very thirsty and asked for a soda. Lorenzo went behind the counter and came back with a bottle and a glass. Olof drank the entire glass and wiped his mouth. "Is this really the end of the universe?" he asked. "That's right" said Lorenzo "It's a small place, but I have the biggest and best cinnamon buns in the entire universe, would you like one?". Olof was suprisingly enough not hungry and shook his head. Lorenzo didn't seem to get sad and continued smiling his profound smile. "Maybe angels don't get sad? Or dissapointed for that matter?" thought Olof. He still wanted to be nice to Lorenzo though, so he asked politely; "for how long have you lived here?". Lorenzo looked surprised, like he didn't quite comprehend the question. "I've actually never really thought about that, forever I guess." he said after he had thought about it for a little while. "Do you get a lot of costumers?" asked Olof. "Uhh, no as a matter of fact I think you're the first one ever." he said and started smiling even more profoundly. They sat in silence for a little while, while Olof finished his soda. Olof thought Lorenzo seemed like a nice guy, but there was also something slightly melancholic about him, it was like his smile had been stuck like that for a very long time. "Can I ask you a favor?" asked Olof. "Yes of course, do you want another soda?" said Lorenzo attentively. "No, I want to go home" said Olof. "Oh I can fix that, it was nice seeing you anyways, maybe we'll bump into each other some time!" said Lorenzo. "Yeah maybe" said Olof and scratched his neck nervously, "there's however a slight issue, you see, the spaceship I came here with is stuck in your planet". "Spaceship?" asked Lorenzo curiously. Maybe he's never seen a spaceship before, thought Olof as he felt a minor panic attack approaching. Lorenzo flew towards the spaceship. He landed on the side and opened the door. Olof waited for what seemed like an eternity. "I'm done now" said Lorenzo as he got back on top of the planet. "Does that mean I can leave now?" said Olof. "No, but I know what the problem is, I'm gonna go check in the kitchen to see find if I can find anything to fix it with". "The kitchen?" said Olof with a hint of skepticism in his voice. Lorenzo came back with a big machine. "I think we can use this" he said. "What's that?" asked Olof, looking slightly confused. "It's a meringue maker" said Lorenzo, "but it's okay, I'm not very fond of  meringues anyways". Lorenzo flew to the spaceship with his meringue maker and after a while the entire planet started shaking, and the spaceship popped out with a big whoosh. Lorenzo flew back to Olof and said "before you leave I want you to try one of my comet cookies, I think they have the potential to become a best seller over here? What do you think? Have a quick taste!". Olof took a bite, and it was the best thing he had ever tasted. "It's amazing!" said Olof. "Yeah I know" said Lorenzo with a big grin on his face "I like the name too, comet cookies" said Lorenzo and laughed. "Thank you" said Olof, "I promise I'll never forget you!". Lorenzo put Olof on his shoulder and flew him down to the spaceship. On the way back home to Earth Olof could see how Lorenzo followed the spaceship and did aereal acrobatics around the cockpit, like dolphins around a boat. Then he suddenly disappeared and Olof felt like he finally had the chance to sleep. He closed his eyes for a short moment, and suddenly he was laying in his bed. His head was pounding and it felt a little sore. He could feel a bandaid on his forehead. He looked up at his dad's friendly fox face. Olof started rambling about all the amazing things he had experienced, the fireworks, the spaceship and everything in between. "Sounds like you've had a great time" said his dad and gave him a big wet kiss on the top of his head. Maybe it was all just an amazing dream thought Olof. Then he discovered that he was holding something in his right hand... a comet cookie. But more than anything Olof just wanted to sleep. His eyelids were heavy like cement and he dreamt about... well who knows what a little baby fox really dreams about.