Spaceship

Spaceship

“Get out of there now.”

“No.”

“I’m not fooling around, I want you out of there right now!” Mom said. “Go play in your tree house!”

“No, this is my spaceship!” Jason said.

“No it’s not! It’s my washing machine and I need to do a wash! You shouldn’t have gotten in there at all, it could be dangerous!”

“Only if you turn it on. See, I fixed the door so it won’t lock shut.”

“You what?!”

“I didn‘t break it, I just stuffed my gummy candy in the hole so it can’t click shut. Now it’s my spaceship! This is the porthole!” he pointed to the round glass in the door.

“No! This is our washing machine. You can’t make it your spaceship. I use it almost every day to wash clothes. Now get out.”

“Ah Mom...” Jason said, then “Oops...”

“Oops what?”

“I’m stuck.”

“Let me see, lean to this side,” she tried to pull the leg of his pants out of the crevasse. “Try taking your pants off,” she finally said.

“I can’t get my foot out, I’m stuck! Help me!”

After twenty minutes she broke down and called a washer repair place. They sent a guy who dismantled the back, and was able to release the piece of pants and get Jason out... for a hundred and thirty dollars.

“That’s going to come out of your allowance young man!

“What? That will take forever!”

“Maybe you’ll think twice before you get into another space ship...”

Jason thought about that day almost every time he took off in the shuttle to join the Enterprise on his next assignment in outer space. It always made him smile.