Faster Than Light

(Page 1-2 spread) In bed last night, young girl, Bright marvelled at the Moon and Stars. Their ancient light filled her eyes with twinkles from afar. (Page 3-4 spread) Snuggling up with 'Max,' her cat, while falling asleep, Bright softly said, "One day, you'll see, my dream will be true... when I become an astronaut and soar beyond the Moon!" (Page 5-6 spread) The clock by her bed went tick, then tock. Between each heart beat the tick would stop, then tock again. Between the in-betweens, Bright would dream... (Page 7-8 spread) "Our Sun is like a Giant Orange, the Earth a grain of sand. My two eyes are one-of-a-kind. And if all gazed up to the sky tonight there would still be more stars than eyes! (Page 9-10 spread) "And were I to catch a ride on a beam of light racing through vast oceans of night, to distant worlds in record time, I would still miss school tomorrow! (Page 11-12 spread) "To orbit stars lifetimes away, and make it back for school on time, I would need to fly much faster than light! Imagination can show me what it is like! (Page 13-14 spread) "To race so fast I must become lighter than air! So small, SO SMALL...I'll weigh nothing at all! Soaring Faster, Faster, FASTER! All behind me shall melt away, like trails in my wake... Only the eyes of my mind shall remain! "Just how small must I be to fly so fast?" (Page 15-16 spread) Between each tick, between each tock for the tiniest split second the clock stops to rest. An instant so short, a flash so fast-- it's much smaller than an atom, and too fast to catch! Afterall, it may just be the smallest thing of all. "Is that how small I must be?" (Pages 17-18 spread) "Imagine me, a miniature spy-- small enough to sneak in between... between each tick, between each tock... shorter than an instant. Faster, even faster than a nano or pico second." (Page 19-20 spread) The clock by the bed went tick, then tock. Between each heart beat the tick would stop, then tock again. Between the in-betweens, Bright would dream... (Page 21-22 spread) "To fly, to fly FASTER than light! The North and South poles shall meet! I will scale the Milky Way in the wink of an eye and return in time for tea! (Page 23-24 spread) "Scaling all distance this very instant I shall see the back of my own head! I will go and come back, snap, like that! None will ever notice I left! (Page 25-26 spread) "Queen's Order: No more waiting between Then and Now! Serve Breakfast with Dinner, too! Now more waiting between Here and There! I will never need to move! (Page 27-28 spread) "To soar, to ZOOM, in the rocket of my mind Beyond all length, width, and height! I shall read through the pages of History's ages, then tell the world what it was like!" (Page 29-30 spread) Dawn's light stirred Bright's sleepy eyes. As the alarm clock rang, she thought, "How fast time flies!" Last night had passed in a flash, it seemed, too fast for Bright to remember her dream. (Page 31-32 spread) But her smile was like that of an astronaut, having soared between that ever-tinier stop-- the stop between a tick, and a tock. --Uncle Greg Written October 25th, 2001 © on Oct 25 2001 11:30 AM PST    0 • 2