Off to the Moon

   She watched the stars dotting across the night sky, popping in and out of sight as the clouds shrouded night. But from behind the midnight storms, the moon shined bright, brighter than the lightning, and more prominent than the thunder, it smiled down on the old lady in her rocking chair. Ever so gently, rocking back and forth to the beat of her heart. 

   The back door creaked open and out came a little girl with her blue overalls and striped white shirt, holding two cups of lemonade. 

   “Grandma,” She said. “Here you go.” 

The old woman took one of the glasses and sipped the edge to allow the sweet yellow nectar to flow into her mouth. 

   “Thank you darling,” She whispered, her voice straining from her age. 

The little girl took a seat in the next rocking chair and rocked hastily back and forth. The thunder cracked overhead as lightning streaked through the clouds, but the moon still lit up through the grey. They both watched it glow. 

   “Grandma?” The girl asked. 

“Yes, dear?”

“Why do you like the moon so much?” Her pigtails blew in the wind, with her glasses slowly slipping off her nose. 

   “I told you why darling, you asked this last time.” 

“Yes but I wonder why you watch it every night if you say you’re going there soon anyway. Don’t you wanna sleep sometimes?” 

   “My dear,” The old lady chuckled softly. “ I will have plenty of time to sleep once I get there. Days and days where I can dream.” 

   “Won’t it be too bright though grandma?” 

“No my darling, it will be just right. Just dim enough to sleep at night and bright enough to see during the day.” 

   “But look at it now! It’s so bright, it’s like the sun!” The little girl stated motioning toward the moon smiling. The old lady laughed. 

“Now you’ve got me, dear. I guess on these nights though, I can watch the stars and light of the moon shall guide me to a nice place to see them.” 

The little girl smirked at this. She slept with a night light, and sometimes that was too bright for her, she couldn’t understand how her grandmother would sleep with something even brighter. 

“You know one day you will go to the moon too, dear. Like every other year, one year you will go there too.” The old lady started rocking a little more slowly. 

“Really!? Where I can be with you?!” The little girl screamed. Her eyes were full of excitement and intrigue.

“No, no, you will be with your family and your husband. I will see you through, but you’ll have your own plans up there. 

“But I’d want to be with you.” The girl said more calmly now, sitting back in her chair. 

“You will be, but you’ll want your family around more. Trust me, grandpa told me.” She chuckled. 

   “Okay, if you say so.” The girl mumbled. 

Thunder rumbled again, but this time it was softer and farther away. The clouds started to get lighter. They rocked there in silence. 

   “Grandma?” 

“Yes, dear?”

   “Will you come back and visit once you go there?”

“Of course dear.” 

   “Whenever I want?” 

“Whenever you want. I will always be here when you need me, where ever and whenever.”

   The little girl smiled and the grandmother smiled too. The moon shined even brighter on the old lady.

“Do you have anything fun planned for when you get there?” The girl asked sipping her lemonade. 

   “Nothing too specific yet, but I want to go to that large crater. I want my house there on the edge, so every night you can wave to me and I can wave back.”  

   “That’s nice grandma. But scientists say you can’t’ have a house on the moon.” 

“You can my dear, grandpa does. I wave to him every night.” 

   “Well, I guess if grandpa does its possible.” 

“Mhm, dear. Then when you go up there you too can have a house.”

  The girl nodded along and tried sipping more of her lemonade. not sweet enough.

  The storm now seemed to have mostly passed, and the grandmother rocked slower in her chair. 

She spoked quieter. 

   “I’m going to go there soon you know.” The grandmother said. 

“Soon?!” The girl exclaimed. “But I need you here so you can tell me stories and help me bake!” 

   “You’re good at those things darling. You don’t need me to help you with those anymore.”

“But you need to teach Jacob!” The girl started, feeling like it was a good point. 

   “That’s your job Elara, I’m too old to teach the other Bins how to bake a pie.” She chuckled. “I want to see grandpa again too. And he’s up there just waiting, you don‘t want to make him wait longer do you?”

   The little girl opened her mouth to say something but realized that was a good poing made by grandmother.

“Well then, when are you leaving?”

   “I think tonight my dear.” The grandmother answered closing her eyes to sleep. 

“So tomorrow I will see you on the moon? Aren’t you scared?” 

   “A little my dear, but every big change is scary. That’s one thing you’ll learn in life is when you want to go somewhere you do it no matter the change. We all end up on the moon in the end, so it’s no different from any other big thing I’ve been through. I was afraid many years ago and hid. I never left my home for fear of going there too soon, but now, I understand.” 

   “I see grandma.” The girl said not quite understanding. She yanwned. it was getting late. “I should get to bed though. I’ll see you on the moon tomorrow?” 

   “That’s right my dear.” 

The little girl smiled and got up from her chair and took the glasses of lemonade. Her grandmother’s was empty while her’s was mainly full. Too sour for her.

“You promise to wave?” She asked the old woman.

“I promise.”

The girl opened the door and said goodnight. 

   The grandmother sighed and rocked a little slower in her chair. The thunder had faded away in the distance and the moon’s light had engulfed her fully. The wind blew past her. The chair slowly came to a stop. She was off to the moon.