I had passed this old oak tree a hundred times before but had never noticed that tiny door! How had I missed its bright, fire-engine red invitation?
I got down on my hands and knees to take a closer look. There was a tiny, blue doorknob that I grasped. The door is locked, I thought, as I applied as much pressure as my thumb and forefinger could gingerly deliver. It wasn’t, just really stiff: it started to give, and suddenly a bright ray of light shadowed the door.
I went through the door and saw an old steam train at the station. Clouds of steam were billowing from the funnel, the conductor impatiently blowing his whistle, calling “All aboard”! I jumped for it, as we moved off, out and up, in a flurry of sparks, steam and excitement.
We went up through the clouds, passing close to the Moon. I saw that Old Man: he was smiling and winking! I remembered that I hadn’t had breakfast and I was starving. There was a bulge in the pocket of my spacesuit, and I found a pot of Cumquat marmalade, another of peanut butter, and some fresh, buttered toast. Yum, my favourite combo, as I munched. We passed quite a few planets – one was blue, another green, and we were getting close to an orangey-red one.
I was dropping a lot of crumbs, but the little silver-suited attendants quickly brushed them up and threw them out the window. “Would you like coffee? With cream? Sugar” A silver pot of scalding, hot coffee arrived.
We were whizzing along. We passed through a shower of sparklers, and the kids were waving them around, making sky-pictures. The noise in the train was deafening, excited chatter among my fellow-travellers. I asked one of them what was happening and they said that we were getting close to home! It had been ages since they had been home and everyone was keen to see their families.
One of the girls pointed to the orangey orb. “That is our home. You call it Jupiter