Out Into the Unknown: Billy and His Mother's Space Odyssey.

Billy's mother was a very pretty woman. Every day, she was his best friend. They would do fun things like paint pictures and play games. She would tell him stories about the stars, but she said that we didn't have time to visit them yet.

One day, Billy wet his bed. He was very embarrassed and cried when mother found out. She told him not to be sad because it was okay to cry sometimes. She said that it made her feel better if she cried too, so they both sat down on his bed with their arms around each other and cried until there were no more tears left.

When they stopped crying, Billy's mother said that she had an idea. She would take him for a trip into space! That sounded like a lot of fun, so he began packing his suitcase and getting ready for the trip. Mother got ready too, but she didn't pack anything but her bag of special dark chocolate treats from Belgium that she bought at the health food store.

Mother took Billy to a beautiful ship where they got in and strapped themselves in to their seats. They waved goodbye as the ship blasted off into space, faster than light speed! It was very cold outside the ship, but warm and cozy inside, so Billy enjoyed looking out the window at the stars flashing by outside while he ate his favorite treats. Mother told him that they were traveling at the speed of light right now, so every second felt like a whole minute to them while they were sitting in their chairs inside the spaceship.

"How are you feeling?" Mother asked him after a long time had passed. Billy felt fine! He couldn't wait until they landed on some planet or moon where they could get out of the ship and explore!

Mother smiled at him and pointed to a large red button on the control panel next to her seat. "What do you think this button does?" she asked him curiously. Billy looked at it for a moment, then replied: "I don't know." He thought about it for another moment, then said: "Is it a doorbell?" His mother laughed out loud and rubbed his head lovingly before explaining what it was.

"It's not a doorbell," she told him happily. "It's just an alarm button for emergencies." She pressed it lightly with her finger and explained that pressing it would make a loud noise inside the ship to let them know something important was happening outside in space and they would need to take care of it quickly! She showed him how there was another button next to hers that would make things go back to normal if whatever needed fixing had been fixed or if whatever needed protecting wasn't really in danger after all! Billy thought this was wonderful! He liked buttons like this one especially because there were two of them! Big ones like these always made things even better somehow!

They went on eating chocolate treats while watching the stars flash by outside until Mother noticed some red lights starting to blink on the control panel next to her seat! Quickly pressing both big red buttons in unison as Billy watched her excitedly over her shoulder with wide eyes, Mother announced loudly: "We're going down!" Then she pressed both buttons again and everything went back to normal outside their spaceship again just as quickly as ever! Billy wondered what all those blinking lights meant but Mother just smiled at him and ruffled his hair affectionately before telling him: "We're gonna land soon!" Excitedly, he went back over to the window where he could see more stars flashing by outside.

They went on eating chocolate treats while watching the stars flash by outside until Mother noticed some red lights starting to blink on the control panel next to her seat! Quickly pressing both big red buttons in unison as Billy watched her excitedly over her shoulder with wide eyes, Mother announced loudly: "We're going down!" Then she pressed both buttons again and everything went back to normal outside their spaceship again just as quickly as ever! Billy wondered what all those blinking lights meant but Mother just smiled at him and ruffled his hair affectionately before telling him: "We're gonna land soon!" Excitedly, he went back over to the window where he could see more stars flashing by outside.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Mother turned off all of their engines except for one small one that only made enough sound for them to hear each other talk through their spacesuits (they wore spacesuits now because they were about to land somewhere). Then she told Billy that they should strap themselves into their seats again before activating the landing program on their main computer system. The landing program wanted many more precise instructions about exactly where it should land them than Mother wanted to give it - after all, this was supposed to be an emergency landing so she wasn't going to take any chances - so instead of letting it decide what kind of terrain Ideal Landing Spot #1 might be suited for based on its internal database of billions of different planets and moons across our entire galaxy (Earth's solar system), Mother decided instead that they would use something called A* Pathfinding Algorithm (which is basically just fancy name for giving directions) which is something computers can easily do without making mistakes or getting lost along the way (because who wouldn't want that when trying not crash-land into some unknown desert canyon / lava pit / ice field / ocean / forest / jungle / volcano / space station / asteroid belt / black hole / etc.). So then Mother activated A* Pathfinding Algorithm (which luckily ran quite quickly), typed in some coordinates near their current position (the coordinates being simply x-y-z coordinates representing how far away from Earth they were when they started out plus how much farther away from Earth they got during their journey), then hit Enter twice before leaning back in her chair with a sigh of relief when all four tires touched down safely onto... grass? Yes, apparently Ideal Landing Spot #1 happened to be within walking distance from an ordinary green meadow surrounded by tall trees full of colorful flowers everywhere you looked which was located right here on Planet Whatevermorewhereveritwasthatweren'tsupposedtobreaklandonanyway.... just like this one right here.... [Mother double checks coordinates against Google Maps app on iPhone 6S Plus]. Yup - according [to] Google Maps [app], this particular meadow is situated exactly 849 kilometers north-east from our original departure point which works out perfectly because I was hoping we'd be able [to] walk home once we landed here anyway.... plus - bonus points - we can rest up here for a few hours before continuing our journey towards Planet R'Lyeh where I'm pretty sure we can find my missing husband waiting for us (I mean - I hope we'll find my missing husband waiting for us) because I've got a bad feeling about all this.... did I mention yet today is our anniversary? ... No? Well - Happy Anniversary honey! We're almost home!! I'll tell you all about how we met tomorrow morning over breakfast.... Right now I'm really tired.... Goodnight sweetheart.... Sleep well.... [Mother leans back in seat with arms crossed across chest as Billy watches silently through window.]