Honey on Moon Mountain

 Alison was thrilled that the wedding had gone so well and she couldn’t help feeling relieved that all the drama that had surrounded it was now going to be over. So she was surprised when she got back to her room after the reception to find an outfit laid out for her and a note that said ‘come upstairs’. 

She found Jonathan and Josefina-who-is-also-Luciana Vega at a table.

“What’s all this?” she asked them. 

“We’re finally going to the moon! I’ve been waiting for this for three whole years!” Jonathan said. 

“You’re going to the moon!?? Wow! How are you going to get there?” she asked. 

“No…” Jonathan shook his head, “WE are going to the moon! It’s why I ‘married’ you! It’s our honeymoon.”

“Our honey….moon…oh my!” Alison wasn’t sure how she was feeling about this. She had never had any kind of desire to go to the moon but the thought of a new adventure seemed awfully exciting. But the moon! That was an awfully far away adventure. She had never been that far away from home before. 

“When are we….leaving?” Alison asked. 

“Jonathan’s passport just came in and yours is on the way so I’d say in about three weeks! And in the meantime, you can read all about traveling in space. I picked all these things up when I went to Paradisios.” 

“Oh, yeah! I almost forgot you’ve been the only doll to travel through space so far!” 

“Yes! It was wonderful and scary!” Luciana said, “But since I now have experience launching a space shuttle, I’ll be taking you both to the moon.” 

“Just think!” Jonathan cried with the greatest anticipation, “We’ll get to see what’s on the other side of the moon!” 

For the next three weeks, Alison went back and forth with great excitement and anticipation (What was on the other side of the moon?) and great fear (What if they died trying to get there?). Sometimes she felt like she only had three weeks left to live, because after that, her life would fall into the Black Chasm of the Unknown. Every time her mind wandered near that chasm of suspense, she’d have to take a deep breath and gulp, and refocus her mind on whatever she was doing at the time. 

All too soon, the day arrived. She hugged and kissed her friends goodbye and followed Luciana and Jonathan down, down, down the stairs to the basement. It’s odd that we’re going below the ground for something that’s going to take us up passed the air, she thought. 

Luciana opened a door that brought them to the bottom of the basement where the spaceship stood. It was a huge white capsule shuttle.

“Here’s where we’re going to be living for about three days,” Luciana swung the door opened and leapt inside the ship. 

“Wow!! Three whole days! This is so awesome!” Jonathan went in right after her and gazed around the bright interior. “This is great! This is exactly what I’ve been dreaming of!” 

Alison went much more hesitantly. Her feet felt so very secure on the floor right now. Like roots or rocks that did not want to move. 

Her heart pounded and she had to keep telling herself to breathe as she reached for Jonathan’s helping hand to lift her in. 

Then before she had any time to process any more of her emotions, she was inside and Luciana was buckling them in, shutting the door, pressing all sorts of buttons and levers, checking each of their oxygen and gear, and doing a countdown.

10…..9…..8….

Maybe something wouldn’t work. Maybe nothing was going to happen and Luciana would say, “Sorry! That’s all folks!” and they’d get off and Alison could keep her life…..

But no, she could feel the engine revving up. It was so powerful she could feel it inside her very bones. 

5…..4…..3…..2….1….she felt herself lurch forward and then BOOOOOMMMFFFSSSSHHHHHH!!!

She had been on a roller coaster that took you from 0 – 50 miles an hour, but this was three times that feeling. Her whole body was plastered to the wall. She was a helpless ragdoll inside this thing. 

And she could feel herself….leaving. Her home was already long gone even before her mind had fully realized she’d left. And she still didn’t have time to contemplate that either because the shuttle was shaking and shuttering trying to escape from the earth’s atmosphere. She knew now they were coming to the real moment of  ‘will this work or will we die’. 

The pressure of the g forces were so intense she thought her head might explode and the skeleton of her body would crumple into a pile because too many bricks of g forces were heaped on herself. 

Suddenly there was a ‘BAM, BAM!!’ as the fuel tank cut away, the engines turned off too and it was suddenly totally silent. After the forces and feelings and frightful noise, this silence was itself deafening. 

“WHOOHOO!” Luciana cried. 

Alison gaped at her. How could she be ‘woohoo’ing’ when it hadn’t worked. They had totally stopped. They weren’t going anywhere. Nothing was moving, the engines were dead. But….she wasn’t dead. How could she not be dead? That means….it must have worked!

“Are we….in….space?” she managed to ask. 

“Yes indeed! Welcome to the world of no gravity!”

“Are you…able to breathe?” Jonathan gasped. 

“Oh!” Luciana pushed a button and a fan turned on, “that’s going to move the air around so we can breathe. Otherwise we’re breathing in our own carbon dioxide.” 

Alison found that it wasn’t just breathing that was complicated. Everything was complicated. She had to spit in a bag after she brushed her teeth or her saliva would go all over in the air, she couldn’t just plop food on a plate like she always did because the food wouldn’t stay there, so she had to eat and drink out of a bag. She had to strap herself in to go to the bathroom, to work out, to sleep. It was the most bizarre thing in the world. 

After three days of this, they landed. It was nothing like the take off, in fact, Alison might have even missed the landing if Luciana hadn’t confirmed it with them. Luciana opened the capsule door and looked out into the gray landscape that was so bright gray, parts of it seemed white. 

They had landed right in front of Moon Mountain.

“Whoa. We’re going to climb this?” Alison asked. 

“Yes, if you want to see what’s on the other side!” Jonathan said. 

“Hey, do you see that red…thing….there?” Luciana pointed a third up the mountain. 

The dolls started climbing toward it. The ground was odd. It was powdery soft and very bouncy with no gravity. It was difficult to get a foothold to climb the mountain. The dolls used their watches that released a cord which secured them to the mountain so they wouldn’t just float away. 

“What IS that red thing?” Alison still couldn’t tell what it was even though they now much closer to it. It was almost translucent. A little red jellyfish type thing that was resting on the side of the mountain. 

“It’s a case!” Luciana cried. Because inside that red film was something blue that was glowing. 

Alison reached inside and took it. It was a necklace. But it wasn’t just any necklace. 

“It’s a moonstone necklace! It contains some of the moon’s energy!” Luciana said. 

Alison slipped the necklace into her pocket and continued climbing. Up and up they went until the reached the other side. And everything went dark. 

“Whoa! What just happened?” Jonathan asked. 

“We’re on the other side of the moon mountain and it’s dark because the sun doesn’t shine on this side,” Luciana explained. 

“Great…well how are we supposed to see anything then?” Jonathan grumbled.

“Why don’t you take out your moonstone, Alison.”

As soon as Alison took the necklace out of her pocket, a glow surrounded them. 

“Whoa! What is this?”

“Light is a form of energy, and this stone happens to contain some of the moon’s light. So now we can see more.” 

And indeed, they could see more. The horizon was dizzying. It almost seemed like an illusion: strange things that looked like boiling trees bubbled and frothed and turned in on themselves over and over again. 

The more they watched, the faster it seemed to go until it got so disorienting, Alison asked to leave. 
“We have to get back to the spaceship anyway because our oxygen is going to run out.” 

“We’ll collect the moonstone and study it at home.”

“Wow! What an incredible experience this was!” Alison said. 

“Yeah! I wonder what those boiling trees are!” Jonathan said. 

“It’ll have to stay a moonful mystery for now. We have to go back into the spaceship and celebrate by eating honey!”

“Honey!?” Alison said. 

“Of course! For your honeymoon!”

-The End.

Behind the Scenes:

Thank you for using your imaginations a bunch reading this! When my landlords bought that washer my very first thought was, “Awesome! Now my dolls can go to the moon!”

I am too poor to buy Luciana’s space suit so your imaginational powers for them to be able to breathe without it is muchly needed! The real moon mountain was this tall pile of mud and cement at a construction site near my house. I ended up climbing it so many times that a couple across the street shouted at me, “What are you DOING!?!” and thought it was a total hoot when I told them.

I”ve felt that Black Chasm of Unknown that Alison felt when I traveled to Europe for the first time when I was in high school and I went without my parents. Because I didn’t know what to expect I was so terrified until it actually happened and then I had the best time!

Thanks to Mike Massimito who wrote a fascinating book about being launched into space that helped me write this post. 

Heather

Alison’s Summer Wedding Episode 3: Who’s my Groom?

 “There you go!” Caroline said, putting the finishing touches on Alison’s hair. Alison turned and smiled at all her bridesmaids. It was Alison who had decided that her bridesmaids would wear all the beautiful dresses Caroline and Elizabeth had showered over her just hours before. 

Caroline handed her the bouquet of flowers and the veil, “Now, all the bridesmaids will walk down first, then the flower girls will go with their bunnies….and I’ll try and distract Elizabeth so she doesn’t jump down the aisle and kill everyone to murder the animals.”

“Thank you so much, Caroline,” Alison smiled. Caroline called to the bridesmaids to get ready and head down.

Alison looked out the window down at the courtyard and could see a whole bunch of dolls already seated for the wedding ceremony. 

Some of them are even wearing dresses more beautiful than mine, she thought. 

The courtyard got so full they had to open up an extra room for more guests. 

Oh my gosh…there’s so many people! Alison thought, And they’re all here for me?!? No…they’d also be here for my….for my….Alison gasped and felt a rush of flush and panicky anxiousness because she didn’t even know who she was getting ‘married’ to! 

“Wait!” she said out loud to no one, “Caroline! Elizabeth! Who’s my groom??” But Caroline and Elizabeth had already escorted the bridesmaids down to line up. Alison was alone and there wouldn’t be anyone to tell her who her groom would be until she walked down the aisle. 

Oh my…it was a long aisle to walk down. She might not even recognize the groom from so far away. 

She could hear the music starting to play. It was starting! She had to go down there! Who was going to meet her at the altar?

The bridesmaids started walking down the aisle. Everyone ‘Oo-ed’ at their beautiful white dresses. And then they fell silent in an even more awed hush because the bridesmaids didn’t just walk down the aisle, they sang a most beautiful melody. “Beati quorum via!” They sang. 

Alison was so glad she’d chosen white for the bridesmaids because no other guest was wearing that color. 

The last two bridesmaids walked down with their groomsmen and the group coalesced in a choir.

Their song continued to fill the air as the flower girls walked down.

Alison saw Elizabeth gasp and scowl darkly and start to dash over to them, but then she stopped because the animals were all behaving wonderfully!

The cats were keeping track of the bunnies, making sure they didn’t wander over to some guest and chew on her dress. 

The flower girls all looked so sweet and pretty in their flowery dresses. 

Chad was the ring bearer, except most dolls don’t often wear rings because of the way their hands are made, so instead Chad bore a pair of cross earrings. 

Alison looked up the aisle where Pastor Stephan was standing at the front with a boy. Her groom! And that boy was….Jonathan Fletcher?!

She couldn’t believe he’d agreed to this! He was in Jacky Faber’s story and he always spent time with her every day. She would’ve thought he’d want to stay loyal to her even though this was just a pretend wedding. 

As she started walking down the aisle herself, she caught a glimpse of his face. 

Oh wait…I bet Jacky and Lindsay put him up to this. She scanned the crowd for Jacky and Lindsay and sure enough, they were grinning at each other from ear to ear. He had definitely been coerced. His face did lighten quite a bit when he saw her though. 

Alison did make a beautiful bride. 

When she got to the front, she looked at Jonathan who shook his head and grinned back.

“I’m only doing this because I’m going to the moon,” Jonathan whispered.

“The moon!?!”

But they didn’t have time to even whisper any to each other because Pastor Stephan began preaching:

“The love of God is not like our love. The love of God does not seek the lovable, the likable, or the one who will love him back. God loved us, as it were, even before He found us, even before He created us, from the very foundation of the world. Indeed, his love created us, formed us in our mother’s womb, recreated us in the womb of the church, and continues to love us even when us are mean, spiteful, and unmerciful.

Men in search of a wife look for a woman who is attractive, who will love them back. Not God. He found an ugly, disease-infested prostitute whose life was littered with impurity, shame, and every manner of wickedness. This woman God joyfully made His bride. He washed her clean of every filth, forgave her past, clothed her in his own righteousness, and pronounced her beautiful.

This woman for whom God did this—she is us.

Do not ask why. Simply say Amen. For what else can one say to the love of God except Amen? Yes, yes, it shall be so. The planks in our eyes and the specks in the eyes of our neighbor, He takes these all with Him and attaches them to the bloody wood of his cross. They are gone, forgiven. Our failures, infidelities, greed, selfishness—they melt like ice in the heat of our Father’s compassion.

We are clean. We are pure. We are beloved of God. Nothing and no one mean more to him than we do. And nothing and no one can change that.”

Jonathan and Alison turned to face each other and Pastor Stephan handed Jonathan a cross earing. 

“Alison, you are marked by the cross of Christ. You are His beloved bride, and you shine forth like this cross diamond.” 

Alison took hers and presented it to Jonathan in the same manner. And Pastor Stephan closed with the benediction. 

Alison felt so full and joyful and full of peace. She was eternally clean and beloved by God! How wonderful that was and she wanted to celebrate it with everyone she knew! And the most wonderful thing was, that was exactly what she was going to get to do! 

Josefina, Julie, Grace, Tasha and Savannah had worked soo hard to bake all the wedding cakes and goodies and the guests moved to the porch to eat and talk and laugh!

There were goodies for everyone. Strawberry cinnamon streusel cake was an option for those who wanted something ‘better’ than regular vanilla wedding cake. There were also cupcakes and cookies and chocolate mousse!

The dolls had even more fun because Alison got to meet the real Allison who will be the real bride in July! 

Congratulations, Allison! We love you!!

-Heather

Pastor Stephan’s sermon was from Chad Bird’s Facebook Post

Alison’s Summer Wedding Episode 2: Shower Glower

 “Alison! Come in here!”

Alison was practically dragged into Caroline’s room which was very crowded with extremely well dressed dolls.

“We’re going to give you a bridal shower!” Caroline exclaimed excitedly, “Elizabeth and I have planned it all!”

“Oh boy! More games with presents included!” Alison said. 

Elizabeth nearly pushed Alison to the floor and said, “Now sit here, and drink some tea while we shower you with with what dress you’re going to wear.”

Alison’s brow furrowed, “I don’t think that’s what you do at a shower…”

“Oh yes it is!” Elizabeth explained, “We shower you with all sorts of dress choices and then you take a shower so you can wear the one you chose and then the wedding will happen. Why else would they call it a shower?!”

“Why else indeed,” Alison knew she couldn’t respond with anything else. Not with Elizabeth the Boss in charge. 

“Here’s the first dress,” Caroline held it up, “I don’t really think it will fit you though…I think it’s too wide in the chest.”

Alison nodded, “Yes, I think so too, although I do like the flower at the waist.”

“Here’s another one that probably wouldn’t fit you…??” Elizabeth held up a gold trimmed one.
“Yeah, it won’t fit me. Plus it’s too short…with too much gold.”

“This one would fit you and it’s so summery and light!”

“Ooo!” Alison thought she could even wear it after the so called ‘wedding’ and have it for a regular summer dress, “The lace on it is so lovely!”

“Yes! But this one has even more lace and more flounce and you really need a lot of flounce to outshine all of our flouncy dresses,” Caroline said. All the dolls in Caroline’s room certainly were wearing the flounciest dresses. But the dress she was holding up was so flouncy it was almost like a….ballet tutu. 

“I like it but…maybe it’s too tulle-y for me?” Alison said.

“Well, this is the last one, and I really think you should wear it,” Elizabeth said that last phrase in an if-you-don’t-choose-this-one-you’re-going-to-be-in-trouble tone:

“Every bride should be an Elven princess and this one is all that!”

“It is….really fancy!” Alison agreed. She wished she would’ve stopped everything and chosen the summer dress right away so Elizabeth wouldn’t have had the chance to show her the prize dress, because now she knew she didn’t have a choice anymore…and she was right:

“Perfect! You’re done with your tea! Now come with me and I’ll help you to the bathroom to take your shower,” Elizabeth moved the little tea set away and hauled Alison up by the arm and marched her to the bathroom door. Elizabeth opened it and nearly jumped back as she was met by squeals and screams:

All the little dolls were having lots of fun trying to give their new bunnies (and Lanie’s old bunny Lulu) baths. 

“What are you doing!? You can’t be in here! I told everydoll that I needed this bathroom ALL DAY!” Elizabeth glowered.

“You didn’t tell us, and we’re dolls too!” Camille said. 

“Well I’m not expecting little dolls to be in bathrooms. You have to get out and you have to take your rabbits too!” 

“They’re bunnies!” Hannah said, “Look, this one’s Butterscotch.”

“And this one’s Peanut Butter, but we call him Peany,” Chad said. 

“And the ones on the floor are Shortbread and Sugar,” Madeline said.

“And after they get clean we’re going to bake cookies and take them to the wedding!” Camille said. 

Elizabeth was about to reply when a sudden soapy explosion suddenly occurred. Mocha and Licorice, the two cats, had been trying to get into the bathroom to ‘meet’ these bunnies and when Elizabeth had opened the door and didn’t close it, they saw their chance and ran in. All the bunnies got very afraid and splashed soap and water everywhere while they scampered for cover. The little dolls shrieked and chased after them:

“OH NO!!”

“This bathroom is not a ZOO!” Elizabeth shouted.

“Come on little Butterscotch! I got you!”

“It’s okay, Sugar! Licorice is a friendly kitty,” Hannah said. 

Elizabeth had been shouting commands at Alison and the little dolls to grab the rabbits and clean up the mess when she stopped for moment because she’d just stepped in something squishy. 

“What is this…?? OOGHGG! It’s POOP!! OH MY GOSH! THERE’S POOP ALL OVER!!”

“Ooh noooo!” Chad cried, “It’s Peany! When he gets scared he leaves his poopy pellets everywhere! He did that when he first came out of the scarf.”

“Where’s Peany? Peany??” Madeline’s head whipped around trying to find him. 

“There he is! Oh no! Mocha’s going to get him!”

“No, Peany! Peany!!”

Madeline lunged for him as Mocha stretched out a paw that thumped Peany’s bushy tail but Peany was able to get away and hide under the bathtub. 

His poop pellets were all over the floor. Some had been smeared around by soap and some were stuck to little and big dolls’ shoes. 

“THIS IS A NIGHTMARE! I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!” Elizabeth shouted, “I’m supposed to be preparing for a WEDDING and now I’m cleaning up a MESS! There will be NO rabbits at the wedding! Take off your shoes and throw them in the pet tub and then LEAVE with your rabbits! NOW!”

All the little dolls hugged their bunnies to their hearts and hurried quietly out the door. Elizabeth grabbed a mop, shooed Peany out of his hiding place and into the arms of Alison who took him to the little dolls and started cleaning up the floor. 

“At least they provided enough soap to get this floor clean,” she muttered. Once she got the floor clean she warmed up the tub to get it ready for Alison. 

“Okay, Alison, you take your shower and then when you’re done come back to Caroline’s room and she’ll do your hair. I’m sorry for everything that just happened. I will MAKE SURE there won’t be any more catastrophes!” And Elizabeth walked out in a huff. 

Alison had lurked by the door of the bathroom while all the commotion was going on, trying very hard not to laugh. She let out a little chuckle to herself now, “Peany’s poopy pellets! hee!” she giggled. 

Alison was able to take her shower in peace but Elizabeth had not closed the door all the way when she walked out, and as soon as Alison had wrapped herself up in the towel, the little dolls came back:

“Alison, we promised our bunnies they would go to the wedding,” Madeline entreated, “They’re a part of this wedding already because they came from the magic show at the bachelorette party!” 

“Oh! I think they certainly should come to the wedding!” Alison said. 

“But what will Elizabeth say?” Camille asked.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that! It is after all, my wedding, isn’t it? So I believe I have the last say!”

All the worry and concern on the little dolls’ faces was wiped away. Madeline clasped her hands in thanks and Camille bounced on her toes in joy. 

“Oh wow! Is that your dress?” Madeline asked. 

“It is indeed!”

“It’s beautiful!” 

“You’ll see me in it at the wedding, but you better scatter out right now so I can get dressed and get my hair done. Caroline’s waiting for me!” 

The wedding day had arrived! 

To be continued…

-Heather