Reaching For The Stars

Clare’s son had an ambitious plan, and he was willing to see it through. Could she do the same?

WHERE’S your brother?” Clare asked. “He’s out the front, setting up shop,” Emmie replied. “What’s he up to now?” “You know Ross.” She shook her head. “He wanted me to help him, but I’ve got better things to do.”

She slipped on her jacket and picked up her bag.

“And where are you off to?”

“I’m meeting Kara and Leanne.” Emmie began scrolling through her phone. “I’ll be back for tea. Bye.”

Clare was finding it hard to keep tabs on her sixteen-year-old these days. When she wasn’t out with her friends, she was on her phone, living her life on social media.

Now ten-year-old Ross was starting to pull away from her, too. Especially with his new obsession.

Clare found him at the end of the driveway. He had pulled out the old wallpapering table from the garage and displayed a collection of his toys from yesteryear.

They were mostly from “Star Wars”; things he’d treasured for years. Propped up at the front of the table was a handwritten sign.

“Hello, love. What are you

For Sale

doing?” Clare asked. “I’m raising money.” “These are some of your favourites.” She picked up the Millennium Falcon. “Why are you selling them?”

He looked sternly at her. “Mum, if I want to be a space tourist it’s going to cost me a quarter of a million pounds,” he said sternly. “I have to raise the money somehow.”

These days he was always talking about the commercial attempts to send tourists into space: Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, Spacex.

“You do realise you’ll have to wait until you’re eighteen before you can do something like that?” Clare asked. “In eight years’ time it won’t cost so much. Maybe they’ll be running weekly flights from somewhere in this country and you’ll be able to buy a cheap ticket.”

“Mum.” He gave her a patronising look.

“I just don’t want to see you getting rid of the things you love for a few pounds.”

She turned over the Millennium Falcon in her hand and recalled that Christmas, four years ago, when his face had lit up as he’d unwrapped it.

She and Mal had still been together then, and father and son had spent all day playing with it.

“When you really want something badly you have to make sacrifices,” Ross replied.

She looked at his earnest, freckled face and couldn’t resist hugging him. Ross would be all right; he’d work for what he wanted. Unlike Emmie, who expected everything to fall into her lap.

“Ow, Mum!”

“OK,” she said, releasing him. “If this is what you want.”

“Quick, someone’s coming,” he said.

Clare glanced down the street to see a couple of older boys approaching.

Not wanting to step on her son’s toes, she withdrew, but waited behind the magnolia at the edge of the lawn to make sure they weren’t going to take advantage of him.

They stopped and perused the items. They asked him how much he wanted, before shaking their heads and moving on.

She could see the look of disappointment on her son’s face and felt sorry for him. Never mind. She knew he would pick himself up.

****

“How did you get on?” Clare asked when Ross came in at the end of the day.

“I made six pounds.” “That’s good. It’s more than you had a few hours ago.” She tried to sound upbeat.

“But I’ll never get to space at this rate,” he said. “There was a man who seemed interested. He talked to me for ages, but he didn’t buy anything.”

“What man?” Alarm bells began to ring.

“He talked to me about space when I said why I was selling my stuff. He said he’d come back tomorrow with his niece who might want to buy something.”

That sounded suspicious, but Clare bit her tongue.

“OK,” she said. “Well done you.”

Then she went upstairs to get ready for her night out. Beth had fixed her up with Tim from her accountancy firm.

“He’s divorced, too. Two girls; nice man,” she’d said. “I think you’ll like him.”

Clare didn’t really want to be bothered, but as Beth said, she had to make the effort to get out and meet someone.

Emmie came in at the last minute.

“Thank goodness,” Clare said. “You know I’m going out, and I

need you to look after your brother.” “Yeah, OK,” she said, disinterested. “Just so you know, I don’t need another dad.”

****

Clare was home before 9.30.

“Oh, it didn’t go so well, then?” Emmie asked, barely looking up from her phone.

“He was nice enough, just not . . .”

“Yeah, no spark,” her daughter said casually.

Clare gulped. What did she know about such things?

“Face it, Mum, at your age you’re just not going to find anyone.”

“You cheeky thing!” Then Emmie gave her a disarming grin, got up from the sofa, and wrapped her arms around Clare’s neck.

“Sorry,” she said. “Just kidding.”

“Has Ross gone to bed already?”

“He’s been watching his space programmes all evening.” Emmie rolled her eyes.

When Clare went upstairs, she found Ross fast asleep.

A programme about Elon Musk and Spacex was playing on the screen. She switched it off. She wished she had a fraction of her son’s go-get-it attitude. If she did, maybe she’d find love again.

****

The following morning, Ross set up shop at the end of the driveway again. Clare made an excuse about having to tidy the garage so that she could keep an eye on him.

After a while, she thought she heard a deep voice, and emerged from the chaos of the garage to see a tall man talking with her son. He had a little girl with him, dressed in jeans and an Iron Man T-shirt.

“What would you like, Lucy?” she heard him ask.

“I want the Millennium Falcon,” she said, and Clare’s heart sank.

“How much?” the man asked.

“Five pounds,” Ross said.

Her heart sank even further – it had cost her and Mal so much more to buy it.

“Oh, that’s not enough,” the man argued. “Especially if you have to save up a quarter of a million pounds. I’ll give you fifty pounds. And I’ll give you twenty pounds for that X-wing.” Her son’s face lit up. “You know, there are other ways of getting to space,” the man said as he took some notes out of his wallet. “Have you ever thought of becoming an astronaut?”

“How would I do that?” “Well, you’d have to work hard at school; try to concentrate on the sciences and maths. Are you good at your lessons?” “Yes,” Ross said proudly. “You could also learn to fly. Have you ever been up in a plane? Not a jet, but a small plane?”

“No. Could I really learn to fly?”

Clare stepped in then, wondering why this stranger was taking such an interest in her son.

“Hello,” she said. “I’m Ross’s mum.”

“Hello,” he said. “You must be wondering who I am, and why I’m paying so much attention to your son.” “Something like that.” “I’m Douglas. I came by yesterday and Ross was telling me about his dream to go into space.”

“You’ve been very generous.” Clare indicated the notes lying in a container on the table.

Ross was putting the Millennium Falcon and the X-wing into a bag.

“I want to reward his dedication and resolve,” Douglas said. “He’s prepared to make a sacrifice for a greater goal. That’s a lesson every kid should learn.”

Ross handed the bag over to a delighted Lucy.

“I could give him the money and not take the goods,” Douglas said. “But that wouldn’t teach him anything.”

Douglas winked, and Ross grinned.

“I’ve worked for a space engineering firm under contract to the ESA. I love space, and if I had a spare quarter of a million pounds I’d sign up to be a tourist, too.

“How would Ross like to fly with me next weekend?”

“I don’t even know you,” Clare said. “And I’m afraid I’m a single mum, and we can’t afford that sort of thing.”

“My treat. I’m going up anyway.”

“Oh, please, Mum, please!”

She’d never seen her son look so excited.

Douglas took a pen out of his jacket pocket and scribbled on the sign.

“Here’s my sister’s phone number – Lucy’s mother – if you want to check me out. And here’s mine. If you want to come, let me know.”

For Sale ****

The following Saturday, Clare somehow found herself driving Ross to the airfield 20 miles away.

Douglas greeted them at the car park. He wore aviator glasses and looked rugged – like he had the right stuff, Clare thought.

“Come on, then, young man,” he said. “Let’s get you sorted and ready to go.”

Clare watched from the viewing area as the light aircraft gathered speed down the runway, and then lifted effortlessly into the air. Ross waved at her.

How had they got to this point in a week? She would never have been able to afford for him to go up in a plane.

Now, just because he’d decided to be proactive to fund his dream, here he was, soaring above the clouds with a generous stranger.

Half an hour later they came in to land.

“Mum, that was so cool!” Ross cried. “Doug says he’ll take me up again, and that when I’m old enough he’ll teach me to fly.”

“Why?” Clare looked into Douglas’s gentle brown eyes. “Why would you do that?”

“I’ve never had my own kids,” he said. “I love your boy’s drive and ambition. I want to help him.”

****

“I’m off,” Clare said. “Wow, Mum, you look good!” Emmie looked up from her phone. “You don’t usually make an effort.”

Emmie was right. She hadn’t made an effort in a long time. But she’d never met anyone like Doug.

They were going to a nice restaurant, then he’d promised to take her up to Lovett Hill after sunset to look at the stars.

He knew a lot about space, and, despite never having married or had children, he knew a lot about life, too.

Ross loved him to bits, and in the short time she’d known him, he’d melted her heart, too. Even Emmie thought he was cool.

“Are you sure about him?” Beth had asked, disappointed that Tim hadn’t made the grade.

“Yes, I am,” Clare had said with confidence.

If her son had taught her one thing, it was to have passion and drive. And to reach for the stars. ■