Last week poor Ludlow the yellow rubber ducky was floating in space outside the space station where his owner a beautiful blonde astronaut had taken him. She did not know that he had attached himself to Velcro on her space suit, and had been sent into space when she bumped against the space station. Ludlow had wanted to see if there were any space people out there who could help him become green or red. Santa himself had told him that rubber duckies were yellow and that “he needed to get used to it”.
Ludlow did not get used to it. However, he was beginning to think that coming out into cold dark space may not have been a great idea. He was floating above Earth and noticed that there were patches of green and red lights in big cities. The people there were obviously getting ready for Christmas, and here he was floating in space. He knew that he could never become green or red for Christmas out in space. He thought long and hard about his fate. Perhaps, he thought, he would float toward Mars, the red planet. If he could land there, he bet the Martians would help him become red. Hope blossomed in his yellow breast.
Unknown to Ludlow there were really space people out there. They had camouflaged their ships so that the earthlings would not see them. They were a very advanced civilization and were watching to see how Earth might move to space travel.Ludlow who was still hoping for Mars (he had no idea how far away it was) floated next to one of the space people’s ships. Suddenly, a tractor beam flashed out, grabbed him and he found himself in a control room with several fascinated people observing him. They looked very much like earth people, except they had three eyes.
The space people had never seen a yellow rubber ducky before so they were giving him a close examination. They decided that Ludlow looked like a green picklehen that existed back on their home planet. Ludlow’s ears picked up when he heard about the green picklehen. Concentrating his thoughts on one of the space people he begged to be turned green. The space person he was concentrating on was a sympathetic appearing blonde. Suddenly she thought that Ludlow reminded her of a green rubber picklehen that she had when she was small. She decided to see how Ludlow would look if he were green, and she sprayed him with a solution that turned Ludlow green. Ludlow was in his glory! The blonde space person asked her captain, if she could have Ludlow. The captain said that he was sorry, but they could not take Ludlow out of isolation as he might carry an Earth disease.
Now these particular space people were not only peace loving, but they were also very kind. They debated what to do with Ludlow. The blonde space person said she thought that Ludlow was probably a pet of someone on the space station, and perhaps they could return Ludlow to the space station. They did not want to be discovered by the Earth people, so the captain asked his engineer, Scotti if he could beam Ludlow on board the space station without alerting anyone. Scotti said it would be a “piece of lumar” (cake in our language). He beamed Ludlow right into the same nook where he had been before he went into space.
The space people forgot that they had turned Ludlow green. When Ludlow’s mistress found him, she exclaimed, “Ludlow you have done it again! How did you get yourself green?” She went on to say that when they got home, she would have her mother clean off the green just as she used to do many years ago. Ludlow didn’t care as he knew that they would not be back before Christmas – and he was “Green” for Christmas even if it was on the space station.
“Merry Christmas” thought Ludlow!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com
