Victoria Leigh and the Man in the Moon

Credit: NASA

 

Victoria Leigh never liked going to bed.

“But Mummy, I want to play with my toys!” she would say.

But since Mummy had told her about the Wishing Tree and all the adventures she could have, Victoria Leigh found it much easier to go to bed.

That night, she snuggled under the duvet and watched her glow in the dark stars overhead. Then out of the darkness she heard a deep voice.

 

"Wake up Miss Victoria Leigh" it said.

 

Victoria Leigh sat bolt upright in bed and switched on her bedside light. She rubbed her eyes and peered at the end of her bed where all her toys sat. As she watched, Lemon Bear pushed his way to the front.

 

"Lemon Bear!" Victoria Leigh squealed with excitement. "I am so pleased to see you!"

 

Lemon Bear smiled at her.

 

"Just call me Bear, I never did like lemons" he said and winked.

 

"Are you here to take me to the Wishing Tree?" Victoria Leigh asked, she was so thrilled at the idea of another adventure she almost fell out of bed.

 

"If you would like to go." replied Bear in his deep smooth voice.

 

"Oh I would" gasped Victoria Leigh "lets go!"

 

"Take my paw then" said Bear and as Victoria Leigh did so, she was surrounded by beautiful swirling clouds in all different colours. Within seconds they landed in the field where the Wishing Tree stood. This time, the field was full of pink flowers. Victoria Leigh stared up at the Wishing Tree with its hundreds of green leaves and enormous thick twisted branches.

 

 

“Who has come to visit me” asked the Wishing Tree in a deep voice.

“Wishing Tree, Wishing Tree I bring Victoria Leigh to visit thee” said Bear in his equally deep voice.

“What is it you wish for Victoria Leigh?” boomed the Wishing Tree.

"Oh Wishing Tree, I have always wanted to go to the moon!" replied Victoria Leigh.

 

"DONE!" boomed the Wishing Tree , and suddenly there was a very loud engine noise.

Victoria Leigh and Bear turned around to see a huge red and gold rocket ship coming into land in the field. The ship had two big engines, and a long cabin with a circular window. The name on the side said 'Lightening Bolt'.  As they watched, a door in the side of the rocket ship opened and a stair case unfolded to the ground.

 

"Come on!" yelled Victoria Leigh, as she raced towards the rocket while Bear jogged along behind her.

 

The pair climbed into the cockpit and sat down in the two black leather chairs in front of the control panel. There were hundreds of dials and screens but only two buttons. One said 'Take off' and the other said 'Land'. After buckling themselves in, Victoria Leigh looked at Bear.

 

"Are you ready?" she said with a grin.

 

"Ready" said Bear.

 

Victoria Leigh pressed the button marked 'Take off'. There was an almighty roar and the whole rocket began to shake. Within seconds, they were off the ground and hurtling up into the sky.

 

"Woo hoo!" screamed Victoria Leigh looking over at Bear, but Bear had his eyes closed.

 

It felt like only ten minutes before the rocket was through the earth's atmosphere and out in space.

 

"Wow" breathed Victoria Leigh as they cruised over the earth.

 

She looked around and started to realise that they were slowing down, the rocket was going to land on the moon!

 

The rocket touched down on the surface of the moon and Victoria Leigh and Bear climbed down the staircase to the ground.

 

"I cant believe we are on the moon!" yelled Victoria Leigh, "but why is it so dirty?"

 

She looked down at her feet. On the ground there appeared to be a thick layer of dust. She leant down and swept some of the dust away with one finger. Underneath something sparkled, it looked like glass. As she swept away more dust, more of the clear surface of the moon was revealed. It was beautiful.

 

"I wonder what it's made from." She whispered.

 

"Oi!" 

 

Victoria Leigh and Bear turned to see an old man hobbling towards them. He was wearing overalls and had a dirty cloth sticking out of his pocket.

 

"Who are you?" the man barked at Victoria Leigh and Bear "and what are you doing on MY MOON!"

 

"We are very sorry" replied Victoria Leigh "we didn't know it was your moon, the rocket brought us here!" she pointed at the red and gold rocket standing a short distance away.

 

"Well clear off!" said the old man, " I don't like company." and he turned and started to hobble away.

 

"That was rude" said Bear.

 

"Excuse me!" called Victoria Leigh, chasing after the man. "Can I just ask, why is there all this dust on the moon and what is it made of?"

 

The old man looked at her suspiciously.

 

"The moon," he answered " is made from diamond! Everyone knows that!"

 

"and why are you here?" said Victoria Leigh,

 

The old man looked sad for a second.

 

"I am the man in the moon" he said, " it is my job to clean and polish the moon so that it shines as brightly as possible."

 

"but its covered in dust!" said Victoria Leigh.

 

"I know!" snapped the old man. "I stopped cleaning because nobody seemed to notice my hard work! Everyone is either asleep or too busy looking at the sun to notice the moon so I figured nobody would care if I stopped."

 

"Oh dear, " said Victoria Leigh, she looked thoughtful for a second "we care, if you like, we can help you clean the moon."

 

"No need, its too late for that. Besides, I don't have enough cloths for you anyway" said the old man, looking grumpy again.

 

"I am sure we can find something" said Victoria Leigh running to the rocket. She climbed inside and went into the cockpit. Behind the seats there was a large cupboard and inside there were lots of cleaning cloths and feather dusters. These must be to keep the rocket clean, she thought to herself. She grabbed 3 cloths and quickly scrambled out of the rocket.

 

"Here we are!" she said handing a cloth to the old man and one to Bear. " Now we can all help!"

 

For the first time, the old man smiled.

 

"Ok, but I warn you, its hard work!" he said.

 

The three cleaned and cleaned until every inch of the moon was a sparkling diamond again and all the dust was gone.

 

Victoria Leigh couldn't believe how beautiful it was.

 

"Thank you" said the old man. " I couldn't have done this by myself". He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sparkling rock and gave it to Victoria Leigh. "It's moon rock" he said. "It is  my way of saying thank you."

 

"It was our pleasure!" said Victoria Leigh " Now everyone will be able to see the moon shine and it will be just as bright as the sun!"

 

Victoria Leigh and Bear got back into the rocket and strapped themselves in.

 

"Ready to go home?" said Bear

 

"Ready" replied Victoria Leigh as she pushed the button marked 'Take off'. Before long they were flying through the air back towards Earth. They entered the atmosphere and soon Victoria Leigh was able to see the field with the pink flowers where the Wishing Tree stood. She pressed the 'Land' button, and the rocket slowed down before gently landing in the field.

 

Victoria Leigh and Bear climbed out.

 

"Time to go home" said Bear, taking Victoria's hand and once again she was surrounded by colourful swirling clouds before everything went dark.

 

Victoria Leigh was back in her bed and could see her glow in the dark stars on her ceiling. She sat up and then quickly got out of bed and went to the window. As she drew back the curtains, she looked up at the sparkling night sky and gasped. The moon was bigger and brighter than ever before, so bright that it too sparkled.

 

Victoria Leigh smiled and said "goodnight, man in the moon" before climbing back into bed.

 

"Good night Lemon Bear" she whispered as she snuggled down under the duvet and fell fast asleep.