Spaceboy

IN THE 1960s the world was gripped by

the space race. This time when the two
superpowers of America and Russia
battled to be first. First to launch a space
rocket. First to orbit the Earth. First to
send a dog into space. First to send a
man into space. First to land a man on
the moon. The price was monumental:
to take control of space itself. Our story
is set in early years of that decade in a
dusty old farm town in Midwest of
America. A place where nothing ever
happens – that is, until the ADVENTURE
of a lifetime begins…
MEET THE CHARECTERS IN THIS STORY:

RUTH
Ruth is a Twelve – year – old orphan who
is obsessed with outer space. She stays
up all night to watch the stars from her
tiny attic room in her aunt`s farmhouse.

YURI
YURI is Ruth`s Three –legged dog. She
found him lying in the road not far from
the farmhouse. Ruth named her pet
after her hero, the Russian cosmonaut
Yuri Gagrin. Gagrin had just become
world-famous as the first human in
space.

AUNT DOROTHY
Aunt Dorothy had lived all alone on her
dusty old ostrich farm until the night her
distant relative Ruth turned up on her
doorstep. Reluctantly, Aunt Dorothy
took the orphan in, but put her straight
to work on the farm. Aunt Dorothy looks
like a crocodile and snaps one too.

THE SHERIFF
The doughnut – loving sheriff has spent
his career in police force, longing for
drama. However, in this tiny town in the
American Midwest, the most thrilling
emergency calls he receives are for a cat
stuck up a tree, a stolen bucket or a
missing shoe. All that is about to change
with the arrival of a creature from
another world.

THE PRESIDENT
The president of the United States of
America might be the most powerful
person on the planet, guarded day and
night by secret agents, but he is a silly
little man. He is incredibly vain with
deep tan and a ridiculous ginger toupee.
All the president cares about is himself,
so when an alien lands on the Earth he
wants to make it all about him.

MAJOR MAJORS
This tall, broad man has the good looks
of an ageing movie star. He is the most
decorated soldier in US military history
and has been made the top dog at
America`s Top- secret base. This is
where the sky is monitored for
UFOs(unidentified flying object).the top-
secret base is hidden deep underground
in the desert. The place is so secret that
nobody knows it even exists! That is
except the president and Major Majors,
of course (otherwise he wouldn`t be
able to find his way to work in the
morning).

DR SCHOCK
Dr Schock is a half man, half machine.
The genius scientist worked for the
Germans during the second World War.
Then he was all man, no machine, but
one night he blew himself up when
designing an epic rocket. Twenty years
later, Dr Schock is in charge of them
failing American space programme,
where he barks orders at boffins.
THE BOFFINS
The boffins work at NASA (the National
Aeronautics and space
Administration).These special space
boffins are the boffinest boffins in the
whole history of boffindom.

AND FINNALY…

SPACEBOY
A mysterious figure in a shiny silver
spacesuit, boots, gloves, cape and
mirrored helmet, Spaceboy speaks in a
spooky voice, his face completely hidden
behind his helmet.

MAP OF AMERICA
THE TOP-SECRET BASE
(PLEASE DON`T TELL ANYONE WHERE IT IS)

AUNT DOROTHY`S FARM

THE WHITE HOUSE WISHINGTON, DC

NASA SPACE CENTRE AT CAPE CANAVERAL

AT AUNT DOROTHY`S FARM

COW AND BULL GRAZING LAND

OSTRICH PENI
GARAGE
PIGSTY
CHICKEN COOP
PIGSTY
WHEAT FIELDS
FARMHOUSE

PART ONE
LIFE ON MARS

CHAPTER 1

DREAMING
A light blazed across the night sky. From her attic
room at the top of the wonky farmhouse she called
home, a girl named Ruth took her eye away from
her telescope. She rubbed her grubby little eye with
her grubby little finger. Surely, she was dreaming.
No. There really was something up there, spinning
at terrific speed, with a streak of flames flowing
from it. Whatever it was, it was on fire! Could it be
an aeroplane? No, aeroplanes didn`t spin like that.
Could it be a helicopter? No, it was travelling way
to fast to be a helicopter. Could it be a shooting
star? No, it was flying too low to be a shooting star.
It was a UFO. An unidentified flying object! What`s
more, it was coming down fast, about to crash-
land on Earth! This was the most thrilling moment
of Ruth`s little life. The girl was an orphan. Her
family were dirt poor, and her mother and father
had died digging for gold. They had wanted a better
life of there darling daughter, but were killed when
the mine where they working caved in. It was a
grisly end. They had been buried alive. Before that,
they`d moved state to state all their lives, looking
for work. They`d slept in the back of fathers old
pick- up truck. Ruth would lie there, snuggled
between her mother and father for warmth. She
had nothing, But she had everything, because she
had their love. The little girl would fall asleep gazing
at the stars. Now all Ruth had left of her beloved
parents were memories. The softness of her
mother`s kisses. That special smile her father
saved just for her. The truck sold to pay for the
funerals, and Ruth was dispatched to her only living
relatives with a sign round her neck that read:
After travelling for days, most of it on foot, Ruth
finally arrived one stormy night on Aunt Dorothy`s
doorstep. The pair had never set eyes on each
other before. The pair had never had children of
her own for one very good reason. She loathed
them. For Aunt Dorothy, all children were revolting
creatures with filthy hands and snotty nose and
unruly bottoms. Aunt Dorothy`s only use for child
was to put her straight to work on her ostrich farm.
So Ruth was forced to spend her days mucking out
the ostriches before being given the longest list of
chores to complete in the farmhouse at night.

RUTH`S TO DO LIST BY AUNT DOROTHY

MOP THE FLOOR
SCRUB THE TOILET
PLUCK MY HAIRS OUT OF MY HAIRBRUSH
DUST THE FARMHOUSE TOP TO BOTTOM
UNBLOCK THE DRAIN
REPAIR THE ROOF
WASH MY SOCKS
SWEEP THE CHIMNEY
BRUSH AWAY THE COB WEBS
FINALLY, AS A SPECIAL TREAT, CUT YOUR BELO VED
AUNT`S TOENAILS
Ruth`s life was a bleak. She didn`t go to school. She
didn`t have any friend. She didn`t have a future. All
she had were her dreams.