Day 142 - Moon Story

Moon Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Kay had dreams of being the first woman to walk on the moon. So far she had done nothing to pursue this dream, but that didn’t make it any less of a real desire. She held it close to her heart and hardly ever talked about it. Most people wouldn’t understand. They’d think it was just talk. They’d call it a wish or a fantasy or a bit of amusing conversation. It was a true heartfelt desire and she didn’t want to sully it through casual conversation.

Kay’s best friend was Julee. Julee and Kay worked together as brand managers for a company that created infomercials and websites that provided simple “how-to” answers and tips for simple everyday things. Julee knew Kay was fascinated by space and loved science fiction literature, but she had never heard of Kay’s plans to walk on the moon some day.

Walter was a bit of a con artist, but he was as honest and up front about it as he could be. Walter sold property on the moon. It didn’t matter that he didn’t actually own the property that he sold. No one owned the moon. The governments of the world had agreed. Anyone with any sort of common sense would know that Walter was just selling worthless pieces of paper – a novelty item. He pretty much admitted it to protect himself against legal action. None of that stopped people from buying the land. Walter had made a surprising amount of money selling off dots on a map that no one would ever get to go see or use.

Through Julee, Kaylee knew Justin. Justin knew a different Julie, who knew a man Quintilis that self-published a magazine about conspiracy theories and alien infiltration into the government. Quintilis was obviously not his real name, but was used for effect. As chance would have it, Quintilis had recently written an article about Walter’s moon development endeavors. Walter argued his ownership rights based on the fact that no government had stepped up to dispute his claim. This of course ignored the logical counterpoint that no one disputing a claim did not mean it was valid. No one affirmed his claim either. But Walter wasn’t interested in this point, and neither was Quintilis. Quintilis argued that the whole project was a thinly veiled scheme run by alien co-conspirators who were planning their escape from the doomed planet to go and live in their new space utopia. It didn’t matter how sound or logical the arguments in the articles were. Quintilis had 24 pages to fill every other month. He just needed content.

Julie was a subscriber and would bring the magazine to the group game nights. She read articles aloud so everyone could laugh and they would all pass it around to look at the insanely photoshopped pictures that were supposed to prove this theory or that theory. Julie secretly kept the subscription going because she enjoyed the ideas and she wanted to believe in something extraordinary. She wouldn’t admit that to anyone else though.

When Kaylee read the article about Walter she knew it was fate. While everyone else debated the merits of space colonization and what the actual property rights might be on the moon, Kaylee imagined her first steps in zero gravity. She was lost in a dream, lost to hope and fantasy and potential. At the end of the night she asked Julie if she could borrow the magazine again. She wanted to write down Walter’s name and contact information, just in case. One never knew how soon the future could come and when she might be able to find what she had been looking for.