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The Moon Goes Pop

Ellie was feeling very excited. In fact she was so excited, she had a funny feeling in her tummy that wouldn’t go away.Tomorrow was the day when she was going to move to a new house and she could hardly wait. All her toys and clothes had been packed away into the big boxes which were piled up everywhere. Her Mum and Dad had been busy all day taking pictures off the walls and packing up the ornaments. The wardrobes had been emptied and everything had been packed neatly into the big boxes. The cupboards were all bare and the kitchen utensils all packed away. The curtains had been taken down from the windows and the carpets all rolled up.Everything was ready now for tomorrow when the furniture van would arrive first thing in the morning.

This was the very last night Ellie would sleep in this bedroom. It didn’t seem like Ellie’s bedroom anymore. All that was in it was just the bed. No nice pictures on the walls. No toys on the shelves, no desk with her school books on it. No, everything was in the big boxes, ready to be taken to the new house. Ellie had been with her Mum and Dad and brother Alex to visit the new house, and she couldn’t wait to move in. She tried to go to sleep, but it didn’t matter how tightly she closed her eyes, she just couldn’t go to sleep. She knew it must be really late because she had heard her Mum and Dad go to bed ages ago.She tried again to go to sleep, but it was no good, she just couldn’t stop thinking about moving to the new house. It was a lovely big old house with the biggest garden Ellie had ever seen.

After lots more tossing and turning, Ellie got out of bed and went to look out of the window. Everything was in darkness.Only the moon and stars shining in the dark sky. Ellie looked at the moon and began to wonder how it was that no matter where you lived in the world, everybody saw the same moon.“Tomorrow, when I am at my new house, it will still be shining just the same as it is here” she thought to herself and got back

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in bed. But she still couldn’t get to sleep. She lay looking through the window. She could see the moon and stars shining.They seemed to light up the bedroom. “I wish I could draw the curtains” she thought, but of course she couldn’t. The curtains had been packed away in the big boxes.

Suddenly, she heard a funny popping noise. “Whatever was that?” She listened to see if she could hear it again. But no, everything was quiet, not a sound to be heard. She shut her eyes again tightly, but not for long. She could hear that funny popping noise again, but even louder. POP, POP, POP, POP. Ellie got out of bed again and looked out of the window. “What ever was it?” She couldn’t see anything. She looked up at the moon and then the strangest thing happened. As Ellie stood looking into the dark sky, the moon began to shake from side to side.POP,POP,POP…….The next minute the moon burst open and tiny pieces fell down through the sky to earth and then the moon disappeared.

Ellie was so frightened she shouted for her Mum. When her Mum came she told her what had happened, but her Mum just laughed at her. “Don’t be silly Ellie, it’s just a bad dream you’re having. Now go back to sleep, we’ve got a very busy day tomorrow”. Ellie got back in bed. It wasn’t a dream. She knew it wasn’t, she hadn’t even been asleep. The moon had popped and disappeared, she had seen it happen. But now she was beginning to feel very tired. She shut her eyes and soon went fast asleep.

The next morning when Ellie woke up, the sun was shining through the bedroom window and the birds were whistling. It was a beautiful day. Ellie jumped out of bed and quickly got dressed. She could hear voices downstairs. She looked out of the bedroom window and saw a big van parked outside the house. It was here. The van had arrived to take all their belongings to the new house. Ellie ran downstairs and had her breakfast. Alex had already had his and was helping to take boxes out to the van. She had completely forgotten all about the moon popping until her Mum reminded her. “Did you manage to go back to sleep last night Ellie after your bad dream?” Ellie remembered what she had seen. “It wasn’t a

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dream. The moon really did pop and burst open”. Her Mum laughed. “Well tonight, we’ll see if the moon is still there, but come on, we’ve got a lot to do before then” said her Mum and went back outside to help carry some more things into the van.Finally, every single thing had been removed from the house and placed in the van. The van driver shut the big doors at the back of the van and then climbed in the cab and drove away.The house was completely empty. Ellie didn’t like it looking so bare with nothing in it. She went upstairs to look at her bedroom. The bed had gone now and it seemed really strange.She looked through the window and up at the sky. The sun made everything look so different to what it had looked like in the middle of the night. Did the moon really pop or had she just been dreaming? “Ellie, Ellie, hurry up we’re ready to go”. She could hear her Mum shouting. She ran downstairs and got in the car feeling very excited. As the car moved away, Ellie waved goodbye to the old house and then settled down for the journey to the new house.

It seemed to take a long time but finally they arrived at the new house. The furniture van was already there and the van driver was unloading all the boxes and furniture. Ellie and Alex ran through the gate and down the garden. At the bottom of the garden there was a swing and a big shed. “We’ll be able to put our bikes in there” said Alex and then ran off to look in thehouse. Ellie followed him and after exploring all the rooms, went back down the garden to play on the swing. It was no good going back inside for a while yet, she would only get in the way of everybody as they brought the furniture into the house. She started to swing, higher and higher. It was such a big garden, she could only see the house if she swung really high.

As she was swinging, something suddenly caught her eye.Whatever was it? She jumped off the swing and went to look.Lying in the tall grass was something sparkling. Ellie had never seen anything like it and didn’t know what it was. She picked it up. It was yellow and although it was quite big, as big as a football, it was ever so light and felt really cold and funny. Ellie ran her fingers over it. It was soft and bumpy and the edges were quite sharp. What could it be? It was no good going to ask

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her Mum or Dad, they were really busy and would be cross if Ellie started asking them things. Maybe Alex would know. He was older than Ellie and he knew a lot of things. She went to find him. “Alex come with me, I’ve found something strange, and I don’t know what it is”. Alex went down the garden with Ellie. “Do you know what this is” asked Ellie pointing at the strange yellow object. Alex picked it up and examined it. “I don’t know, it feels really weird” he said, pressing his fingers into it. “It must be off something that’s broken, look at the sharp edges”. “Yes, but what?” said Ellie really puzzled. Alex put it back down in the grass. “We’ll leave it here and ask Mum or Dad when they’re not so busy. Come on, lets go inside I’m beginning to feel hungry it’s nearly tea time. And he ran back into the house.

Ellie looked down at the strange yellow object that was shining out from the grass. It must belong to somebody. How could it have got here otherwise. She very carefully felt the edges, they were very sharp and jagged as though it had broken off something. She looked around the garden to see if she could find another piece that might fit on to it, but she couldn’t. “Oh well, maybe Dad might know, I’ll ask him after tea” she thought and ran into the house to get something to eat. “Dad” said Ellie, after they had eaten their tea “Can you come down the garden with me, I’ve found something really strange and I don’t know what it is” “Well, I’ll look tomorrow Ellie, when I’ve got more time, we’ve still got an awful lot of unpacking to do and we must get the beds made up for tonight, I’m sure it will still be there in the morning” and he went upstairs to put the beds up.

That night when Ellie went to bed, it seemed really strange having a new bedroom. Her Mum told her that tomorrow they would find the box that had got her toys in and she would be able to put all her books and dolls onto the big shelves that went right around Ellie’s new bedroom. Ellie’s bedroom overlooked the garden but she couldn’t see anything because it was starting to go dark. But shining in the long grass was the strange yellow object that she had found earlier. The more Ellie looked at it, the brighter it seemed to shine. Then Ellie remembered the dream she had had the night before about the

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moon popping. Where was the moon now? It should be shining out from the sky but the only thing that was shining in the dark sky was the stars. Had she really dreamt that the moon had popped like her Mum said or had it really happened. She went to the top of the stairs and shouted “Mum, where’s the moon, it’s disappeared”. Her Mum came upstairs. She was very cross.“Now Ellie, get in bed and go to sleep. The moon will be behind the clouds, stop being so silly.” Her Mum went back downstairs.She was feeling very tired. She had been busy all day and just wanted to sit down and relax. She’d no time to listen to silly stories about the moon going pop. Ellie looked through the bedroom window once more. No the moon wasn’t shining in the sky, but something down in the garden was and tomorrow she was determined to find out what it was.

Ellie’s Mum and Dad sat down to watch the television. They were both feeling very tired after such a busy day. There were still lots of things to do but decided whatever else needed to be done could wait until tomorrow. They would just watch the late night news and then go to bed. But when the news came on, Ellie’s Mum got such a shock, she soon forgot about how tired she was feeling. In fact, she got up very quickly and turned up the volume. The lady reading the news looked very worried.“Reports are coming in from all over the world about the disappearance of the moon. A number of people are saying that in the middle of the night the moon popped and burst open and parts of it fell to the earth. Although the biggest and most powerful telescopes have been used to try and see the moon, it seems to have completely disappeared. We are asking everyone to look in their gardens as soon as possible and if anyone should find what looks like a piece of the moon, please contact this emergency number straight away.” Then a telephone number was read out and displayed across the screen.

Ellie’s Mum and Dad turned off the television and went to look through the window into the sky. It was true. The stars were shining brightly in a very clear dark sky, but there was no moon. “Ellie was right” said her Mum “It wasn’t a bad dream she had, the moon really did pop. Wait until the morning when

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I tell her”. “Yes” said her Dad “but lets go to bed now, I’m too tired to think about the moon just now.

The next morning when Ellie woke up, the first thing she did was to look out of the bedroom window to see if the strange object in the garden was still shining. It was, not quite as brightly as it had shone in the night, but nevertheless, it was still shining. “Right” thought Ellie, “today I must try and find out what it is”. She went downstairs to have her breakfast and as she was eating she noticed that her Mum and Dad were looking very excited. “Ellie, we’ve something to tell you” said her Mum and she told Ellie all about what the lady on the news had said and how lots of other people had also seen the moon pop and pieces of it falling to earth. “I knew it wasn’t a dream” shouted Ellie, “I told you that I had really seen it happen”. “I know, but it’s hard to believe something like that you know” said Ellie’s Mum smiling. “What will happen now there is no moon” said Ellie looking very worried. “I don’t know, everybody has been asked to look out for a piece of the moon that might have fallen down, and if anybody finds a piece they have to ring an emergency number”.

Ellie carried on eating her breakfast, thinking very hard about what her Mum had just told her. Suddenly, she jumped up and raced outside into the garden. Still lying shining in the long grass was the weird object that she had found yesterday. She ran her fingers over it. Could it be a piece of the moon that had fallen into the garden. “Oh, I hope it is” she thought beginning to feel very excited. She ran back inside the house “Dad, Dad, come outside I think I’ve found a piece of the moon”. “Don’t be silly” said her Dad getting up from the chair “Why doesn’t anybody ever believe me” said Ellie “Come and look, it is a piece of the moon” and she ran back down the garden. “Oh well” said Ellie’s Dad “I suppose I’d better go and look, you never know she might be right” he said jokingly. He followed Ellie down the garden. She pointed to the shining object lying in the tall grass. Ellie’s Dad very carefully picked it up, looked at it for a long time and then put it back down. “What do you think Dad, is it a piece of the moon? asked Ellie. Ellie’s Dad looked very serious indeed. He wasn’t joking now. “I think you could

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be right. Don’t touch it or pick it up anymore. I’d better ring the emergency number straight away”.

Ellie and her Dad went back into the house. Ellie had never felt so excited in her life. This was even more exciting than moving house. “Well” said Ellie’s Mum smiling “Is it a piece of the moon”. “Yes, I think perhaps it is” said her Dad much to her Mum’s surprise. “I’m going to ring the emergency number now” and he picked up the phone. Meanwhile, Ellie took her Mum into the garden to show her what she had found. “What do you think Mum” asked Ellie. Her Mum bent down and examined it very carefully. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like this before. I suppose it could be off the moon, I’m just not sure.We’ll have to wait and see”. They both went back into the house. Ellie’s Dad had just put the phone down. “I’ve just spoken to the person in charge of finding the pieces of moon and he is coming to have a look straight away, so we should soon find out if it is a piece of the moon, won’t we”. They all went back out into the garden and stood staring at the weird object which was still shining brightly.

“If it is a piece of the moon” said Ellie “what will they do with it?” “I don’t know, I suppose they will have to try and find all the other pieces as well” said Ellie’s Dad. “And that might not be very easy”. “I think I can hear someone knocking at the door said Ellie’s Mum. She went to open the door and my goodness me, she was startled to see so many important looking people, all very eager to see if it really was a piece of the moon. Ellie’s Mum took them down the garden and pointed to the very strange object that was still shining out from the long grass.

The very important people began to get very excited and started to speak quickly to each other. One of them, who was carrying a big black case, opened it up and pulled out a funny looking kind of instrument. He bent down and held it just above the strange object. Straight away, the object rose up from the ground and made a peculiar noise. Then another man held open a huge silver box that looked like a fridge inside and the object floated straight into it. Everyone looked on in amazement. The man shut the lid and then turned to Ellie’s

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Mum and Dad. “You were right, this is definitely a piece of the moon and we need to take it away”. “What are you going to do with it” asked her Dad “Well, we are hoping that the other pieces will soon be found and then maybe we can join it back together again and get it back into the sky”. “But how will you get it back into the sky again?” asked Ellie’s Mum “That isn’t going to be easy, but I’m sure we’ll find a way. Now who was it that found this piece of the moon?” “It was me” said Ellie “I even saw the moon pop, but I thought I was having a bad dream”. “No, it was no dream” said one of the very important looking people “There have been other people who saw the moon pop. Not just people in this country, but people from all over the world. We have never had anything happen like this before and hope it never will again. We will need your help again young lady because we have to know exactly what you saw and how you came to find this piece of the moon, but for now we have to get it back to the laboratory to do some tests”.The important looking men started speaking very quickly amongst themselves, then said goodbye and drove away in their very grand cars.

But the moment the cars had gone, another big car and a van drove up and lots of men and women with cameras came running into the garden. It was the newspaper people wanting to take pictures of Ellie and her family and asking lots and lots of questions. “Where did you find the piece of the moon?” “Did you touch it?” What did it feel like” “Was it heavy” “Show us where it was” Everybody was so excited. People were even taking pictures of the long grass where the moon had been found. Finally, they got back into the car and left to go and print the pictures for the newspapers. This was the most important thing that had ever happened and Ellie had not only seen the moon pop but had actually found a piece in her garden. Ellie felt as though she was going to burst with joy. She had suddenly become very important and tonight her picture would be in all the newspapers.

In the days that followed, as people read in the newspapers about Ellie seeing the moon pop and finding a piece in her garden, everywhere she went people kept wanting to ask her all about it. On her first day at the new school she had gone to,

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all the children recognized her from the pictures in the newspapers and straight away wanted to be her friend. Even the teachers at her new school wanted to know all about the moon popping. As word got around that a piece of the moon had been found in Ellie’s garden, people from everywhere kept coming and staring at the house and garden, as if expecting to see the piece of the moon, which of course, had been taken away for testing. After a while Ellie and all the family began to get tired of seeing people standing outside the house and staring. “I shall be glad when everybody forgets about it” Ellie thought to herself. But nobody could forget about it. Every night as soon as it went dark, people all over the world looked up into the sky, hoping that maybe the moon would re-appear.The biggest and most powerful telescopes searched the sky every night looking for any sign of the moon. But the moon never shone again. Just the stars, twinkling away as always, but no moon.

One day when Ellie came home from school, a very important man called Mr Miller was waiting to see her. Ellie began to get very excited when Mr Miller told her that other pieces of the moon had been found. “Ellie, we now know that pieces of the moon have been found by other boys and girls but they do not live in this country. Some pieces have been found in very hot countries and some in very cold countries. Only one piece has been found here in England and that is the piece that you found”. But one piece is no good” said Ellie “How are you ever going to put the moon back together again if the other pieces are in different countries?” Mr Miller smiled at Ellie “We have arranged for each boy and girl who have found a piece of the moon to come to England and bring their piece with them. Then when we have all the pieces we are going to try and join them all together. If we can join all the pieces back together again we then have to work out a way to get the moon back up in the sky. It may take a very long time but when we are ready we would like you and the children from the different countries to watch the moon go back up into the sky again. If all you boys and girls hadn’t found the pieces, no one would ever see the moon again. You are all very special boys and girls. Would you like that Ellie?” Ellie was jumping up and down with excitement “Yes, I would, but can Alex and my Mum and Dad come as

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well?” “Of course they can” said Mr Miller “I will contact you all again when we have everything ready”. Then he drove away in his very grand car.

The next few weeks passed by and every night Ellie, Alex and her Mum and Dad listened to the news to see what was happening about the moon. All the newsreaders kept saying was that the pieces of the moon had all been tested and lots of very clever people from all over the world had been flown over to England to try and help Mr Miller find a way to get the moon back into the sky again.“I bet the moon never goes back in the sky again” said Alex and got up to go and play outside. “I don’t think that anyone will know how to get it up in one piece again without it breaking” said Ellie’s Mum and went into the kitchen. “What do you think Dad?” asked Ellie “I think that Mr Miller is a very clever person and he has got a lot of clever people to help him.It might take a while but I think they will do it, we will just have to be patient” said her Dad and went out into the garden.Ellie sat for a while thinking “I’m sure Dad is right, Mr Miller will do it”.

Ellie’s Dad was right. The next day when Ellie came home from school, Mr Miller’s car was parked outside the house. Ellie ran in feeling very excited. Ellie’s Mum was looking very pleased.“Ellie, Mr Miller says tomorrow they are ready to put the moon back into the sky again and he wants you and the other children to be there when it happens. “Yes, Ellie, we have joined the moon back together again and although it has taken a long time, we have done it. When the moon popped it split up into ten pieces and fell down into ten different countries all around the world. We are going to put the moon back up into the sky again tomorrow so we will be collecting you and your family first thing in the morning and tomorrow night the moon should be shining down from the sky once again.

Sure enough, the very next morning, bright and early, Mr Miller’s car arrived to pick all the family up. They went straight to a very big building that was surrounded by an electric fence with guards standing outside. Through the gates the car went and once inside the building Mr Miller was waiting for them with

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all the children from the other countries. Altogether with Ellie there were ten children. They were all very excited. “Now then, children” said Mr Miller smiling “Come with me and look at the moon before it goes back into the sky”. All the children followed Mr Miller into a very big empty room that had very dark windows that no one could see through and there lying in the middle of the floor was the moon. How strange it looked.Nothing like it looked up in the sky. It had all bumps and lumps on it and didn’t look very big. Mr Miller said that once it was back in the sky again it would grow to its proper size. Ellie’s Dad was amazed. “But why is it so small?” he asked “Because we have had to keep all the pieces in a special box, it hasn’t been able to grow any bigger and we have had to make sure it didn’t start to get bigger until we had found a way of getting it back into the sky”.

As Mr Miller spoke a whirring noise came from above them and the glass roof above them slid back. Then a very strange looking machine was lowered down from an aeroplane. The strange machine hovered above the moon and the moon very slowly began to rise up until it was attached to the machine.Everyone stood looking up as the machine very slowly disappeared back through the glass roof with the moon still attached to it. The glass roof closed and the moon was gone.“Come on everyone” said Mr Miller “Let’s see it go off into the sky”. They all went outside and as they stood looking the aeroplane with the moon still attached to the machine underneath it, flew off into the sky. Then it was gone. “What will happen now?” asked Ellie’s Mum. “Well, as the aeroplane gets higher and higher, the moon will get bigger and bigger until the machine will not be able to hold on to it and the moon will float off on it’s own to where it came from” explained Mr Miller. Will we be able to see it in the sky tonight” said Ellie “Yes, we hope that by the time it goes dark, the moon will be back up there with all the stars once again for everybody to see, everywhere in the world and it will all be thanks to you and all the other children who found the pieces” said Mr Miller. “All we can do now is wait and see”.

That night as it began to go dark, everybody all around the world stood looking up to the sky. Would the moon be back

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that night. It began to get very dark and the stars began to twinkle but no moon. No the moon wasn’t there. Ellie felt so disappointed. She had been so sure that the moon would be back in the sky. “Don’t give up hope yet” said her Mum “it’s only just gone dark and the moon has a long way to go”. Just then Ellie’s Dad shouted “Come and look at the television Ellie, look everybody all over the world are waiting for the moon to shine again”. Ellie went to look. Giant telescopes everywhere were pointing to the sky and hundreds and hundreds of people in every country in the world waiting for the moon to appear.Nothing was happening. “It will, it will, I know it will shine again” thought Ellie. And the next minute, as she watched thetelevision, everybody started shouting and pointing at the sky, because there it was. Back in the sky amongst the stars, as big and as bright as it had always been.

Ellie rushed out into the garden and jumped up and down with delight. So did Alex, so did her Mum and Dad and so did everybody in every country in the world. Mr Miller had done it.He’d managed to get the moon back like he said he would.Everybody, everywhere started clapping and cheering so happy to see the moon shining once again. When Ellie finally went to bed that night, she looked through the bedroom window into the sky at the moon. She had actually held a piece of it in her hand. She was so happy. And just for a moment, as she looked at it, she felt sure the moon was smiling as well. She got into bed feeling very pleased that she had been able to help put the moon back together again, and soon fell fast asleep.