Disclaimer: I wish I owned them but BBC does :(

17.04.2012: Edited out some AE, thanks to Gingernut for the heads up :)

06. November 1957

„Did you read this? The Russians have shot a dog into space. What's next? A monkey on the moon? This is ludicrous." Hal closed the newspaper and placed it, precisely folded, into the magazine rack. "And now the Americans will try to out-shine their tomfoolery by, what, a bison in earth's orbit? Why can't humans accept their god-given limitations? First it was aircrafts and now not even the sky is enough for them, they need to go ever higher, be ever more daring. I don't see the appeal of being imprisoned in a tin can thousands of feet above the ground propelled by explosives. It's a recipe for disaster."

Leo chuckled in his armchair. He put his book aside to smile at his friend. "It's not foolish Hal, it progress. Don't you see how amazing it is that there are people out there who are clever and imaginative enough to shoot a dog into space? Soon humans will be up there, looking down onto this beautiful planet. The only limit for them is their imagination. How lovely it would be to be floating up there and to look down upon this earth. One day I at least want to fly in one of those airplanes Hal, don't you think that would be marvellous?"

Hal scoffed as he opened up his box of dominoes. He was in a sour mood today, irritated by the useless chatter of the barbershop's patrons that always through some trick of acoustics found its way up into his room. Leo on then other hand seemed to thrive on it. He appeared to need it as much as he needed oxygen and he was more at home downstairs pampering the patrons of his new shop opened only three weeks ago then upstairs in their living room. The lease on the shop and the flat upstairs were in Leo's name, but it had been Hal's money they'd paid with. Hal kept telling Leo he didn't need to repay him but Leo was adamant.

"But what use would men be up there in space? What good would they do humanity as a whole? Tell them that there is no God of any denomination to be found up there", Hal asked cynically as he took the first domino out of the box and put it down upright in the middle of the glass topped coffee table. This was no easy feat given how his hands shook these days. He felt reminded of times when other people's hands shook at the thought of him. "And I'm not setting foot into one of those flying death-traps Leo, not even for you. I don't fancy being incinerated, thank you very much." A second domino joined its brother on the table, then a third one.

"Don't be such a bitter old man, Hal", Leo chided him, "Can't you admire them for what they can accomplish? I meet such amazing people everyday, every kind of man needs to have his hair cut, you know? And they are all special, in their different ways, even if they don't all shoot dogs into space. Just today Mr. Bernard told me about this new household appliance he helped develop, an electric washing machine. Can you imagine that? Women all over the country will thank him for that once they don't have to wash their family's clothes by hand any longer." Leo leaned back in his chair, folded his hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling like he could see the star filled heavens right through it. "And Mr. Thomas, he's a school teacher, and he's just received a letter from one of his former pupils thanking him for helping said young man get into law school. It's those little things Hal that are truly astonishing."

By now there were seven dominoes lined up on the table describing half a circle. "Humanity is not worthy of your admiration Leo. Call me a bitter old man all you like but I've seen over three centuries of human cruelty and pain and I know that what really matters to them is not to help their own kind but to destroy it. Mark my words they did not send that dog up there out of pure scientific curiosity. There would have been a team of scientists and military officers hard at work to find a way to use those spaceships as a weapon even before they lit the fuse on Sputnik 1. Any progress only came about because they wanted to find better ways to kill their neighbours." At the ninth domino Hal's hand shook so much that the piece fell over as soon as he let go of it taking the other eight down with it. Enraged Hal wiped them off the table with his hand scattering them across the floor. "This is useless", he shouted, "How is this supposed to help me if I can't even get them lined up, let alone resist knocking them down?" Leo looked at his friend with hurt in his dark eyes. "That's how you treat my gifts to you? I had to shine shoes for months to be able to buy you those dominoes and you just throw them across the room like a child in a temper tantrum." He got up and collected the scattered dominoes. Then he went over to Hal, took his friends hand and placed the little white pieces on his palm. "It's not about getting them lined up perfectly. It's about concentration, about focusing on something else so intensely that you forget about the hunger." Leo pointed at the table. "Try again."

Hal clenched his empty fist in a desperate attempt at keeping himself from throwing the domino pieces at his friends face. He managed, but only just. As Leo sat back down and resumed his reading Hal carefully put down the first domino again in the exact centre of the table. They sat in silence for a while Leo reading and now and then sneaking glances at his friend's progress as Hal placed each domino with excruciating slowness.

After one tortuous hour the spiral was at last complete and Hal sat back with a weary sigh. "Very good", Leo exclaimed beaming with happiness. "I knew you could do it. Now, take them down again." Hal buried his face in his hands, screwing his eyes up and trying not to scream in frustration. He took three deep unnecessary breaths to calm himself down before he dared to open his eyes again. He met Leo's calm gaze with pleading eyes. "Could I not just leave them like that? I will only knock them over if I try to take them down. Can't you see how my hands are shaking?" He extended his hands to prove his point but surprisingly found them to be quite steady. He was so amazed by this that he only sat there for a minute looking at his idle hands until Leo's deep chuckle brought him out of his contemplation. "See, it's helping already." If Leo sounded a bit too smug Hal was prepared to forgive him, after all it really was working. "Fine, I concede victory. But I'm still not getting onto any flying machines with you." Hal started taking the dominoes down carefully to the sound of Leo's hearty laughter.