The Things I Do For Family

Chapter 2

Courage quietly searched the house for supplies, making sure that he didn't wake up Eustace and Muriel. Using a large back pack he had found, he began to pack up on supplies for the trip. First, he filled his back pack with food because he knew that he would be gone for days or weeks. In addition to the food, he packed a few bottles filled with water, a flash light, a pocket knife, matches, his winter coat (incase it was cold on the planet), a shovel, a hatchet, binoculars, a sleeping bag, and a magnifying glass. As Courage was stuffing all these supplies in his back pack, a thought occurred to him. Since he had no idea of what dangers the planet had, he may need to bring something for his self defense but Muriel and Eustace didn't own any guns or weapons. The best weapon in the house was Eustace's mallet but Courage decided not to take the mallet because he would rather face a brain sucking alien with his bare fists then face Eustace mad at him for taking his mallet. So the only other weapon that Courage could use was an old baseball bat that hadn't been used for a long time. It was hidden in one of the old boxes up in the attic and Courage had to dig through all them in order to find the bat. Moving all those boxes caused dust to kick up into the air causing Courage to cough and sneeze and the dust also made his eyes itch. After some exhausting work digging through the old boxes, Courage finally found the bat he was looking for. He quickly stuffed the bat into the back pack and then Courage dragged the back pack into the kitchen.

It was then that Courage's stomach began to growl with hunger. Deciding to eat breakfast before leaving, Courage pulled out some leftover ham from the refrigerator, chopped it into pieces, and began to cook the ham in the microwave. Once cooked, Courage placed the ham on the table and began to eat. Although Courage was hungry, he wasn't much in the mood for eating because his mind was still on the possibility that he may actually see his parents again. Questions constantly bombarded Courage's mind as he thought about it.

"Will I be able to find my parents? Will they still be the same way as I remember them? Will they recognize me? What can I say to them?" These constant questions made it hard for Courage to finish his breakfast but he knew that these questions will not be answered unless he went out to search for them. He gobbled up his ham quickly and was about to leave when he realized that Muriel would be worried about him if he didn't explain why he had left. Courage quickly pulled out a sticky pad and wrote a note on the pad with a pen. Once Courage had finished writing the note, he proof read the note to himself. The note read:

Dear Muriel,

I'm going on a little vacation by myself and will be back by the end of the week at the least. I've already left this morning so I should be back as soon as I can.

Love Courage

Courage wondered to himself if he should put in more details but decided to stick with what he got. He tore the piece of paper off of the sticky pad and placed it onto the refrigerator where Muriel can see it. Courage than hoisted the back pack onto his shoulders and walked out the door.

The back pack was rather heavy but Courage has always been gifted with extraordinary strength despite his size. It was about seven in the morning and the sun was already rising in the distance causing the starry night sky to slowly fade away. Courage wanted to hurry and get to the ship because it can get hot in Nowhere during the day and he didn't want to drag this heavy back pack under the hot sun. Courage walked a mile through the desert like terrain of Nowhere until he finally came to the ravine where Courage had stashed the ship. As Courage got closer to the ravine, he looked down below and could see the ship hidden underneath the trees. Courage carefully climbed down the side of the ravine towards the ship below. It was hard to climb down while wearing that heavy back pack but Courage managed to reach the bottom of the ravine safely. Upon reaching the ground below, Courage could now easily see the alien ship that has been hidden here for over a year. The space ship was silver in color and looked like a giant hub cap, just the way Courage had remembered. As Courage walk over to the ship, he located the button that opened the door and pressed it. The door opened up and lowered itself like a platform so Courage could board the ship.

Once Courage was inside, he was greeted by the familiar sight of the ship's interior which seemed to come to life with activity upon Courage's arrival. The entire interior of the ship was a simple one room ship. It was circular in shape and it was devoid of any comforts such as chairs or beds. Courage placed his back pack next to the door and then pushed a button that closed the door shut. Once Courage was sure the door was shut, he pulled out the map from his back pack. He then walked over to the controls to the ship which was, ironically, one of those indoor bike like contraptions meant for exercise. Strangely enough, the ship works in the same way a bike does and although it is different than a real bike, its similarities enabled Courage to quickly learn how to ride it.

Courage picked up a helmet that was hanging from the left handle bar of the bike and then secured it on top of his head. Courage then got into the seat and placed his feet upon the pedals. On the handle bars was a control panel and from the panel, Courage located the "On" switch and pressed it. Immediately, the ship roared to life as the engines kicked on. Courage could feel the ship vibrating as the ship began to activate. Courage took in a shaky breath as he began to push the pedals to accelerate the ship. He then pulled back on the handle bars like he would on an air plane and the ship took off into the air. As the ship hovered off the ground, Courage gently steered the ship into the air and strait up into the sky. There were no windows on the ship so Courage's only way of seeing outside was through a viewing screen, like the one seen in Star Trek. Through the viewing screen, Courage could see the clouds fly by as the ship continued to soar into the heavens above. The blue sky quickly changed from blue to black and starry as Courage left the Earth's atmosphere.

Courage continued to pedal the bike-like contraption harder and harder enabling the ship to pick up speed. Once Courage was past the moon, he pulled out the map and then placed it upon the control panel. The map said to first head towards Jupiter, so Courage continued to pump the pedals and fly towards Jupiter. Once he reached Jupiter, the map instructed Courage to make a hard right turn and go strait until he reached the star, Megrez. The map was more complicated than the instructions Courage had received in order to go to Tulip's home world. Also, the planet was farther away than the other world so the trip was longer than expected. After pedaling nonstop for over nine hours (with breaks only for meals and bathroom emergencies), Courage's legs was starting to grow stiff and sore. At around four o'clock, Courage couldn't take it anymore and decided to park the ship then take a break for the rest of the day.

Sweating and panting, Courage worked all the strength he had to direct the ship towards a nearby comet. There, Courage parked the ship onto the comet so the ship wouldn't float aimlessly into space. Courage then took off his bike helmet and placed it onto the handle bars. He grabbed the map and with his stiff legs, Courage walked over to the door where Courage had left his back pack. Courage sat down and examined his map and he was pleased that all of his efforts weren't for nothing because according to the map, Courage was only 70% the way there. He was getting closer to the planet now and it wouldn't be long before Courage would finally get the chance at finding his parents. Courage lay against the wall of the space ship, day dreaming of those times when Courage still had his parents. He remembered how much his parents spent time with him and how much they loved him. A smile crossed Courage's face as he remembered what happened before his head was stuck in the fence:

Flashback Begins.

Courage's thoughts traveled back to a time when he still had his parents. He was just a small puppy and he was in the front yard with his mother, Lily. Courage laid on a small beach blanket as Lily changed his diaper but Courage was not cooperating.

"You're certainly quiet a squirmer." said Lily as she tried to place the diaper onto the squirming puppy. Lily finally managed to get the diaper onto Courage and from the moment Courage was freed, Courage wondered off looking for other things to do. At this point, Courage was already at the stage of his life were he was learning how to walk and talk. Ever since Courage took his first steps, he's been running around a lot, even though he still trips some times. Courage's aimless running games ceased when he heard Henry walk out of the house and upon seeing his father, Courage waddled over to Henry. Henry noticed Courage approaching him and coached Courage to come to him.

"Come on, come to daddy." said Henry encouragingly as he held out his arms. Courage was about to reach Henry's outstretched arms but Courage tripped and fell over. Luckily, Henry was close enough to catch him. Henry picked up his son and Courage just nuzzled him saying, "Daddy."

"Aw, isn't that sweet." said Henry. At that moment, Lily came over to Courage and said, "Aw, he learned a new word." Lily stroked Courage's cheek with her paw and said to Courage, "Can you say 'mommy."

"Ma...ma...mommy." said Courage struggling with the word. Lily's heart just melted like butter with joy.

"You said 'mommy." said Lily to Courage. "We're so proud of our little boy." Courage then unexpectedly grabbed Lily's hat off her head and placed it on his own. The hat was too big for him so it covered his entire face.

"Hat." said Courage. Lily and Henry laughed at their son's antics. He was just so cute.

Flashback Ends.

Courage's daydream had ended when he heard his stomach growl. Courage was quiet famished from all that pedaling and Courage had to eat something. Courage reached into his back pack and pulled out a can of dog food. Courage then pulled out a can opener and began to open the can. Once the can was opened, Courage pulled out a spoon from his back pack and he ate directly from the can. As he ate, he thought more about his life before he was separated from his family and the more he thought about them, the more guilt ridden Courage became. Along with his sadness, Courage couldn't help but feel responsible for what happened to his family. If he hadn't have had his head stuck in that fence, his parents wouldn't have taken him to the vet. Not just that, but he also had a chance to save them, and yet he failed. He failed his own parents right when they needed him the most and because of that, they were gone. Courage was beginning to lose his appetite but he ate anyway, knowing that he needed his strength. Courage continued to tell himself to not give up. No matter the risks, Courage had to keep going. He had to try...for his family.

Courage spent a few hours, after eating, continuously daydreaming about his parents until it was time for him to go to bed. He pulled out the sleeping bag he had and laid it out on the ship's floor. He curled into bed and fell asleep but like the night before, he once again dreamed about the day he lost his parents and like before, this one felt so real that Courage actually felt like he was there. Once the dream ended, Courage, once again, woke up with a horrible scream. Courage breathed deeply a few times before his heart stopped racing.

"Why are these dreams torturing me like this?" thought Courage to himself. "Why do they seem so real?" Courage shrugged off the bad dream and crawled out of his sleeping bag.

After a good breakfast, he got back into the driver's seat and continued his journey. Courage's legs were still a little stiff from yesterday but Courage continued none the less. Driven by his desire to see his parents again, Courage pressed on, following the directions on the map, Courage flew light-years into space until he finally saw his first glimpse of a planet. Checking and re-checking his coordinates, he realize that he had finally made it to the planet he was looking for.

"Mom and dad, here I come." said Courage with enthusiasm as he continued to pump the pedals.

Courage was rapidly getting closer to the planet enabling Courage to receive a better view of the planet through the viewing screen. The planet was green in color and it had several blue spots which Courage figured was water but he wasn't sure if the green was planet life or something else. Courage was just within the planet's atmosphere when something happened. Without warning, the engines died and the ship was barely hovering in the air.

"What's happening?" said Courage in a panic. There was a violent thrust as the ship began to descend. Drawn by the gravitational pull of the planet, the ship fell like a rock towards the ground below. The thrust caused the map on the control panel to fall off and Courage realized why he was falling upon seeing the control panel. Courage had over looked one detail when he was packing up: he forgot about the fuel intake of the ship. Apparently, the trip had used up what remaining fuel the ship had and Courage discovered this too late when he saw the fuel gage which read "empty." The ship began to fall towards the ground like a rock and all Courage could do was watch as the ground began to rush up to meet the ship.