5
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun
(Roger Waters)
Stan was awakened the next morning by a sudden sneezing fit. He smiled as he stared up at his bedroom ceiling, breathing through his mouth because his nose was completely congested. His throat felt scratchy and raw; this was just like the last time this day had begun; only the first time around he had stayed home while Kyle had gone to school. They'd watched replays together of the Challenger exploding hundreds of times afterward, but they'd been apart when it actually happened. It was time to make a few changes, starting with where he would spend the day. He had faith that Kyle would be able to convince his mom to let him stay home; all Stan had to do was convince his mother to let him spend the day over there.
I can do this
He made his way downstairs to the kitchen, still wearing pajamas. "Mom…" Sharon turned around from the stove where she was scrambling eggs. "I don't feel good."
"Oh no, honey." She moved the frying pan away from the burner and went over to feel his forehead. "Oh, you do have a fever, and you sound stopped up."
"My throat hurts too, mom." He hoped he wasn't laying it on too thick.
She nodded. "Let me call work and see if I can take the day off—"
"Ma, Kyle's mom might be able to watch me! Kyle wasn't feeling good last night either, and Mrs. Broflovski said she was probably going to keep him home if he wasn't better by now. She doesn't work, and if he stays home sick too, she can watch both of us."
Sharon looked at him doubtfully. "Oh honey, I hate to bother her…"
"Can you just call her and ask? Please, mom?" Stan was proud of his performance; if Kyle's was half as good, they'd be watching the Challenger disaster in his bedroom together in a couple hours. "Please?"
Stan wanted to hug her again when she nodded slowly and replied, "All right dear."
"Thank you, ma!" He sat down at the table while his mother picked up the phone and left the room with it. He overheard a few words of their conversation and it sounded as if their plan had worked perfectly.
A minute later Stan's mom returned to the kitchen and went back to cooking the scrambled eggs. "Well, Stanley, it seems Kyle is sick too, and Sheila is keeping him home today. She said she would be glad to watch you." She shook her head. "I knew you boys shouldn't have gone camping in January."
Stan coughed, raising a hand to his mouth to hide his smile. "I know, mom. You were right." And there goes camping out in the winter for a few years.
After breakfast, Stan went up to his room to get dressed and Sharon drove him to the Broflovski's house. They stood on the front stoop together as she knocked on the door. Kyle, wearing Terrance and Phillip pajamas, opened it a few moments later; he was barely hiding a smirk. Sheila appeared a second later behind him. "Hello, Sharon! I see we have a couple of sick boys here!"
Stan winced, caught Kyle watching him, and looked down, hiding his smile behind his hand.
"Thank you for watching him, Sheila," Sharon said as Stan stepped through the door and stood next to Kyle.
"Oh, it's no problem Sharon." She turned to look at Stan. "You boys go on up to Kyle's room to watch the shuttle launch…and afterward, you'll be working on some homework. Just because you're home sick doesn't mean you're not going to study today!"
Stan watched Kyle roll his eyes. Even though he wasn't feeling well, he wanted to laugh.
"Okay mom," Kyle replied, turning toward the stairs.
"I'll see you later mom," Stan said as he followed Kyle up the stairs, leaving their mothers to talk in the foyer. He followed him down the hall, and a few moments later they were behind Kyle's locked bedroom door and laughing together. Kyle's TV was on, showing pre-liftoff coverage of the shuttle launch. According to a countdown timer on the bottom center of the image, there was just over an hour until the launch.
Kyle lay face down on his bed, resting his chin on his arms and watching his television, Stan easily lying down next to him. Kyle used his remote to scroll through several channels; only one was even showing coverage of the shuttle launch.
"Dude," Stan asked. "How'd you convince your mom you were sick?"
Kyle grinned. "I told her I wasn't feeling good, and when she stuck a thermometer in my mouth and left the room, I held it next to my desk lamp." He rolled his eyes. "I'm running a one hundred and two point eight degree fever."
"Jesus, Kyle, you're really sick!" They laughed.
Since there was plenty of time, they watched an episode of Terrance and Phillip, laughing at the antics of the two Canadians. Things gradually turned more serious as the time to liftoff drew closer. Kyle changed the channel back to CNN; liftoff was now twelve minutes away. Time felt like it was speeding up.
"Okay…" Kyle finally said. "If you're really telling the truth, and I think you are, when does this thing blow up?"
"A little over a minute after liftoff." Stan thought back to all the replays he had seen of this upcoming moment. "Right before it explodes, you'll hear someone at mission control say 'Go at throttle up' and then one of the astronauts says back, 'Roger, go at throttle up'. And right after that…it explodes. Those two rocket boosters keep going a little longer, and then…" He trailed off.
Kyle nodded. "And then: Boom. Well, I guess it's too late to make an anonymous call to NASA now."
They watched the rest of the countdown in silence, and before they knew it the time had arrived: It was 8:37; liftoff was in one minute.