Fly Me to the Moon - Chapter 2 (conclusion)

"Wait…" DJ said excitedly as Ms. Melissa passed out paper and pencils for the trivia contest. "Do you mean everybody gets to play? Even me and Angie and Joan."

"That's right." Melissa knelt down next to DJ's chair. "We do things a little differently here on family night. The more the merrier. We love to see our customers having fun with as many family members and friends as possible."

"Did you hear that?" DJ looked at his parents with an expression of glee. "We get to help."

"We can help with any answers you don't know," Angie said, causing the adults at the table to chuckle. "And if I can't spell a word," she continued, "DJ and Joan will help me."

"Sounds like we're all set then," Steve said. "And just in time." He pointed to the stage where the trivia master for the evening, Albert, had approached the microphone.

"We have a special group of questions for you tonight," he said. "They're not your average trivia night offerings. They're designed so that you can work together and share ideas before settling on one answer. So have fun, everyone. Here's your first question. What's the most exciting part of a roller coaster?"

"Walking past it on my way to get fries," Danny said without hesitation.

"You're very silly, Uncle Danno," Angie giggled.

"When we rode Space Mountain the part where I had the most butterflies in my stomach was right at the beginning," DJ said. "Because I was excited for what was coming up."

"That's an excellent answer," Joseph told his grandson. "A lot of times the anticipation of things is more exciting than the thing itself."

"Like the nerves before you take a test," Aaron suggested.

Danny snorted. "Or every time I get in a car with Steve."

"So, do we all agree that the beginning is the right answer?" Catherine asked.

When everyone nodded she wrote it on the official team answer sheet.

Joan held up her hand for a high five. "Good job, DJ!"

"Everyone got something written down?" Albert asked.

A murmur of "Yes" filled the room.

"Well, according to Professor Brendan Walker, from the University of Manchester, who is a certified 'thrill engineer'." Albert paused and looked again at the card in his hand. "Doesn't that sound like a great job?" He smiled. "Anyway, he has measured breathing, heart rate, etc. and according to his studies, the most exciting part of the ride is when you buckle the seat belt."

"DJ was right!" Angie threw her arms in the air.

"Good job, buddy," Steve said with a proud smile.

"Next question," Albert said. "How many tonsils does the average human have?"

"What's tonsils?" Angie asked.

"They're in the back of your throat," Catherine explained. "They help keep you from getting sick by trapping germs."

"I had my tonsils out when I was in my twenties," Clara said matter of factly. "One of them grew back."

"Really?" Mary asked. "I didn't know they could do that."

"Neither did I until it happened." Clara shrugged. "I ended up doing a lot of googling about tonsils and that's why I can confidently say the average adult has seven of them."

After a few minutes Albert checked his card and asked, "How many of your said lucky number seven? If you did, give yourself a point."

"We're doin' very, very good," Angie said with a wide smile.

"Why are most manhole covers round?" Albert asked.

"This one is right up my alley," Danny's father, Eddie, said with a chuckle. "I dealt with more than a few manhole covers over the course of my career. Most people think that the reason they're round is because that makes it impossible for the cover to fall down into the hole."

Aaron nodded. "That makes sense."

"You'd think," Eddie said. "But I had a very good friend who worked for the New Jersey Department of Public Works and he told me round manhole covers are largely an American thing. In Europe, most of them are two triangular pieces fit together to make a square. And the reason they're round is only partly to do with them not falling in the holes."

"Let me guess," Joseph said. "The real reason is that if they're round they're easier to move around. You can just roll them to where you want them."

Eddie touched the end of his nose in the universal sign of accuracy. "Spoken like a man who spent his entire career dealing with government ingenuity."

"I think I heard the right answer coming from over here." Albert pointed to their table with a smile. "The main reason they're round is for ease of movement and because … and this is a direct quote from USDOT literature, 'they are mostly used to cover round holes'."

The crowd chuckled.

"Next, where is the largest body of water in Africa?"

"I know this one," Catherine said. "It's one of my favorite trivia questions. The answer is under the Sahara desert."

"I think I saw a documentary about that once," Mary said. "It was fascinating. It's called fossil water because it got trapped in the rock underground during the last ice age."

DJ's eyebrows knit together. "But I thought there was no water in the desert?"

"Me too," Joan said. "We learned that in school."

"This is deep underneath the sand," Catherine explained. "If I recall correctly it's something like 150,000 cubic kilometers of water."

Aaron shook his head. "That's a lot of water."

"It's equal to three quarters of the amount of water in all of the other lakes on the whole planet combined," Mary said.

"Wow, Aunt Mary." DJ looked at her with awe. "You're really smart."

"Very, very smart," Angie said.

"Mommy knows everything," Joan said proudly. "She's the best homework helper."

"Thank you." Mary smiled softly then spoke in a voice only Steve, Catherine and Aaron could hear. "I actually can't believe that fact stuck in my head but if it makes the kids think I'm smart I'll take it."

"OK, I promise these questions were made up weeks ago." He winked at Deb. "What song was played on both the Apollo 10 mission that orbited the moon and the Apollo 11 mission which made the first moon landing."

"Fly Me to the Moon," Deb said.

"Did you know that when that song was written it was called 'In Other Words'?" Nonna asked. "And it was recorded by a woman named Kaye Ballard."

"I remember her from watching 'The Match Game' with you when I was little," Danny said.

Gabby squeezed his arm. "I used to watch her on Hollywood Squares with my grandma."

After a few more questions, the answer sheets were passed in and the scores were tallied.

"Our winners," Albert said with a flourish, "Are the McGarrett/Rollins/Reyes/Longo/Williams/Asano

Team. Congratulations!"

"We won!" Angie, DJ and Joan cheered excitedly.

Albert brought over a small, plastic trophy and placed it in the middle of the table.

"There's nothing we can't do when we all work together," Nonna said. "That's an important lesson."

DJ beamed at her. "Especially when we do it with love."

THE END - thanks for reading

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