One early winter morning, Emily’s mother was driving her to school, when
Emily noticed the moon still up in the sky. “Look at the moon, Mommy!”
“Wow, look at that. What a beautiful moon, honey.”
“I bet it must be cold up there.”
“Oh, I’m sure it is!”
“You think the moon ever gets cold, Mommy?”
“No, dear. The moon doesn’t get cold.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know, darling.”
“But did you ever ask the moon if she gets cold?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Did you really, Mommy?”
“No, Emily. Not really. Come on, honey. That’s silly stuff. Now, I want you to get your things together and put on your thinking cap so you can have a good, productive day at school learning about real things.”
“Hmph!”
At school, Emily still couldn’t stop thinking about the moon.
“Mrs. Mathes?”
“Yes, Emily.”
“Do you think it’s cold up there in the sky where the moon is?”
“Oh yes, it’s very, very cold!”
“Do you think the moon ever gets cold up there?”
“No, sweetheart, the moon doesn’t get cold.”
“But, how do you know?”
“Because I know.”
“But how?”
Emily’s teacher was growing impatient. All the kids were squirming in their seats. “Emily, this isn’t a time for questions about the moon. Today, we’re learning about gorillas.”
But Emily couldn’t stop wondering, so she asked one of her friends at
recess. “Do you think the moon ever gets cold up there all alone?”
“Who cares?”
Then she asked her bus driver.
“Don’t know, kid. Never thought about it.”
She even asked a bird on her walk home.
“Listen, lady, I got a bunch of chicks in the nest to feed. I don’t have time for silly questions.”
And later that evening, while her mother stopped on the sidewalk to take a business call, Emily asked a man who was delivering the mail. “Excuse me . . .”
“Yep?”
“Do you know if the moon gets cold up there in the sky?”
“Don’t know, little girl.”
“Well, no one knows,” Emily said, frustrated.
“Hmm. Well, if I were you, and I really wanted to know, I’d call NASA.”
“NASA? What’s that?”
“It’s a government agency. They make spaceships and visit the moon, so if anyone would know, it’d be one of them.”
“Do you know how I could ask them?”
“Look ’em up. I’m sure they’re listed.”
As soon as Emily got home, she ran up to her brother Zack’s room and knocked on the door.
“What do you want?”
Zack was a bit older than Emily, and was busy playing video games with a friend.
“Uh, do you know how to look up phone numbers?”
“Of course I do!”
“Can you look up NASA?”
“NASA? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration?”
“I guess.”
Zack wrote down the number and tossed it to Emily. “Here you go. Now leave us alone, please!”
Emily went down to the kitchen and carefully dialed all the numbers on the phone. “Good afternoon, NASA, how may I help you?”
“Hi . . . Can you tell me if the moon is cold?”
“One moment. I’ll connect you to that department.”
“Hello?” a woman said.
“Hi, do you happen to know if the moon is cold?”
“I’ll connect you with educational resources.”
“Hello?” a man said.
“Hi, I’m trying to find out if the moon is cold.”
There was a pause.
“You know what? That’s an interesting question! I’m not sure . . . I think the only way to find out, is to ask her!”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“But how?”
“Welp, we’ve got a spaceship headed there in about six months. How about you come along?”
“Really?”
“Why not?”
“Well, I’ll probably have to ask my mom.”
After a bunch of phone calls and meetings, and a billion permission slips that needed to be signed, it was final: Emily was going to be the first kid ever to fly to the moon, for the sole purpose of asking the moon a very important
question. “But if the moon is cold,” Emily realized, “she’ll need a sweater!”
“Oh, Emily,” her mother said, exhausted. “You are too much.”
The next day, Emily asked her grandmother if she could knit the moon a
sweater. “I don’t see why not.” And Emily’s grandmother asked some of her friends for help. Then Channel 8 News aired a story about Emily and her
question. And before long, every woman from every nursing home around the globe joined in, knitting day and night, to put together this giant sweater for the moon.
It took quite a while, but four months later, the largest sweater that ever existed in the whole entire universe was complete!
On launch day, Emily was fitted with an extra-small spacesuit, and she, along with the adult astronauts, carried the giant sweater all the way from NASA headquarters, over a bridge, and into the giant spaceship.
Emily looked down at the crowd. The wind from the engines blew through her hair, and everyone was waving—her mother and father, her teacher and classmates, even her brother, Zack—and when Emily waved back, everybody cheered!
Then the spaceship blasted off, and a few days later, Emily arrived on the moon. The men and women astronauts fitted Emily with a special cord and a megaphone, and lowered her down to the moon. When she was close enough, Emily cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Moon?”
“Yes? Who are you?”
“My name is Emily. I’m from Planet Earth!”
“Oh yes, that’s a lovely planet. I admire it frequently.”
“Uh . . . well, I have a question for you, and I came all the way here to ask.”
“Well, sure. Go ahead.”
“I was wondering: Are you cold?”
“Cold?”
“Yes, because, if you are, I brought you a sweater.”
“Oh, well, isn’t that nice! I have to say, though, with this sun blaring on my face, I’m actually pretty darn hot. But there is one part of me . . .”
“Which part?”
The moon leaned in and whispered, “It’s my backside. It does get a bit chilly.”
“Oh!” Emily said, giggling. “I wish I had known!
So Emily and the astronauts brought the enormous sweater all the way back down to Earth and explained the situation to everybody during a televised news conference—that the moon didn’t need a sweater, but instead, she needed
something to warm her backside!
After a big meeting with her grandmother and all the ladies from every nursing home around the globe, it was decided that with just some minor
alterations, they could transform the sweater into a giant pair of bloomers that would indeed cover the backside of the moon perfectly! And finally, three months later, Emily joined the astronauts for yet another trip to the moon, this time, with the enormous pair of knitted bloomers.
At blastoff, everyone cheered once again, and some people even held up posters asking Emily to apologize to the moon for never thinking to ask if she was cold. And three days later, Emily arrived on the moon and was lowered once again with her megaphone. “Hello, Moon!” Emily waved.
“Why, hello, Emily. So nice to see you again!”
“Look what I’ve brought!” Emily said, pointing to the large pair of bloomers that were dangling from the spaceship on a special crane.
“Oh, don’t those look comfortable!”
It took nearly an entire day, but Emily and the astronauts were able to
maneuver the special bloomers just perfectly onto the backside of the moon.
“Oh, so, so much better, Emily,” the moon said. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome!” Emily said.
And from then on, every night after Emily was tucked into bed, she looked out her window and up at the night sky with a smile, knowing the moon was just as warm and cozy as she was.
-JLK
All episodes written, performed and produced by Jessica Laurel Kane, and the music was made by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.