Higher and higher! 
 

HIGHER AND HIGHER!

HIGHER AND HIGHER!

The Big Spotty Ball almost reached the top of the door.

Then it reached the top of the fence

Then it reached the top of the tree in the garden.

Every day Lucas kicked it higher and higher.

‘Dad! Mum!’ Lucas said, ‘Suppose I kick my ball SO high, it hits the Moon?’

Mum laughed.

‘Do you want to do that, Lucas?

‘Nooo.   Not really.  The ball might hurt the Moon.’

‘I don’t think you will do that, Lucas.’ Dad said. ‘And’ he added, ‘Don’t worry. It will always come down again.  That’s the Law of Gravity’.

Lucas stared.  ‘What’s that?’

Dad said, ‘The Law of Gravity says: what goes up MUST come down.’  

‘So my ball would always come down even though it went as high as the Moon?’

‘Right!’ said Dad.

‘Even though it hits the Moon?’ asked Lucas.

‘That is MOST unlikely.’ said Dad.  

Lucas kicked the ball higher than he’d ever kicked it before.  

Every time he kicked the ball up in the air, it still came down.

UNTIL

 Late in the afternoon Lucas gave the ball his biggest kick yet.  The ball went high into the sky, and it got smaller and smaller and smaller, until it was only a speck in the sky.

It went flying towards the Moon which was just beginning to shine.

‘Oh no!’ shouted Lucas.  ‘I can’t see my ball any longer.’

But the Moon could.

The ball got closer and closer, and the Moon watched.  The Moon put out his short hands to try to catch the ball.

WHANGGGGGGG – the ball hit the Moon.

Lucas looked up into the sky.  

He could see the Moon, and just beside the Moon, was a big moving spot.

Could that be his ball, Lucas wondered.

As he watched, the Moon seemed to shiver.

What happened, Lucas asked himself?

The spot fell, down and down and down.

Until it got near Lucas’s garden, and he could see it was his big spotty ball.

It landed with a huge thump on Lucas’s head.

Lucas thought he could see the Moon cry.

The Moon moved – fast.

It moved behind a cloud.

He shouted.   “Moon! I’m sorry!’

But the Moon didn’t come back.

‘Dad!’ shouted Lucas, ‘It’s gone.  There’s no Moon in the sky.’

Dad laughed.  ‘There’s always a Moon in the sky.  Sometimes it’s a big round Moon, sometimes it’s a little tiny Moon, and sometimes you can’t see it because it’s cloudy.  But the Moon will be there.’

‘Look again later.’

When it was dark, Lucas peered through the window, and then ran outside to look more carefully.

There was no Moon.

‘I’ve hit the Moon.’ He cried.  He was very worried.

The night was very dark.

There was no bright golden Moon.

There were stars twinkling in the sky

But there was no Moon.

Next day, Lucas said “I have to find out how the Moon is.’

Mum said ‘You can’t do that .’

Dad said ‘It’s too far away.  Too high up.’

Lucas looked at them thoughtfully, then turned and ran through the front door.

He ran down the street until he came to his grandfather’s house.

‘Granpa! Granpa!  Please can I borrow your ladder? The very very big one. And please will you hold the bottom for me while I climb up?’

‘Of course I will,’ said Granpa.  ‘Why do you want to climb up the very big 

ladder?’

‘Because I want to say Sorry, Moon I didn’t mean to hit you with my spotty ball.’

‘A very good idea,’ said Granpa, and he led the way to the shed in the back garden.

He opened the door and pulled out an enormous ladder.

Together, he and Lucas pulled it into the garden, and Granpa wedged the legs of the ladder into the earth so it wouldn’t fall down.

He pushed and pushed upwards and the top of the ladder slid up until Lucas thought it would never stop.