Rollerblading on the Rings of Saturn by Petra Michelle (guided reading books .TXT) 📕

Copyright November 2009

~~~

Dedicated to my niece, Nicole, and her deceased mother and my sister, Jane.


“Hurrying, Zine! Missing it we will!" Zing, along
with his best friend, Zine, and at least a dozen others, rollerbladed at high speed, weaving around ice craters; their bodies jerking over the bumpy terrain as they skated towards a giant television screen. Zine was ahead as usual, Zing at his heels while the others huffed and puffed. All of Saturn seemed to be present. Thunderous applause rose from the Saturnites when a human male, speaking into a microphone, appeared on the screen. Zine and Zing sat between two others munching on ice cones.
“We will begin our live coverage of San Diego's annual rollerblading competition right after these messages.”
Zing turned to Zine. “Loving the competition to go, I would,” said Zing. Zine remained silent, staring ahead at the screen. Another turned to Zing.
“Finding us, putting us in an observation cell they will, for the rest of our living with what they are calling aliens.”
“Chancing, I would,” replied Zing. "Loving visiting Earth, I would."
Zine continued to stare ahead at the screen in silence while the spectators in San Diego cheered in unison with the Saturnites to watch the sport they adored.
***
“Saturn's atmosphere is primarily made up of hydrogen and helium,” explained Miss Withers to her class. As she walked to the side of her desk, she smiled. “I suppose everyone knows what helium is?” Most of the class nodded. “Well, for those of you who don't, Tommy will demonstrate.”
Tommy walked to Miss Withers' desk with a mischievous grin; gripping an untied, fully blown balloon between his fingers.
“Ready?”
He nodded, then inhaled. He held his breath as the class watched on in anticipation and stifled laughter.
“What is your name, young man?”
“Tommy Perkins,” he squeaked. While the class laughed and clapped, Miss Withers returned to the projection screen. “So, class, if we were to visit Saturn, we'd sound like a pack of mice.” Pointing to the rings of Saturn, “Does anyone know what this area between the rings is called?”
Nicole Gilbert glanced around her. Not a hand was raised. She hesitated, but slowly volunteered.
“Yes, Nicole.”
“Cassini's Division,” she replied in a Southern drawl.
“Very good. Thank you. It was named after Italian astronomer, Jean Dominique Cassini.” The bell rang. “Tomorrow, you'll be quizzed on the planets.”
The class raced to meet with friends. Nicole shuffled out, alone. Since she and her dad moved to Los Angeles a month earlier, she still had no friends. Some made fun of her accent, so she didn't say much and kept to herself.
Outside school, children of all sizes and ages rollerbladed passed. A teenager with long, blonde hair whizzed by with a younger boy trailing behind.
“Hey dude, wait up!”
And they make fun of the way I talk,

she thought, grimacing.
***
After homework, Nicole lay on her bed watching the planets rotate on her ceiling fan. She loved studying the planets and stars, and lamented the evenings spent with her parents admiring the sky, picking out the major constellations. When she heard the door slam downstairs, she skipped stairs to meet her father and jumped into his arms.
“Hi, pumpkin. How was school?”
She shrugged, then joined him in the kitchen to help prepare dinner. Since her mother's death five years earlier, her father meant everything. He was kind and gentle; an average-looking man, but to this twelve year-old, he was the most dashing.
“Dad?”
“Yes, pumpkin.”
“Dad, can I have a pair of rollerblades?” For some time she wanted them, though she didn't know how to skate. She hoped they might help her to fit in.
“Why not. Maybe I'll get a pair, too.” Nicole laughed as she set the table.
***
The following day after school, Nicole ran upstairs into her bedroom and collected her rollerblades and protective gear. She hurried out of the house, sat on the stairs, and set the bundle beside her. She slid her feet into each skate, snapped the purple buckles into place, and once her elbows, knees, and head were protected with pads and helmet, she cautiously stood up.
Immediately, her feet slipped out from under her, offering no support as she fell onto the cement walkway. The fall, not only painful, stunned her. She reached for the fence and pulled herself up. Releasing one hand, she inhaled, then released the other. Again, she fell.
What felt like hours were fifteen minutes. She held onto the fence and crawled back to the steps. She tugged at the buckles of her skates and yanked them off. She slowly climbed the stairs to her bedroom, removing her helmet.
I feel like I've been thrown by a horse.

She tossed her gear, then herself, onto the bed. She stared up at Saturn as it turned round with the rest of the planets.
Suddenly, a warm golden glow spread throughout her room. She bolted upright. Owwww, not so fast,

she reminded herself. After glancing around her room, Maybe there's a fire nearby.

She dragged herself to the window and beheld a sheer, golden cloud hovering around the house. Through the cloud she observed hundreds of rings and a disc.
It looks exactly like Saturn,

she gasped, nearly falling out the window to get a better look. Then, as mysteriously as it appeared, it disappeared. Nicole's excitement turned to fear. She ran out.
“Dad, dad!”
Stepping out of the bathroom, “What is it?”
“Dad, I saw...” Abruptly she stopped. How could I have seen Saturn?

“What did you see?”
“Um...I didn't see anything,” she laughed, nervously. “Time for a snack.”
He studied her as she disappeared into the kitchen.
It was nothing. Just too much homework

was her only explanation. She poured a glass of milk and dunked an Oreo. She walked back up to her bedroom, entering apprehensively.
***
At twelve o'clock midnight, Nicole was wide awake and aching. However, more prevalent on her mind was the image hovering around the house. And in that moment, what she had seen earlier, again appeared.
It's beautiful,

is all she thought. Strangely, she felt calm. The warm glow surrounded her, then seemed to beckon. She walked to the window. In the dark, the rings shimmered. They were so sheer, she could see her neighbors' houses. But more astonishingly, she saw something wave to her.
Upon closer scrutiny, she saw creatures... rollerblading? They were of every shape and size. A tall, purple, one-eyed thing; a short, chubby, hairy thing; a green, double-headed with antennae thing. There were dozens of them, laughing as they rollerbladed round and round the rings.
The one which waved to her, a black, striped, cat-looking thing, gestured for her to join them. She quickly turned away; not frightened, but to assure herself that her room was as it always had been for fear of having lost her senses. When she returned to the window, the black, striped, cat-looking thing was sitting on the windowsill. She jumped back.
“Who are you?”
“Zing, naming my name is. And you are naming, Nicole, am I correct?”
Nicole stood mute. How did it know my name?

“Wanting to rollerblade?” it asked.
She nodded, not really knowing why.
“Rollerblading with us, Nicole?”
“I...I don't know how,” she replied, surprised at her response. Yet, she didn't feel threatened by this seemingly harmless and friendly creature.
“Showing you, I will,” offered Zing. “Wearing your skates, Nicole.”
She glanced at her skates, then returned to Zing. It offered its furry paw. Any fear was displaced with excitement and anticipation. Nicole quickly put on her skates and sat next to Zing, her feet dangling over the sill. When she looked down, she saw her backyard, and instinctively grabbed Zing's paw.
“Jumping, we will.”
Nicole panicked. “Jump? Where?”
“Looking down, do not. Jumping now.”
She took in a deep breath, closed her eyes, and felt Zing's paw guiding her when she jumped. She wasn't falling, but gliding. To her amazement, she was rollerblading along the ring. Ice droplets kissed her face. She couldn't remember the last time she laughed this hard. Realizing the time,
“I don't want to, but I should be getting home.”
“Meeting my friends, you will? Tomorrow?”
“Yes, yes, Zing! I'd love to!”
Before she could say good night, Zing and the glow disappeared.
***
At midnight, the golden glow and Zing reappeared, and Nicole was ready to join it. They jumped onto the ring and glided toward its friends.
“Waiting my friends, to meeting you.”
“I can't wait!”
Its fellow Saturnites were playing bumper skates when they arrived, and laughed gleefully at their arrival.
“Naming Boofa.” Boofa was chubby and laughed heartily.
“Naming Hork.” Hork seemed asymmetrical, but perhaps it was the mist causing the optical illusion.
“Naming Zine, best friend.” It was uncanny. Zine looked so human; not at all like the others. Actually, he was more like herself; slim, with sad, blue eyes, except taller and a few years older. Zine glanced at her then skated away.
“Grinding!” declared Zing, and off the group skated, bumping into and falling onto one another playfully.
When it was time to go home, the Saturnites waved to Nicole, except for Zine who stood staring at her.
“He doesn't like me very much, does he?” Nicole whispered to Zing.