Meow-Kitty and Bu-Dog were despondent when they were turned away from the human school.  They skulked home, pushed through the pet door and went up to the Human Pup's room.  His clothes were all over the floor.  Meow-Kitty curled up on a pile of them and went to sleep.  In the meantime, Bu-Dog sat reading one of the Human Pup's books.  Soon he was poking Meow-Kitty to wake up.

"What do you want?  Can't you see I'm trying to sleep."  Her tail twitched.

"Shut up, Meow-Kitty.  It says in this book that humans can travel into space in rockets."  He put his paw on the page so that it wouldn't snap shut.

"That's nice."  Her eyes were half closed.  Soon they were completely closed.

"Hey, guess what?"  He was poking her in the side with his paw.

"What?"

"I have my own rocket."

"Where is it?"

"Behind the garage."

"Show me." Meow-Kitty got up off her little nest, rear legs first, front legs second.  She stretched.

"No.  Not until you pack your bag for space.  And be sure to pack some lunches for us.  We have to go immediately.  No time to waste.  I want to be back in time for dinner.  I heard the Human Bitch say we were having meatloaf."

Meow-Kitty went down to the kitchen and collected some fish heads, and some dog biscuits,  and a delicious piece of salami rind from the trash.  She came back up the stairs, where Bu-Dog was wearing his blue sweater.

"Now, put on your space uniform."

When Meow-Kitty put on her cape, the two went downstairs, through kitchen,  and through the pet door in the back of the house.  They crept along the garage wall until they reached the rocket.

"Does your rocket have a name?"

"Yeah."

"Well?"

"Frig-i-dare."

"That's a dumb name."

"I didn't pick it.  It was written on the side.  I think it means 'courage.'"

They crawled into the rocket.  Meow-Kitty sniffed around curiously.  It smelled a little bit like food.  Soon she settled into the place Bu-Dog pointed out, a little space between two wire walls.  Bu-Dog walked around the outside of the rocket,  checked all of its parts, and then he climbed inside.

"So what happens now,  Bu-Dog?"

"I'll just pull the door shut, and then we'll take off."

So he reached up, and with all his might, he pulled the door of the spaceship closed.  It seated with a satisfying thud.  Now the spaceship was dark inside.  Meow-Kitty became a little bit afraid.  "Aren't there any lights?"

"No.  We have to save power for the flight."

Their journey was long.  At first, it did not seem like anything was happening.   After what seemed like a few hours, the spaceship became very hot.  Meow-Kitty was starting to see the stars.  "So pretty!"  The only problem was that the spaceship was stuffy, and Meow-Kitty was having a little trouble breathing.

"Why is it so hot?  Is there air conditioning?"

"Simple, Meow-Kitty.  It's hot because we're close to the Sun.  And we can't turn on the air conditioning because you'll get sick like last summer when the Human Dog turned it on."

A short time later,  Meow-Kitty started to get dizzy.  "Why is everything turning?"

"That's because we're weightless and your inner ears are disturbed."  He had read than in another one of the Human Pup's books, the one called "Science."

"Can we eat lunch now?"

"No.  We have to save it for the moon."  Bu-Dog was beginning to slur his words.

Then they blacked out.  The next thing they knew,  the door to the spaceship was opening.  They looked out into the bright light.  Were they on the moon?  The Human Bitch picked both of them up by their collars.  The Human Pup was standing nearby.

"Who put these poor animals in the refrigerator?"

* * * * *

Undeterred by their incomplete space mission, the animals regrouped.  Meow-Kitty and Bu-Dog continued to read the rocket book,  taking turns looking at the pictures.  Meow-Kitty explained what was in the pictures, because they just looked like grey blobs to Bu-Dog.

Later that day,  looking for cookies on the desk, Bu-Dog noticed an envelope.  It had a circle with a line through it.  There were four letters: N-A-S-A.  They matched the shape of one of the pictures in the book.  Bu-Dog shredded the envelope open with his teeth.  Out fluttered out a thin piece of paper on which it was written:

"So what does it mean, Bu-Dog?"

"It means that we've selected to go to into space with the humans."

"Where are they going?"

"To the night sun, which they call the mooo-ooon."

"Where is their spaceship?"

"According to the book, the flights start at the place of the human rockets."

"Where's that?"

"Ca Pay Can Na Veral."

"Never heard of it."

Neither had any of the truck drivers they tried to hitch rides with.  Eventually, they found one who knew the place.  His name was Luis, and he was very friendly.  They lept up into the cab and spent the next four days bouncing up and down and being very car sick.  The human food that Luis ate, which he shared with them, made them even more sick.  At the end of the drive, the animals tumbled out of the truck door and onto the street.

"What does that sign say?"

"Ke Ne Dee Space Sen Ter"

It was very quiet.  The sun was shining, and it was very warm and humid.  The wind blew across a field of tall grass.  Geese floated around in a big swampy area.  In the distance, they could see a big red tree with a big white tree next to it.  They started walking along the path to the big trees.  Suddenly, Meow-Kitty heard a voice.

"Hey you!"

"Us?"  Meow-Kitty was puzzled.

"Stay away from the road.  Dangerous." Out of the weeds crept a badger.  "Trucks and cars kill animals."

"Oh.  Thanks. I know."

They plodded along.  Eventually they came to a large brick building.  Bu-Dog strained to read the word on it.  "Administration."  It smelled like food.   The two were very hungry.  They crept around the building looking for a way in.  Finally, they found an open door near the garbage cans.  They wandered inside.  Where was Dr. Wiley?  When they couldn't find him, even looking in all the doors and trying to make out the names on those doors, they helped themselves to the lunch of one of the humans.  There were  some sardines in there, but Meow-Kitty really hated the bananas.

A few minutes after their arrival, when they were thoroughly bored, they walked back out of the building and headed down the road.  The next building was on the right.  It read, "Life Sciences."  This time the front door was propped open, and they walked right in.  It smelled like there were other animals in there.  They followed the scent and came to a room with cages in it.  Each cage contained a monkey.  The leader monkey spoke.

"Hello little ones.  Why are you here?"

They had to think about it for a minute.

"We're here to go to space." Bu-Dog volunteered.

"You are going to space?"  The monkey was puzzled.

"Yep.  Says so on this Contrack."  He opened his mouth and dropped the paper on the floor.  "Says, 'together we will travel into space.'"

"So you're trying to take our jobs?"

Meow-Kitty was quick.  "No, we are doing your job for you.  You'll still get treats."

"Oh."

"Where can we find Doctor Wiley?"  Meow-Kitty was getting bored.

"He's in the building called 'Launch Control.'"

"Thanks."

Just as she was saying this, a man in a white  uniform came in.  Without even thinking, Bu-Dog lunged at him and knocked him down.  Meow-Kitty jumped on his chest, pulled out her claws and began sharpening them on his jacket.  He looked very uncomfortable.

"Take us to Doctor Wiley." Bu-Dog snarled.

The man was so scared that he had no choice but to obey.  He led them to the building called Launch Control.  As they approached, they saw that the white tree was a human space ship.  The man let them in the front door and told them that Doctor Wiley's office was on the second floor.  They scampered up the steps and slowly read each name.  When they saw one that started with a W, they pushed it open and went inside.  An old man with a beard and a pipe sat reading some kind of magazine.

"Doctor Wiley, we're here to report for our space mission," Bu-Dog announced triumphantly.

"You are?"

"We are.  It says here you have to take us into space.  See, it says on this Contrack."

Bu-Dog dropped the certificate on the desk.  It was very blurry because it was wet,  and there were holes from Bu-Dog's teeth.

"Together we will journey into space."  He had read this so many times on the trip that he had memorized it perfectly.

"Wait a second, that's not what it says."

"That's what it says." Bu-Dog was the half of the pair who could read.

"Should I shred that report you are working on?"  Meow-Kitty glared.

"No, no.  You don't want to go into space.  It's no place for animals.  It's a place for people and monkeys."

"Species-ist!  Space is for everybody."  She was indignant.

He frowned.

"It's cold.  You have to wear special suits."

"We have fur."

"And you owe us." Bu-Dog added.  "What does N-A-S-A stand for anyway?  No Animals Space Allowed?"

Doctor Wiley's eyes lit up.

"How about if you forget about this space adventure, I will give each of you a space pillow and blanket."

"No.  Get our rocket ready."  Bu-Dog was intent.

From out of his desk, Doctor Wiley pulled two small pillows and two blankets.  They were blue, with a special red arrow and N-A-S-A.

"Look, animals, you can have this instead of going into space."  He put the pillows down on the ground.   Meow-Kitty and Bu-Dog had not slept for days.  The pillows and blankets were so inviting.  The animals curled up on them.   They were so soft and so warm. 

"Okay,"  Meow-Kitty mumbled.  Within minutes they were fast asleep.  Doctor Wiley scooped them up and put them in a box with their pillows and blankets.  He put the box on a truck headed for the address on Bu-Dog's collar.

A few days later,  by the time their new bedding smelled a little bit like pee-pee, Meow-Kitty and Bu-Dog would tell their friends about their great space adventure.  They had been to the night sun.  And they had the space blankets and pillows to prove it.  It was very warm on the night sun, but there was nothing to do and no other animals.  So they had come back.  The other animals sat in rapt attention and listened to the stories about the big cheese and the humans who lived on the night sun.  And when the other animals asked what their blankets and pillows said, they said,

"Nice Animal Sleep Area."