I’d Like a Latte Please

“I can’t decide between my blue shorts or my gray ones.”

Connor looked over from his duffle bag on the other side of the bed. “You only have room for one?”

“You’re right, I’ll just take both. I like both of them. Why not?!”

“Again, I don’t even know if we’ll need all this stuff once we get there. I’m still imagining that they’ll have cool space suits for us.” Connor had spent the entire weekend dreaming of what their life would be like. He wondered about what they would eat, where they would live, if they would still go to school.

“I hope so, these clothes that mom buys for us have always fit kind of weird.”

Connor and Brady had been packing in secret for the past few days, keeping their duffle bags under their beds to avoid being caught by their parents. The rocket launch to Apollo was scheduled for the next day, and the anticipation was peaking.

Brady finished tucking the shorts into his bag and then looked at Connor with apprehension. “This feels so crazy. Are we really doing this?”

“I know, now that we’re about to get out of here, I’m starting to feel like this place isn’t so bad. It’s weird to think that we might never see it gain.”

“Yeah, this could be our last night here.” Brady looked around the room and Connor joined him. They had lived in this room for their entire lives, ever since they were adopted.

“Do you think Mom and Dad will miss us?” Connor asked.

“Of course they will. They’ll probably be so sad.”

“Should we leave them a note or something? Mom always leaves us a note when she’s going to be gone.”

“That’s a good idea,” Brady said. “What do we even tell them though? Sorry, we left for a different planet and we’ll never be back, bye?”

“Basically, yeah!” Connor laughed.

Brady went to their desk and pulled out a piece of notepaper and a pen. He scribbled a note:

Dear Mom and Dad,

We are going away for a little while, we found a flight that we just couldn’t miss. We hope you understand. You’ve been really good parents.

Brady + Connor

“There! That should do it,” Brady exclaimed.

“That’s devastating.” Connor replied flatly.

Brady looked up to Connor. “Really?” He looked back at the note and read it back to himself. “Okay, maybe it is.”

“It’s fine. They’re going to be so confused anyway.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how else to say it.”

“I can’t believe that they never told us about Apollo. They have to know about it, right?”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s a secret to them too.”

“If they knew about it this whole time and kept it from us, I don’t think I could ever forgive them.”

Brady wasn’t so easily convinced. “I can’t believe that they’d keep something so big from us.”

“I do. They know that we get bullied, and they haven’t even done anything about it.”

“That’s true. Well, I guess we’ll never know.”

They returned to their duffle bags and finished packing up their belongings. That night, they each had trouble falling asleep, staring at the ceiling, their minds buzzing with what was coming.

---

The next morning, Connor and Brady got up and got ready for school like any other day. They didn’t want to be found out. They grabbed their backpacks and duffle bags and headed out to get on the school bus.

At school, they went out to the city bus stop and got on the next bus for downtown. Once they arrived, they transferred to train 19.

The trip to Atlanta took them several hours, and they nervously watched the countryside go by outside. They hadn’t brought any entertainment with them, and they were too nervous to talk, so the ride passed in relative silence.

Once they arrived at the airport, they got off of the train and started walking to look for gate 91.

“All the gates have a letter before the number. Why doesn’t 91 have a letter?” Connor said.

“You’re right, that’s weird. Does it even exist?” Brady replied.

“Maybe we need to go somewhere different to find it. Like a different floor, or a different building or something.”

Brady pursed his lips. “If I was gate 91, where would I be?”

And that’s when they saw it. Right in the middle of the airport, with people hurrying past, was a coffee kiosk. Called Apollo Coffee.

“I think that’s it,” Brady said matter-of-factly, staring straight ahead.

After inspecting the kiosk, Connor replied, “It can’t be that easy, can it? Also, that’s a coffee place, where’s the gate at?”

“Maybe we have to order something?”

Connor smirked. “You might be on to something.”

They approached the kiosk, waited in line for a few minutes, and then approached the cashier. That was when Brady noticed a new item on the digital menu. A Gate 91 Latte.

“What can I get you boys?” the cashier asked.

“Um… can we have the Gate 91 latte please?” Brady asked.

“Of course, sweetie, we’ll have that ready for you in just a moment.”

“Don’t I owe you something?”

“Nope, that one’s on the house.”

“Oh, thank you.”

They went to the pickup counter and waited for the drink. Brady looked back up the menu, and noticed that the Gate 91 latte was gone.

“I think that this coffee shop has magical properties,” he said to Connor.

“I hope it makes a decent latte too,” he replied.

At this, a woman appeared from behind the kiosk. “Connor and Brady? Right this way.” She gestured for them to follow her. Connor and Brady exchanged a look and followed her.

Behind the kiosk was a nondescript door, and the woman led them through it. Brady thought that it was sort of crazy for them to be following a stranger into a hidden door at an airport, but she had known their names.

Inside the door was a small room with an elevator in it. The three of them got into the elevator and it automatically took off. They dropped quickly, and soon the door opened to another small room. There, double doors opened to reveal a small shuttle car. They all got in and sat down. The woman still hadn’t said anything more, and it was beginning to make Connor and Brady curious.

“Where are we going?” Connor asked.

“We’ll be there soon,” the woman replied.

“I guess we’re not going to get that latte,” Connor said, mostly to himself.

The shuttle took off and moved in a straight line quickly. There were windows, but it was nothing but black through them. Connor assumed that they must be underground. After a few minutes, the shuttle began to slow and then came to a halt. The doors slid open, revealing a small, nondescript hallway.

The woman led them out of the shuttle, down the hall, and towards a door. Both Connor and Brady began to feel the weight of what was happening. They couldn’t see anything, but it felt as though everything was vibrating, and there was a low hum. It matched the feeling in their hearts.

At the end of the hall, the woman opened the door, and then they were in a small cargo space. At the end of the room, there was a door, which appeared to lead to the rocket.

Next to the door was a man holding a tablet, and he waved Connor and Brady forward.

As they approached, he asked, “Names?”

“Brady and Connor,” Brady replied.

Them man tapped on his tablet, and then sighed. He tapped on it a bit more, and then said, “I’m afraid that there’s no one in here by that name.”

Connor and Brady’s hearts sank. To have come this far and be denied entry would be crushing. They looked at each other nervously.

Connor spoke up next. “What about Connor and Brady?” he asked.

The man tapped on his screen again, swiped up and down a bit, and then lit up as he said, “Ah! Here you are. Okay, you’re all checked in.”

Brady stood aghast. What kind of operation was this, that doesn’t even know how to check in two people at the same time? he thought.

Next, the man pressed a button on the door behind him, and it slid open to reveal an inner cargo space in the rocket. It was dark, and full of crates and other contraptions. “Right this way,” he motioned.

“Thank you,” Connor replied, more confidently than he felt.

Inside, they looked around, and noticed that there was a row of seats in the corner. They were attached to the wall with wires, and had a helmet sitting on the seat of two of them. Brady’s feeling of confidence slid even farther. Were they going to survive this trip, he wondered.

The man walked them over to the seats and helped them get on their helmets. He reached behind each of them to bring a seat belt around each of them, securing it tightly around their waist.

“Okay, are you ready?” asked the man.

Brady looked up at him with apprehension in his face. “I guess so,” he said.

Connor nodded and said, “Yeah, we’re ready.”

“Okay, good, because launch is in…” The man glanced down at his tablet. “About 50 seconds.”

“Oh!” was Brady’s reply.

Before they had a moment to comprehend what was happening, the man left and closed the door behind him. The pressure in the cabin adjusted, and the lights went out. The room was completely dark.

“Well this is terrifying,” Brady said.

“Yeah, I think we’re pretty far from first class on this trip.”

“How can you be making jokes right now?” Brady asked.

“Well, we’re about to launch off the face of the earth, possibly never to return. I’m not sure how else to act.”

“You got me there.”

As the countdown got closer and closer to zero, the rocket vibrated more intensely. Connor and Brady sat in silence as they waited for launch. They each wondered how much longer it would be.

Ten seconds later, the rocket took off.