Smartystan

Go looked out of his window. He then left his house and he peered upward at the moon using his highly advanced telescope. The glowing orb, because of its reflection of the sun's rays, excited him. They took him away in a sense, then brought him back to reality, all in a swift motion. He knew he could only contain himself by breathing in a regulated way. The knowledge of the lunar landings and this future trip to Mars invigorated his senses.

Chanda walked down the path of the garden to see him staring into the telescope.

“Your mom asked––”

“Shh, shh, shh,” Go hushed his girlfriend.

Chanda stopped and then turned around. She looked at him with a bit of curiosity mixed with longing. She walked back up the path. Go wrote down calculations into his mobile device. He rejoiced. He had made different inputs on his own and then matched them to what the coordinates on the telescope showed. He turned around.

“Now what was––” he looked for Chanda who had disappeared and returned to the house. He saw her sitting at the kitchen island tapping away on her own mobile device.

“What did you say about my mother?” he asked.

“She wants to see more of you. She wants to be around you more. There are activities she wishes to take part in with you and me.”

“Oh. Okay. I’ll video chat with her, then.”

“Vestin, it’s more than that. You’ve been working so hard and you’ve been obsessed with that telescope. I know you want to go to Mars so bad. I get it. But you’ve got to realize it’s taking a toll on your family. Did you ever realize that there really were no lunar landings? It was all faked.”

“What did you say?” Go asked incredulously.

“I mean even if it did happen, people have reservations.”

“I’m not worried about people. I care and love my mother and you. So I thought.”

“I don’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s about the truth. Of course there were lunar landings. What do you think the whole thing was filmed in some basement studio in Hollywood?”

“Like I said, even if it were real, nobody really cares.”

“I care. Only when disaster and calamity come to this country do we band together. This was a world event. Why don’t we ever enjoy and celebrate the major achievements which take place in the names of reason and science?”

“I know what you’re saying. I wish for that, too. The reality is that given all of the collapse of the country and Smartystan standing as the chief and only country-state around, we cannot entertain such ideas as space exploration.”

Chanda looked down at her phone and then set it aside. She clasped her hands almost as if in a prayer posture.

“I don’t think you do. I’m saying this is the moment for me, when I embark on that rocket on a mission to Mars, I will have fulfilled a childhood dream. It will be a wonderful experience.”

“I’m glad for you and I’m wishing you the best of luck, however, we’ve got problems down here on Earth both personal and nationwide. And your mother––”

“My mother? Is this what all of this is about? She’s been trying to control my life ever since I can remember. Everything she does is to denigrate me and throw aspersions at me like darts,” he fumed.

“Don’t talk about your mother that way.”

“I will. I mean I love her to death, but I’m a grown man with my own businesses making it under the Declaration 2.0,” he asserted.

Chanda looked about the pristine kitchen and a synth prepared a meal for them. She gazed at her boyfriend. Something in her glance at him made him simmer. He walked closer to her.

“I’m glad that you and my mother communicate. I am happy about the fact you two get along so well. We can’t do this, though…fight with my mother over conspiracisms about the lunar landing, fight about the weather, just don’t fight with me involved.”

Chanda’s face looked empty. It was like a shovel had unearthed the life from her visage. She peered at him. “Vest’ if you want to let her know all of this, why don’t you say it then?”

“Do you know how many times I’ve tried. It’s worse than a brick wall. Brick walls don’t hit you over the head with a chūkanabe”?

Chanda’s face remained straight, placid. She didn’t want to incite the ire of Go.

“If you just take the time to visit her again, you’ll be fine. All you have to do is patch up a few things and you’ll be set,” Chanda appealed to Go’s sense of reconciliation.

“I may go over there, but she knows that I am officially unafraid of her. I will not just take it all in and suffer and possibly develop ulcers dealing with her.”

Chanda kept looking at him. She was lasering in on his soul through the slight twitches of his face. She wanted to leap into the air and hug him and kiss him and tell him everything would be all better if he just saw his mother.

Go returned the glance to Chanda. “When I finally get my shot at going to Mars, it will be an exquisite example of my independence and ability to take care of myself. I know the dangers and the probabilities. I don’t care. I’m doing it anyway. Reason is on my side. Every calculation demonstrates that it will be a successful mission. My mom is just worried that she won’t be at the controls like she’s been my entire life. That doesn’t matter, though. I’m going to be propelled off of this rock onto the red rock. She will just have to live with that.”

Chanda stood up and walked closer to Go. She smirked. “I think I can definitively say there actually was a lunar landing. And with you headed even further away makes me want to kiss you.”

They embraced.