Space Station Rat Read Online Free

She typed:
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Re: YOU WROTE BACK!!!!!
    I am slow writing. Don’t worry if answers take time. I am your pen pal now. But are we really spinning on the end of a rope? Isn’t that noisy? Don’t you get sick? I love Swiss cheese. Can you get that in space?
    The peanut butter made her thirsty. Too bad there was no milk. Rat went to find some ice to lick. The boy had come and gone by the time Rat returned.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: no rope
    Silly! There is no rope. That was an analogy. And there can’t be noise in space. Outside is a vacuum—just black without air. Sometimes I worry about the black getting in. This place is so old, it creaks!!
    I have a space suit. I know how to put it on. It’s like trying to get into two snowsuits at once! My dad and I are going to do a space walk sometime.
    Hey! Do you have snow where you live? I used to go sledding all the time.
    You forgot to say your name.
    The boy forgot to answer about Swiss cheese, too. But he brought a cheese sandwich the next time he checked his mail, so Rat did get her answer.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: no snow
    Sledding sounds fun. Creaking is scary. I don’t have a space suit or a snowsuit. I have never been outside in all my life. I want to feel grass between my toes someday.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: WEIRD!
    How come you’ve never been outdoors? Are you in prison? Is that why you won’t tell me your name? I don’t think I can write anymore if you are in prison.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Re: WEIRD!
    I am not in prison. I am free . I am unusual, that’s all. Please keep writing. I like having a pen pal.
    My favorite food is liverwurst.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: sorry
    Liverwurst— yuck! Chocolate for me!
    Sorry I made you mad. I like having a pen pal, too. Here is my picture. Can you send me your picture?
    Rat did not need the boy’s picture. She could see him in person, with chocolate smeared on his face. Rat relaxed. She had not been careful. She had told too much truth. But the boy was willing to ignore the strangeness. Lucky for Rat.
    When Nanny took the boy to family time, Rat went to work with the painting program on the computer. She mixed Windsor violet, cobalt blue, and alizarin crimson in a square color block. She pressed her paw against the screen, comparing the color of her fur to the square. It needed some lemon yellow. She adjusted the tint and hue, and added a little Payne’s gray. Good enough. Too bad she did not know how to capture the wonderful sheen of the living hairs. She pasted the color square in a new e-mail and typed:
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: no picture
    I cannot send my picture. But I am very beautiful. I have a lavender coat with white cuffs. Here is how it looks.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: Are you a girl?
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: no
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: silly
    Well, boys aren’t beautiful, silly. Boys are handsome.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: maybe
    Maybe. But I am beautiful!
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Subject: FAT
    You should see the captain. He’s not handsome or beautiful. He’s fat ! I’ll never get fat. I have to exercise four times a day. No one else has to. I am in the way, that’s why. They would keep me in the gym all day if they could! Remember in and out ? All the way in , at the very center, there’s no gravity. The zero-g room is there. I can fly and do all kinds of flips and things. It’s like bouncing off a trampoline, but you never come down!! I would stay in the