Bedtime with Mrs.
Honeybee Today,
In the Honeybee neighborhood,
We'll be exploring outer space.
The moon?
All the way up there?
Well,
Kinda.
The moon doesn't seem to be where it usually is.
The moon has gone missing,
So we'll need to find it first.
I look at the moon every night while I fall asleep in the garden.
The moon is like my personal little nightlight.
It can't go missing.
I don't know how we're going to see without the moon.
You're right,
My dear.
I've got our special nightlight moon bright goggles.
With these,
We'll be able to see in the dark until we find the moon.
Oh,
That's right.
I'll go grab my nightlight moon bright goggles now.
All you have to do is close your eyes,
Get cozy,
And listen to the sound of my voice.
Mrs.
Honeybee will be your guide.
Let's begin.
You are here,
In the Honeybee neighborhood,
Walking up to our house.
The garage is open today,
And you see Mr.
Honeybee happily tinkering away at his workbench.
You wonder to yourself,
What fun prototypes he's working on today,
As you lightly tap on the little garage door so as not to scare him while he's focused.
Oh,
Hello there,
My little Honeybee.
How are you today?
While you chat with Mr.
Honeybee,
He hands you tools and random components to hold as he screws in the finished details of a little electronic in his hand.
From inside the house,
Harold hears your voice and runs out to greet you.
But he can't quite get through the screen door.
Melody Bee buzzes to his aid,
But she cannot quite work that door either.
Why are these doors so complicated?
Little Honeybee,
Can you help us get out?
We're so excited to see you.
We wish we could see you without this pesky screen door.
Like the good friend you are,
You walk over to the door to let Harold and Melody Bee out.
They dash out to greet you with big,
Squeezing hugs.
Then you all wander back to Mr.
Honeybee's workbench,
Where he's still trying to figure something out.
My satellite phone is down for some reason.
A satellite is the most reliable form of communication.
I use it all the time for my,
Um,
My,
Um,
Various projects.
Anyways,
It won't get a signal.
Hi,
My little Honeybee.
I thought I heard your voice out here.
So glad you made it today.
We're going to have to change our plans,
Though.
We can't have a movie night like planned.
The satellite TV doesn't seem to work.
Really?
My phone isn't working?
Hmm.
We might have to go up to the moon to make sure all the satellites are all right.
The moon?
I've never been to the moon.
I don't have an astronaut outfit.
Or a proper helmet.
Of course you do,
Melody Bee.
Yours is with ours in the hallway closet,
Next to your raincoat.
You just haven't had an occasion to use it yet.
Oh.
Whew.
Okay.
Let's go to the moon.
I was just kidding,
Melody Bee.
Wow.
This has been a rollercoaster.
I'm exhausted.
Maybe the satellites are just tired,
Too.
Maybe.
Oh well.
We'll wait and see if it's just a temporary outage.
Sometimes,
Space rocks get in the way of the signal.
Harold happily leads us back inside to gather up all the supplies we'll need for a backyard bonfire.
Since we can't watch your favorite movie like we were planning to tonight,
We can do the next best thing.
Tell stories around the fire.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Feel the coolness of the air coming in through your nose as your chest expands out round.
Then,
Slowly,
Use your belly muscles to breathe all the way out through your mouth and walk out to the backyard with Harold at your feet.
You do your best not to trip over him as he excitedly weaves between your footsteps,
Carrying his new favorite toy,
A snuggly teddy bear that's small enough for him to carry around with him.
The sun is beginning to set,
And the daytime sky is giving way to a deep,
Purple nighttime sky.
The stars begin to twinkle as you and Harold pick your spots around the fire and get yourselves situated.
Melody B busily gathers the graham crackers and chocolate,
While Mr.
Honey B gets the s'mores skewers.
I surprise everyone with mugs of hot tea,
Since we can already tell it's going to be a bit chilly out tonight,
Even though it's been warm during the day.
The sun tucks itself into her sleep behind the western mountains,
And we take turns telling stories.
Mr.
Honey B tells us a funny one from when he was a boy.
I tell a spooky story,
And everyone jumps when they least expect to.
Melody B reads a little poem she's been working on since she's been working on improving her rhymes.
Like we always do,
We have the best time doing the simplest things,
As long as we do them together.
Even when technology fails,
We still manage to have a blast.
Speaking of,
Should you try your satellite phone again to see if it's working yet?
Oh,
Good idea.
Mr.
Honey B goes back inside to grab his gadgets and returns pressing buttons frantically,
Holding the phone up to the sky to get a better signal.
Is it still not working,
Mr.
Honey B?
No,
Nothing.
I can't get it to register any kind of signal.
It's like it's completely shut off.
What if I point it right at the moon?
Wait,
Where's the moon?
Immediately,
We all look up to the darker than usual sky.
The only light we see are from the twinkling stars and the crackling bonfire.
We search and scan the entire sky,
Looking every which way for a sign or sliver of the silver moon,
But continue to see nothing.
Harold tries to help by howling.
Maybe the moon will come out of hiding if it knows someone is talking to it directly.
I've never seen a moon resist a howl before.
Is tonight a new moon,
Melody B?
No,
No,
Not at all.
The opposite,
Actually.
Tonight,
It should be a full moon.
Where did the moon go?
Well,
It couldn't have traveled far,
Right?
Can it travel at all?
Discontent with his own line of questioning,
Mr.
Honeybee rushes to his garage and returns rolling four massive telescopes with only two hands.
Our eyes widen with excitement.
We've never seen telescopes that big,
And now we're going to get to look through them.
The moon will never be able to hide from those,
And we'll get to see the planets and stars close up.
Take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Allow the fresh air to clear your mind like a nighttime breeze.
Then,
Slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and squint one of your eyes to take a peek through your telescope.
Look your telescope all the way to one side of the sky,
Then all the way to the other side.
You cannot see the moon anywhere.
I don't see our moon.
Do you,
My dear?
I don't.
I see plenty of twinkling stars,
A red planet,
And brownish one with rings.
Oh,
That's Mars.
And Saturn.
If you can find Jupiter,
That one has 79 moons.
There are so many moons,
They don't even all have names yet.
Hmm.
I see Mars,
Too.
And there's Saturn.
And Jupiter.
Wait a minute.
Doesn't Mars only have two moons?
Phobos and Deimos.
Yeah.
Well,
Those are their Greek names.
Technically,
They're named Fear and Terror,
But I promise they're friendlier than they seem.
Starting at fiery red Mars,
I count one,
Two,
Three moons.
One.
Two.
Oh,
My goodness.
You're right.
How did Mars get an extra moon?
I don't know if this is possible,
But look closely at the third moon.
The one that's further away?
That one looks familiar.
Don't you think?
It sure does.
Our Earth moon went to Mars.
Could that be why the satellite electronics don't work?
Definitely.
Yes.
What do we do now?
Will the moon ever come back?
I'm going to miss it so much if it doesn't.
It has to come back.
It just has to.
We have no choice but to.
.
.
Are you going to say what I think you're going to say?
Did you think I was going to say,
Go to Mars?
Yes,
I did.
Then,
Yes,
I was,
My dear.
Let's go to Mars.
Melody B needs to put her spacesuit she didn't know she had to good use.
A B of many firsts,
I am.
We all head to the hallway closet to suit up in our spacesuits.
While we're doing that,
Mr.
Honeybee calls us a rocket,
Which arrives in the blink of an eye.
One by one,
We board the rocket and prepare to launch into space.
You sit down at the controls between me and Mr.
Honeybee,
And Harold jumps up to sit in your lap.
As always,
We need your help with the launch.
This is the perfect time to do a rocket breath so we can build up enough kinetic energy to get all the way to Mars.
Clap your hands together once in front of you.
Then take a slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Rub your palms together to create enough heat to launch.
Then slowly breathe all the way out through your mouth and powerfully blow your hands away and us into space.
The rocket launches up into the stars and we hurtle through the atmosphere.
You successfully help us avoid a few meteors that are traveling by and are the first to spot our target up ahead.
Mars glows fiery red and you point it out to Harold,
Who instinctively howls at the Earth moon who is visiting Mars for a reason we will soon discover.
I always have a hard time finding Mars.
Bees can't see the color red.
I can see like 80 shades of blue,
But not one single red.
I've heard about it though,
And it sounds lovely.
You soak in the spectacular views of outer space surrounded by twinkling stars and each of the planets as we fly by.
As we approach,
Mars' redness dissipates into a fine dust that creates its color from far away.
We land on the dry,
Cracked surface and kick up even more dust as we do.
We hop out of the rocket and float slowly down to the dusty ground.
The two moons,
Which usually hang with Mars,
Spin around in quick succession.
Off in the distant Mars horizon,
We see our Earthly moon struggling to keep up with the pace of Phobos and Deimos.
When our Earth moon gets closer,
We get a running start as best as we can and leap over to our moon in its new orbit.
The moon is noticeably upset and has arranged its craters into an upside-down frown.
We can't help but sit with it and ask how we can help turn the frown upside down.
It's the least we can do.
After all the moon has done for us.
The moon goes on to explain that this is his least favorite part of the year.
The days are getting longer,
All sunshine all the time.
The moon doesn't like being hidden all the time and wants to shine down on Earth.
Since it didn't feel as appreciated as it thought the sun was,
The moon figured it would journey to Mars,
Thinking no one would even miss it.
What?
How could you say that?
I missed you so much,
Moon.
I talk with you every night,
And you're my nightlight most nights.
Think about it this way,
Moon.
The sun will feel like you're the star of the show come the next season,
When the days get shorter and the nights get longer.
Yes,
Dearest moon,
You are an important part of the solar system.
Though you may need to share the spotlight a little more than you'd like,
We love and appreciate you for what you do best.
Giving what we said careful consideration,
The Earth moon does another revolution around Mars,
Just to take a moment to think about things.
We hop back to Mars' dusty surface to give the moon some space,
And when it comes back around,
The frown has successfully righted itself.
The moon agreed to go back to be with the Earth because it realized the important role it plays in our lives.
And just you wait,
Moon.
There might be a lunar eclipse or two coming up.
You'll really be a sight to behold then.
We launch our rocket off of Mars and travel through outer space alongside our moon.
Once we get close enough to Earth,
We drop the moon off at its exit and continue on down to Earth.
As we approach the atmosphere,
We look back and marvel at our silver moon with a new appreciation of its beauty.
Always remember,
Mrs.
Honeybee believes in you.
You are special and you are loved.
I can't wait to see you again.
