Flash Fiction: Old Ladies, Cats and Space

My first flash fiction prompt

While writing an autobiography, an old lady with twenty cats joins the first manned mission to Mars.

Prompt from:

Stop Writing Alone

February 2

old lady in space

Chapter 78

The Final Chapter

Unlike most biographies or memoirs, I don’t expect to be around much after I type these words. In most, you see lessons about what we’ve learned or wisdoms of life to share. But the only thing I can share is this…

Money can buy a lot of things.

When you have a lot of money, access becomes such a commodity it has greater value than money.

When you have the most money, you can demand a spot on the first manned mission to Mars.

Photo by Tatiana Balletti on Unsplash

Oh yes, at first, I was told, “No.” At first, there were my accountants and the board of my company who didn’t say no, per se. They advised against it, even though I owned SpaceLines, the private space exploration company I began just for this purpose. I built the company up from taking celebrities up celebrities to earning contracts to launch telecommunications satellites.

There were the scientists and professional astronauts who thought my insistence of my trip to Mars was fueled by ego and arrogance. I answered them, “Hell Yeah!” I earned all my money by being smart and taking risks that worked in my favor because of my diligent work and research.

Politicians got in on the denial tour, even making jokes on the campaign trails. I just stopped donating money to them. That was fine with me. It allowed me to pour money into my own campaign to make this once-in-a-lifetime trip.

They all thought I was joking when I shared my desire to build a company to take me to Mars. They thought I was speaking in hypothetical, making it so easy and safe than an 80-year-old woman could make the three-year trek to the red planet. There was a good chance I would’t make it back. But they didn’t take me seriously.

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

I fully expect to die on this trip. But if I wanted to spend my final years spending them in the same place I lived all of my life, I would. But why have all of this money only to be told No. As I finish this chapter today and head to the lauch pad tomorrow, I am ready to make life in space my final memory.

When my body sags, my bones brittle, and solid foods become more of a challenge, isn’t space the best place to be? Weightlessness, Jello, and floating around is the best environment for this aging vessel. Maybe my journey will be boon for retirement colonies in space.

But I do have one regret about leaving. I don’t care about leaving my company, my family and my wealth. Yet, saying goodbye to my cats breaks my heart. I’ve seen them all be born. At a count of 20, I will miss their purrs and their demands as I wake in space. I’ll not have the delight to have their companionship around the space vessel. Their indifference will be missed, replaced by the whines and immaturity of my fellow crew members.

They say money can’t buy you happiness, but you can go to Mars if you have enough!