Reading the Dice

Story 9: A Flight to Remember

Dice Roll: turtle, fish, sheep, airplane, eye, moon, speech bubble, scales, question mark

Freddy the fish happily jumped out of his pond, flipping and twirling through the air, before diving back down below the water.

A giant, dark eye appeared just above the water's surface.

Freddy swam up and burst through, causing his friend to jump back quickly. "Sandy!" Freddy grinned. He saw their other friend standing by Sandy's hooves. "Bartholomew! Long time to no see, buddy!"

Sandy shook some water droplets from her fleecy head. "Something's got you excited, Freddy. What's up?"

"Yeah; you're not usually dancing over the waves until almost dinner time. I hadn't even emerged from my shell yet," Bartholomew added. "What's got you so happy this morning?"

"I got my test scores from the exam!" Freddy exclaimed. "I got my pilot's license!"

"Woohoo!" Sandy bleated.

"Congrats, buddy!" Bartholomew added.

Freddy did a few more celebratory flips.

"So, you can fly now..." Sandy said. "Can you take us somewhere?"

"Sure!"

"Can you take us to the moon?!"

"Uhhh, Sandy?" Bartholomew looked up at the giddy sheep. "I don't think—"

"No, sorry. I only have my pilot's license, not my astronaut's." Freddy took a big mouthful of water and spit out a stream of water, hitting Sandy squarely on the nose. "But, I can fly you to the desert, and you can pretend it's the moon."

"Yay!" Sandy danced for joy. Bartholomew carefully walked away from her prancing hooves, drawing his tail up into his shell.

"C'mon!" Freddy swam away from where his friends stood and exited the pond, swimming quickly downstream.

Soon, they were at the small airport. Freddy happily waved his pilot's license under the noses of the staff; the staff nodded and told the trio to go find their plane.

"Here she is!" Freddy proclaimed. "My pride and joy!" The plane he indicated had a giant set of scales painted on its tail, the words 'Even Keeled' balanced in the scales' plates. "It runs on dreams, contemplations, and long stories."

"Whoooaaaaa..." Both Sandy and Bartholomew stood and admired the plane.

"C'mon! Get in!" Freddy called from the cockpit.

"I call shotgun!" Bartholomew bellowed as Sandy sprinted past him inside.

Once everyone was settled, Freddy taxied to the runway and took off, his friend whooping and hollering in joy.

They'd only been flying for a few minutes when devices on the control panel began beeping. Lights flashed. The nose of the plane began to tilt downward.

"Noooo!" Sandy wailed.

"Aaahhhh!" Bartholomew screamed.

Freddy anxiously flipped switches and pulled on the controls.

The panels lit up, the blinking lights forming the outline of a question mark in a speech bubble.

"Quick!" Freddy shouted to his friends. "The engine needs a question to contemplate!"

"Ummm..." Bartholomew stared at the panel, shrinking down into his shell.

"Quick! Or we're gonna crash!"

"Plane!" Sandy shouted. "Why are you called Even Keeled if you're nose diving?!"

The beeping stopped, but the lights didn't stop flashing. Slowly, the form of the question mark in the speech bubble became an exclamation mark.

The plane righted itself.

Freddy sighed with relief. "That was a close one." He flipped a few switches, then turned on the autopilot. Turning in his seat, he reached out and pinned a microphone to the edge of Bartholomew's shell. "Hey. Buddy. Bartholomew."

Bartholomew slowly peeked out from his shell. "Are we still gonna die?"

"Eventually," Freddy replied with a shrug. "But not today!" He grinned at his friend as the turtle slowly emerged. "Why don't you tell us the story of the thousand turtles' march?"

"Ugh...we've heard that a million times..." Sandy complained. "And it takes forever for him to tell!"

Freddy grinned. "Please, buddy?"

Bartholomew saw the microphone, then smiled at Freddy. "Well, it was back in my youth, before I was even in school..."

The plane sailed on, off into the horizon, steady and even.