The Space Ship Returns to the Apple Tree

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The Space Ship Returns to the Apple Tree

   Author:  Louis Slobodkin
Copyright Date:  1958
Publisher:  Macmillan
Pagination:  116 p.

M Y S T E R I O U S   M E S S A G E S
     This summer when Eddie Blow came up from New York to spend his vacation at his grandmother’s apple farm, she was especially glad to see him.
     Eddie was now twelve and a half and going to Junior High. He was a Boy Scout, good in Arithmetic, interested in Natural History, very good with electricity, and he wore glasses.
     He could rewire and fix almost any electrical appliance that needed fixing. His grandmother always put away a few things during the winter for Eddie to fix during the summer vacation.
     This time when Eddie got off the bus from the railroad station, his grandmother was waiting for him on the porch. And there beside her was a mountain of lamps, radios, electric clocks, kitchen utensils, vacuum cleaners, and so on.
     “Hello, Grandma,” shouted Eddie, as he ran up the path. “What’s the matter? You moving?”
     “Hello, Eddie dear,” said his grandmother. “My, how you have grown.”
     “Where you moving, Grandma?” asked Eddie, as he looked around at the pile of things on the porch.
     “It seems,” she said, “just about everything that runs by electricity in this house either burnt out, blew up, or ran down. And it’s all happened in the past two weeks. A lamp would be working fine then I’d turn it on or off and ph-ph-ph ... just like that the lamp would blow out or crack or something.”
     “What happened?” asked Eddie.
     “I don’t know,” said his grandmother. “The same thing happened when I used my toaster or my electric mixer, and even the new electric stove. I was thinking of calling Mr. Marvel, the electrician down in the village, then I figured you’d be coming up here soon and I knew you’d enjoy fixing everything yourself, Eddie. You’re always so smart about fixing things.”
     While she talked, she and Eddie walked out to the porch and looked at the pile of useless electrical appliances. Eddie picked up one of the table lamps, looked at it, turned it upside down, and felt and tugged at the wire. Then he peeked into the electric toaster and tapped it.
     “These things look all right, Grandma,” said Eddie, “I’ll take these things over to the barn. They won’t be hard to fix, I guess.”
     And Eddie made a few trips to the barn with a wheelbarrow piled up with the things from the porch.
     Over in the barn Eddie had a workbench with tools for fixing almost anything. During his summer vacations Eddie spent more time in the barn than he did in the house. Because here in the barn he kept his workbench, tools, and his many collections of stones, arrowheads, and insects. There were not many animals on Eddie’s grandmother’s farm—just Bessie the cow and her newest calf, the goat, a few geese, chickens and ducks. It was a big barn and there was plenty of room for the animals, the birds, and Eddie with all his collections.
     Eddie’s grandmother’s farm was a large farm on the side of a hill in the upper Hudson River Valley a few miles above Albany. The only things raised on the farm were apples. The soil was too stony for anything else.
     The apple trees were sprayed by hired men in the early spring, and when the apples ripened in the fall, they were picked, packed and carted away by hired men again. There wasn’t much work to do on the farm during the two months Eddie was there. And usually nothing really exciting happened during the long, lazy summer days.
     But last summer while Eddie was at the farm one of the most exciting and most unbelievable things happened to him!
     Last summer Eddie met a little man from OUTER SPACE! He was a Junior Scientist Explorer from the planet Martinea! And he landed his space ship right in Eddie’s grandmother’s apple orchard!
     Of course that is a hard thing to believe and Eddie never told anybody about it because he was sure nobody would believe him.
     But it did happen! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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M Y S T E R I O U S M E S S A G E S This summer when Eddie Blow came up from New York to spend his vacation at his grandmother’s apple farm, she was especially glad to see him. Eddie was now twelve and a half and going to Junior High. He was a Boy Scout, good in Arithmetic, interested in Natural History, very good with electricity, and he wore glasses. He could rewire and fix almost any electrical appliance that needed fixing. His grandmother always put away a few things during the winter for Eddie to fix during the summer vacation. This time when Eddie got off the bus from the railroad station, his grandmother was waiting for him on the porch. And there beside her was a mountain of lamps, radios, electric clocks, kitchen utensils, vacuum cleaners, and so on. “Hello, Grandma,” shouted Eddie, as he ran up the path. “What’s the matter? You moving?” “Hello, Eddie dear,” said his grandmother. “My, how you have grown.” “Where you moving, Grandma?” asked Eddie, as he looked around at the pile of things on the porch. “It seems,” she said, “just about everything that runs by electricity in this house either burnt out, blew up, or ran down. And it’s all happened in the past two weeks. A lamp would be working fine then I’d turn it on or off and ph-ph-ph ... just like that the lamp would blow out or crack or something.” “What happened?” asked Eddie. “I don’t know,” said his grandmother. “The same thing happened when I used my toaster or my electric mixer, and even the new electric stove. I was thinking of calling Mr. Marvel, the electrician down in the village, then I figured you’d be coming up here soon and I knew you’d enjoy fixing everything yourself, Eddie. You’re always so smart about fixing things.” While she talked, she and Eddie walked out to the porch and looked at the pile of useless electrical appliances. Eddie picked up one of the table lamps, looked at it, turned it upside down, and felt and tugged at the wire. Then he peeked into the electric toaster and tapped it. “These things look all right, Grandma,” said Eddie, “I’ll take these things over to the barn. They won’t be hard to fix, I guess.” And Eddie made a few trips to the barn with a wheelbarrow piled up with the things from the porch. Over in the barn Eddie had a workbench with tools for fixing almost anything. During his summer vacations Eddie spent more time in the barn than he did in the house. Because here in the barn he kept his workbench, tools, and his many collections of stones, arrowheads, and insects. There were not many animals on Eddie’s grandmother’s farm—just Bessie the cow and her newest calf, the goat, a few geese, chickens and ducks. It was a big barn and there was plenty of room for the animals, the birds, and Eddie with all his collections. Eddie’s grandmother’s farm was a large farm on the side of a hill in the upper Hudson River Valley a few miles above Albany. The only things raised on the farm were apples. The soil was too stony for anything else. The apple trees were sprayed by hired men in the early spring, and when the apples ripened in the fall, they were picked, packed and carted away by hired men again. There wasn’t much work to do on the farm during the two months Eddie was there. And usually nothing really exciting happened during the long, lazy summer days. But last summer while Eddie was at the farm one of the most exciting and most unbelievable things happened to him! Last summer Eddie met a little man from OUTER SPACE! He was a Junior Scientist Explorer from the planet Martinea! And he landed his space ship right in Eddie’s grandmother’s apple orchard! Of course that is a hard thing to believe and Eddie never told anybody about it because he was sure nobody would believe him. But it did happen! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .