Slowly, gingerly, Henry opened the Door to Outer Space. Since the door was located on the floor, he had to move out of the way a bit for it to be able to open. He peered down, and saw the darkness of space, and the dim shine of the stars. He also saw a ladder that went down, down, further down than he could see. Henry wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea to climb down into Outer Space, if it would be dangerous or cold, but then he glanced back at the mess in his room and decided it was worth taking the risk. He climbed down onto the ladder, making sure to bring the treasure map with him, and shut the door. “Well,” he said to himself, “here goes nothing.” And he began climbing down the ladder.
As he descended, he looked over at the stars, and started noticing constellations he hadn’t seen before. One looked like a bear giving a high-five to a robot; another looked like a school bus full of spiders, and another looked like a girl on ice skates pointing a bow and arrow to one of the larger, brighter stars. As he looked across the sky for more unusual constellations, he didn’t notice when the ladder ended, and his foot hit the ground with a loud thump! The ground was rocky and cold, and looked a lot like the moon, with craters dotting the landscape. Henry surveyed his surroundings, and let out a sudden gasp. “Holy Christmas!” he shouted. About ten feet from the ladder, propped against a large rock, was a small skeleton, with a backpack sitting next to it. Henry immediately began to worry, what if this was another little boy who had found this door to Outer Space and got lost? He didn’t want to end up like him, so Henry started to head back to the ladder. That’s when the skeleton got up and started walking over to him.
Henry was petrified and couldn’t think straight. He wanted to run, but his feet couldn’t move, he was too scared to pick them up. Then, the skeleton thrust out his hand and began to speak. “Howdy,” he said. “Name’s Slim. On account of the fact that I’m slim.” The skeleton’s head moved up and down, appearing to look over Henry, despite the fact that he didn’t have eyes. “You must be Henry Elbow. I see you got my map.”
“Your map?” Henry asked. “But it has my name on it.”
“True, but I put your name on it, because I need your help. Finding this treasure is a two-man job, and since your bedroom has a door to Outer Space, I figured you’d be the best man to help me out. Unless you’re scared.”
Henry was not scared, just confused. How had Slim snuck the treasure map into his room? What was it that the treasure the map would lead them to? Exactly how dangerous would it be? But Henry was also bored, so he agreed to search for the treasure.
Cotton Candy Beard 