Part 1 - Landspeeders and Vaporators

126 17 32
                                    

     "Work?" echoed Luke.

     "Yes," said Aunt Beru. "Now that you've turned twelve, it's time for you to help out on the farm. "

     "But I want to play." he sulked.

     She sighed. "Luke, you're a big boy now. Toys aren't for you anymore."

     "Toys are fun." He pouted, hugging his favourite T-16 skyhopper model he was currently playing with.

     "Will you ever outgrow--"

     Beru, looking exasperated, glanced at Uncle Owen, who was sitting at the table daydreaming.

     He looked over at Luke. "If you do well, we'll get you a landspeeder for your birthday."

     Luke couldn't believe it. A landspeeder? A real, live landspeeder? That he could drive?

     He threw aside his toys. "What do I have to do?"

     "First, I suggest you tidy up your own toys," said Beru, looking disapprovingly at the toys strewn over the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~

     "I'm done, " yelled Luke from the room. His face flushed red, not with the blazing heat of the Tatooine suns, but with excitement.

     "Luke, you haven't even started yet. Don't count your eggs before they hatch." Aunt clucked when she saw his uncontrolled excitement. Luke blushed again.

    He followed Aunt out of the house into the stifling dry heat outside. He shuffled his boots across the sand, hearing it crackle and shift under his feet. They approached the water vaporators—tall, sleek white contraptions that pointed skyward. They were at least twice his height, and he marvelled at the sheer grandness of the vaporators.

     "You crank this knob here." said his aunt. The contraption gave a loud, reluctant creak and crystal-clear water gushed out from the storage cistern into a big tub positioned below the vaporator. Luke licked his dry lips and stared at the water longingly.

     "Then heave up the tub like this." she continued, capping a lid over and holding it up by the handles. "Oh—Luke, get me the cart."

     Luke ran over to the back of their igloo home where a cart was kept. He now grabbed the handle of the white cart, and as he rolled it off towards his aunt, he felt for once like a grown-up. He smiled as his thoughts drifted off towards his future landspeeder.

     His aunt lifted the tub onto the cart and instructed, "Cart that off to the storage room. And be quick about that."

     Luke nodded his head and raced off down the ramp to the storage room with the cart. It was a bumpy trip—the sand rolled about and he heard the water splashing about inside the tub. The large storage room was now in front of him, and he hefted up the tub.

     "Gosh, this is heavy." he said to himself as he shoved the tub onto the floor and pushed the cart back to Aunt Beru. He stood there and looked up at her, waiting for the next instruction.

     "Continue," she said, and under her watch, he pushed down on the knob. It refused to budge, so he pushed harder.

    Harder!

     The knob finally gave way, but only a few spurts came from the machine. "Huh?" said Luke, befuddled.

     "Dry season." muttered Aunt, and said, "Bring the tub to the next vaporator."

     Luke dragged his feet over. It was starting to get hot.

     "Faster." she chided gently and he quickened his pace, bent down and placed the tub below the tube. He cranked the knob.

     Water flowed smoothly from the cistern. He felt tempted to drink it all up, but he just capped on the lid and heaved it on the cart.

     As he returned to the vaporators with the cart, he realised that Aunt had left. Great. Now he had to work alone. He kicked at the nearest knob, and the vaporator spat out a few drips of water. He drank it up.

     He paced around the vaporators with the tubs, running back and forth until all the vaporators were empty and dashed back into the relatively cooler house.

     "Aunt, Uncle, I'm done" he yelled and ran into his room. He rummaged in his pile of models, collected from birthdays or simply a gift, or those he had just constructed from scrap metal in his free time. He pulled out his X-32 landspeeder model.

     "Soon I will have one." he said to himself as he stroked the landspeeder lovingly.

A/N (always in bold)

What did you think? :) Did you like it? If you did, hit that star below, or leave a comment. (Please be patient with my updates though.) And facts about Luke's life aren't exactly accurate, but I did my research.

FUN FACT: Water vaporators are 3.5 meters tall! :0

Pilot Dreams (Star Wars)Where stories live. Discover now