Earth Overshoot Day

Chapter 6

Nelson arrived at the address he had been given. It was a small, unremarkable brick house with a red roof. A large black dog lay sprawled out on the dry brown grass.

Nelson cautiously tiptoed up the stone path and past the dog dozing in the sun. He knocked hard on the green front door.

The door was wrenched open to reveal a short, white-haired man.

"Uh, are you Henry?" stammered Nelson, unsure if he had found the right house.

"And if I am Henry, then what do you want with him?" The man gave Nelson a wide smile, his crooked teeth sticking out in all directions.

"I need to talk to you. Your son sent me. He said that you are a very talented Rocketeer." Nelson drummed his fingers against the flaking doorframe.

"You're lying. Henry's son would never compliment his crazy old father. He's a disgrace!"

"Well, those weren't his exact words but he did tell me that Henry could help me. It is a desperate situation. If you're not Henry, can you please tell me where I could find him? His father said that he lives here. You clearly know him and it's urgent that I speak to him."

"You are looking at him."

"Then why..." Nelson trailed off. "Never mind. Can I come in? We have much to discuss."

"No funny business. Be warned. I'm armed." Henry waved his thin arms in front of Nelson before stepping aside to let him into the narrow entrance hall. He looked around outside and slammed the door shut.

He indicated to Nelson to follow him and turned into a small living room. A brown cat lay on the sunny worn couch and Henry sunk down next to it.

"Well, what are you doing? Take a seat!"

Nelson glanced at the cat. It stared at him with bright green eyes and arched it's back, claws out. He had never liked cats. He could tolerate dogs, but cats were a completely different matter. "But there is no space. You are on that side and your cat is on the other."

"There is plenty of space! Look beneath you. There is a whole floor there just for your use." Henry spread his arms wide, fingers outstretched.

Nelson looked worriedly at the mad old man before hurriedly dropping to the slightly dusty carpeted floor and looking up at him.

"Good. Now that we're comfortable why don't you tell me what Gerald wants. It's been a long time since he wanted anything to do with his disgrace of a father." He laced his fingers together and looked expectantly at Nelson.

"Well, sir. The thing is that..." Nelson chose his words carefully. "there has been a bit of a situation. We need you to repair a rocketship for us. There is something in space that we need to retrieve so that we can fix it."

"Of course. My son only cares about his father when he needs something. He was the exact same as a child, you know. Selfish little bastard."

"Will you help us?" Nelson crossed his fingers as hard as he could behind his back.

"What's in it for me?" asked  Henry, stroking his small white beard with his bony wrinkled fingers. "Why should I help you?"

"You have the opportunity to save the world isn't that enough for you?"

"Well... I guess it would be nice to get my hands on a rocketship again. I do miss my Rocketeer days. You have yourself a deal, boy."

"Sir, do you know who am?"

"Just another little boy my son managed to manipulate."

"No. I am the African Leader."

"Well, then I feel sorry for our nations. A warning to you, boy. My son doesn't always have the best intentions. He is a selfish little bugger."

"He's just trying to save humanity. My name isn't boy. It's Nelson."

"I will address you as I wish, boy! Remember I'm armed?"

"Well, I don't see a gun." whispered Nelson coolly.

"I'm armed, you're armed, we're all armed!" exclaimed Henry. "See these? They are called arms aren't they? Or am I no longer aware of the current terminology. At least they were called arms in my day. See these?" he cried, waving his arms in front of Nelson's face. "They mean that I'm always armed!"

"I see now, sir. You're armed then," said Nelson in a voice laced with fear. How could this lunatic possibly be the solution to their problems.

"Now tell me, when do we start?" Henry stopped waving his arms around and placed one on his cat.

"Right now if that's possible."

"Just let me grab my hat and coat and we can go."

Nelson sighed loudly as the short man strode to the entrance hall. The world had no chance of survival. This was the beginning of the end.