He hunted through his backpack and pulled out the small talking tasting and handed it to Adrian.
The sun and stars were lighting up their excavation as Adrian dipped his finger in again, and took small gunk from the gloop and gave it to the device.
"Flavour: outstanding," it said in the static, robotic voice with a scientific conclusion.
Grandpa stood up like a snap and he was speechless. Adrian cleaned his hand and fingers.
"This is it," said Grandpa, "the cheese we have been looking for," he said over the radio, half not believing his own words yet trusting the data.
"The question now is: how much can we carry?" asked Adrian.
"As much as possible," he slowly turned to Adrian and went through his bag for another tool. His backpack always had an answer or another device - and he knew it.
Grandpa wanted to recognise greatness when he saw it, and began to see it in abundance in Adrian and his new cheese. Who knew that all it took was a perilous journey to the moon and climbing atop its highest mountain was all it took to find the best cheese, he thought possibly ever.
"We shall call it," began Grandpa holding a clump in the air to examine it as he thought hard. Adrian was busy collecting more of as Woody tried to help him but was too preoccupied with exploring around the summit and hunting for more pools of cheese. "Huygen cheese," he simply declared.
"What?" said Adrian turning to face him as he was almost ankle-deep in the goo. His hands covered with cheese stowing away for a free ride, holding another bag to collect it with, "what is this Huygen anyway?"
"That is the name of the man that discovered this mountain: Christiann Huygen, a Dutch astronomer."
"Right," said Adrian, returning to the gloop with more important to think about now that think about naming things.
"Remember this moment," said Grandpa proudly, "we may have the best cheese in the world here."
"How do you know? What makes you so sure?" replied Adrian, his ankles were drowning in the cheese and the bag was harder to carry.
"I know, simply because I know," replied Grandpa as though he was the only one that knew left was left and right was right.
"Fine," said Adrian, too focused on the pool of gloop and trying not to get too much gunk on his hands and between his fingers. This new fancy cheese may be amazing but it heavier and sticker than the others. Grandpa tucked the cheese without even trying it, very much believing, and putting his faith in the taste-o-meter. He was confident that it is what he is looking for, he knew good cheese when he saw it and knew that it wanted to be found, collected, tasted, eaten, packed, sold and spread on bread, scones and other baked goods around the world. He even kind of thought that the cheese purposefully made the mountain so it could get closer and closer to earth just to be eaten. It patiently waited all those millions of years for just the right person to come along: Grandpa. A crazy idea, but he was willing to entertain it, neither of them suspected this, but it was all in his head.
"Woa," he said as he pulled the watch on his wrist to check the time, "we'd better make a move, we need to go!" he insisted as the pool of gloop was nearly all on the carrying frame that Grandpa brought with them. It was waiting to carry the bags of cheese on it back home.
"Yes, good idea," he said as he began to yawn standing up. "What is the rush? Calm down."
"Time is running out," said Grandpa as they closer to home by virtue of the summit but they were still so far away as his birthday was coming closer. Not even the best cheese in the world could alter or slow down time, never mind adding even a single extra second to the day. "And besides," continued Grandpa, "we are running out of oxygen," as he examined the gauges - they were fast approaching the ominous 'E' part of the dial. It seemed that the steep inclines, walking and climbing, not to mention jumping and hiding, took its toll on their lungs. "We have to go", Grandpa commanded as he leads the expedition down the mountain. Woody circled around them and wanted to go but wanted to follow Adrian - he was torn on what to do and his through indecisiveness and stood watching Adrian. Waiting for him to make a move.
YOU ARE READING
Birthday on The Moon
PertualanganA coming of age tale that follows Adrian as he is engrossed in his life at home his books. A 12-year-old boy that has not seen the world and wants adventure but does not dare step out the door, instead of spends his time alone, often with his dog an...