The Star Cruiser

by Jeff Baker

We called it the Star Cruiser I.

We could use it to escape Earth’s gravity, travel beyond the Moon and cross galaxies. It had near-infinite power but that meant it could only go as fast as I could pedal. In reality, it was my first bike and my friends and I tooled around the neighborhood when I was eight years old in the bygone nineteen-seventies.

Around the block was around the world.

Down three blocks to the corner convenience store was the other side of the universe, full of comic books or a soda paid with hard-spent allowance.

Eventually, the Star Cruiser went to my little cousin and I got a bigger bike. Then I learned to drive.

And now my little cousin’s little daughter has long outgrown the Star Cruiser, so for Christmastime they fastened the bike to a post in their yard.

Festooned with lights, it shines in the dark. A gleaming constellation.

Star-Craft and Destination all in one.

—end—