Tuesday’s Teaser – Stargazing For Beginners

Welcome to this week’s Teaser Tuesday!

The rules are simple:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share one or two sentences from that page
• Avoid spoilers – Pick a sentence that doesn’t give too much away

Today’s teaser comes from Stargazing for Beginners by Jenny McLachlan which was released last week. I’ve not started this one yet but it high on my TBR for the #SundayYAthon that starts on Thursday. The teaser below is from the opening chapter.

On my seventh birthday, Grandad made me a rocket. He used the cardboard box the washing machine came in, put a cone on the top and painted the whole thing white. Then he stencilled MEGARA 1 on the side with red paint. Mum took her hands away from my eyes and I blinked. The rocket almost touched the ceiling. ‘Is it real?’ I asked. ‘Almost,’ she said. Grandad handed me my bike helmet. ‘Are you ready for your first mission, Meg?’ I nodded. ‘I think so.’ I was already wearing my astronaut pyjamas so all I had to do was put on the helmet and climb inside the rocket. Mum handed me a broken keyboard –my control panel –and then shut the door. I ran my hands over the keys. Grandad had stuck labels on the different buttons: fuel boost, disengage, pressure drop. One button was painted green and simply said, LIFT-OFF. ‘Megara 1,’ Grandad said, putting on his smoothest American accent, ‘you’re good at one minute.’ ‘Roger,’ I replied. Grandad and I were always watching NASA documentaries so I knew exactly what to say. ‘Megara 1, this is Houston. You are go for staging.’ ‘Inboard cut off,’ I said, tapping buttons randomly, ‘staging and ignition.’ At that exact moment a deep growl burst out and I realised Mum had turned on the vacuum cleaner. Its roar filled the cardboard rocket.I felt my heart speed up with excitement and I tightened my grip on the keyboard. ‘Megara 1, this is Houston!’ Grandad shouted to be heard over the vac. ‘Thrust is GO. All engines. You’re looking good. This is ten seconds and counting.’ ‘Ten,’ I called out, ‘nine … eight …’ Grandad and Mum joined in. ‘Seven … six … five …’ Then one of them started shaking the rocket around. ‘Mum!’ ‘What is it?’ Her face appeared at the cut-out window. ‘I’m scared!’ She reached through the window and took hold of my hand. Her silver rings pressed into my skin. ‘Don’t be scared, Meg. I’m here.’ ‘Four … three … two … one …’ continued Grandad. ‘All engines running,’ I said, then I slammed my finger down on the green button. ‘Launch commit!’ ‘Lift-off!’ shouted Grandad. ‘We have lift-off!’ Mum let go of my hand and disappeared. The vac roared, the rocket shook wildly from side to side and I was leaving Earth and shooting into deepest space!

Does this sound like something you’d want to read? Share a teaser from your own current read leave me a comment below!