Neil
Armstrong's telephone rings. It’s his Apollo 11 colleague, Buzz Aldrin on the
line:
Neil: Hello?
Buzz: Neil, it’s me, Buzz.
Neil: Oh, hi, Buzz. What’s up?”
Buzz: Hey, did ya hear about what
happened at NASA?
Neil: No, what?
Buzz: You know that scratchy staticky recording of
your first words on the moon? Well
NASA accidentally erased it!
Neil: Erased it? What the ––! So I said it was one
small step – I didn’t mean it was
insignificant. But that’s what it’s like in government work, isn't it?
Buzz: Yeah, apparently they taped over it
by mistake.
Neil: Taped over it! What did they tape, for cryin’
out loud?
Buzz: Who knows? Hubble pictures from
deep space, maybe – or Martian shots
from Rover? Hell, they could have even used it to tape Oprah’s final
broadcast for all we know. You remember Finnegan? He used to use all
that
fancy NASA equipment to record Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In on
Monday nights!
Neil: Get out!
Buzz: If I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’. You know
Finnegan had that photo of Goldie Hawn in
a bikini at his work station.
Neil: And all in the name of science! Go figure!
Buzz: Well, I don’t know how it happened,
but they erased it, alright. I guess you
and I are just old news, buddy.
Neil: That sounds like NASA.
Buzz: Yeah, you remember when we were
doing all those trial runs before the big
launch? And that first time
they told us to make sure we didn’t lock the
hatch on the way out?
Neil: Yeah, can you believe it? “There’s no handle
on the door,” they said.
Buzz: That’s it! I had this fear that I’d
follow you down the ladder and hear a
crazy “click” when I shut the hatch. Uh-oh! That would have been some
fix.
Neil: Yeah – then I’d be thinking, “one small step –
and one big dufus for a moon
partner!”
Buzz: Can you imagine what Collin’s would
be saying up in the command
module? He’d be like, “Houston, we’ve got a problem – and his initials
are
Buzz Aldrin!”
Neil: I’m just glad we remembered all the steps and
made it back home.
Buzz: You know, Neil, I think I’ve still
got a tape of that lunar landing down in the
basement. It’s over there with
the vinyl LPs that I can’t play anymore. You
want me to send it?
Neil: No, Buzz, you don’t have to send it. I saw it
last week on YouTube. I can see
it any time I want, as long as nobody takes
it down.
Buzz: Well, I gotta go Neil. I’ve got a
lecture date. There’s a third grade class over
at Park Elementary waiting to hear
about the Apollo missions.
Neil: Well just tell ‘em the good stuff, Buzz. Leave
the tape glitches and Goldie
Hawn out of it!
