The Moon Bus Is Full

Jordan planted both hands on the cushion steering wheel. “The moon bus is full,” Jordan announced, though the only passenger was Bongo, who had the whole cushion row to himself.

Bongo sat upright on the tallest cushion, wearing a paper hat Jordan had folded from a grocery list. His orange ears stuck out on either side.

“Full?” Jordan asked him.

“Absolutely,” said Bongo. “Every seat is taken by my elbows.”

Jordan grinned and climbed into the driver’s seat: a square cushion beside the bed. The bus was made from six cushions in a neat row, with a blanket for its road and a flashlight for its moonbeam. Jordan had built it many nights before. Bongo always came along. He knew the secret button—three taps on the seat—and the secret snack—one pretend moon cracker.

“Next stop, the Crater of Crumbs!” called Jordan.

“Please keep your paws inside the bus,” Bongo said. “They are very long today.”

Just then, Jordan’s cousin Fern appeared in the doorway. Fern had come to spend the night and carried a small pillow under one arm.

“What are you playing?” Fern asked.

Jordan looked at the cushions. The bus had seemed just right for two: Jordan and Bongo. But Bongo was imaginary, and Fern was standing there for real, with hopeful eyes.

“It’s the moon bus,” Jordan said. “But it’s full.”

Fern glanced at the six cushions. “I can see a few seats.”

“Those are special seats,” Jordan replied quickly. “Bongo’s seat is the captain’s seat. And that one is for the moon crackers. And that one is—”

“Reserved for a very small elephant?” Bongo whispered.

Jordan almost laughed, but Fern was still waiting. Jordan liked having a game that belonged just to Jordan and Bongo. If Fern climbed aboard, would Bongo still be Jordan’s friend? Would the trip feel different? Maybe the moon bus would become a regular bus, with regular seats and no secret buttons.

Fern set the pillow down. “I could sit on the floor,” she offered.

Jordan pictured Fern watching while the bus went without her. That did not feel right either.

Bongo leaned close. “A bus can have more than one kind of passenger,” he murmured.

Jordan looked at the blanket road, the cushion seats, and Fern’s pillow. An idea began to roll around like a loose wheel.

“Wait,” Jordan said. “The moon bus might need someone who knows where it’s going.”

Fern’s eyebrows rose. “I know where my pillow is going.”

“Could you be the moon-map reader?” Jordan asked. “You’ll tell us which way to go. The map reader gets a seat, too.”

Bongo patted the cushion beside him. “I can move my elbows. They have been taking up a whole neighborhood.”

Jordan felt a little pinch inside. The game would change. Fern would hear the secret button. But Bongo was smiling, and Jordan still knew him best of all. Jordan tapped the cushion three times.

“Moon bus, ready!”

Fern climbed aboard and opened her pillowcase. Inside was a piece of paper covered with wavy lines. She had drawn it while Jordan was talking.

“First, we go past the Crater of Crumbs,” Fern said, tracing a line. “Then around the Mountain of Missing Socks. After that, we visit the moon garden.”

“Excellent map,” said Bongo. “I once got lost in a pillowcase.”

Jordan held the flashlight. Fern pointed the map. Bongo sat in the captain’s seat, keeping his paper hat straight as the bus bumped along the blanket road.

“Look out!” Jordan called. “A space puddle!”

Fern tilted the map. “We take the long way around.”

The cushions wobbled as Jordan steered. One slid sideways, and the whole bus made a slow, lumpy turn. Fern laughed. Bongo announced that the bus had performed a “magnificent moon wiggle.”

Then Fern unfolded the map all the way. A little list was written along the bottom.

“Who are these passengers?” Jordan asked.

Fern read aloud. “Jordan. Fern. Bongo. One pillow. Two socks. A crumb named Kevin. And…” She squinted. “A very small elephant?”

Bongo sat up. “I knew it! The elephant reservation was real!”

Jordan laughed so hard the flashlight beam danced across the ceiling. “Kevin the crumb can sit by the window,” Jordan said. “And the socks can be our foot warmers.”

Fern made room on the map for the elephant. “Does he need a ticket?”

“Only if he eats the map,” Bongo said.

Jordan looked at Fern beside Bongo, both of them squeezed onto the captain’s cushion. The bus was more crowded now, but not less special. It had a map reader, a pillow, two socks, Kevin, and one elephant who might or might not be hungry.

“Next stop,” Jordan called, “the moon garden!”

The moon bus rolled toward the garden, which was a patch of blanket beside Jordan’s bed. Fern pointed out silver-leaf plants on the map. Jordan supplied the sound effects: “Brrrmm, brrrmm, bump.” Bongo supplied his own. “Pardon me,” he said each time the bus crossed a seam in the blanket.

At the garden, they planted three pretend moon crackers in the folds of the blanket. Fern drew tiny circles on her map to mark the spots. Bongo promised to water them with a thimbleful of moon juice, though he could not remember where he had put the thimble.

“It’s probably in the pillowcase,” Fern said.

“It is always in the pillowcase,” Bongo agreed.

Jordan tucked the map beside the seat. The bus had traveled past crumbs, socks, and a garden, and Bongo had stayed right there through every stop. Fern had not taken his place. She had helped the game find new places to go.

A yawn escaped Fern. Then Jordan yawned, too. Bongo yawned so widely that his paper hat tipped over his nose.

“Passengers,” Jordan announced, “the moon bus is returning to Earth.”

Fern folded the map and held it carefully. Jordan steered along the blanket road, past the sock mountain and the crumb crater. The bus slowed beside the bed and gave one last cushiony bump.

“Home,” said Bongo.

Jordan helped Fern off the bus. The bedroom looked the same as before, except the cushions seemed to remember the trip. Fern placed her pillow on the bed and set the folded map beside it.

“Can I read the map again tomorrow?” she asked.

“Sure,” Jordan said. “Bongo will need someone to tell him where the garden is.”

“I knew where it was,” Bongo said. “I was testing the map.”

Jordan smiled. The game still had its secret button, and Bongo still knew the secret snack. Now it had a map reader, too.

Jordan straightened the cushions and saved one at the end of the row for tomorrow. Beside it, Jordan left the folded blanket, ready to become a road again. Bongo settled into his captain’s seat, and the moon bus parked quietly for the night.