started throwing rocks to attract our attention, and
Skinny was scared that he'd crack a porthole or something, so he threw
the switch and we took off.

Boy, you should of seen Stinky's face. I mean you really should of seen
it. One minute he was laughing you know, and the next minute he looked
like a goldfish. I guess he always did look like a goldfish, but I mean
even more like, then. And he was getting smaller and smaller, because we
had taken off.

* * * * *

We were gone pretty near six hours, and it's a good thing my Mom made me
take a lunch. Sure, I told her where we were going. Well ... anyway I
told her we were maybe going to fly around the world in Skinny and my
spaceship, or maybe go down to Carson's pond. And she made me take a
lunch and made me promise I wouldn't go swimming alone, and I sure
didn't.

But we did go around the world three or four times. I lost count. Anyway
that's when we saw the satellite--on radar. So Skinny pulled the
spaceship over to it and we got out and looked at it. The spacesuits
worked fine, too.

Gosh no, we didn't steal it or anything. Like Skinny said, it was just a
menace to navigation, and the batteries were dead, and it wasn't working
right anyway. So we tied it onto the spaceship and took it home. No, we
had to tie it on top, it was too big to take inside with the antennas
sticking out. Course, we found out how to fold them later.

Well, anyway the next day, the Russians started squawking about a
capitalist plot, and someone had swiped their satellite. Gee, I mean
with all the satellites up there, who'd miss just one?

So I got worried that they'd find out that we took it. Course, I didn't
need to worry, because Stinky told them all right, just like a
tattletale.

So anyway, after Skinny got the batteries recharged, we put it back. And
then when we landed there were hundreds of people standing around, and
Mr. Anderson from the State Department. I guess you know the rest.

Except maybe Mr. Anderson started laughing when we told him, and he said
it was the best joke on the Russians he ever heard.

I guess it is when you think about it. I mean, the Russians complaining
about somebody swiping their satellite and then the State Department
answering a couple of kids borrowed it, but they put it back.

One thing that bothers me though, we didn't put it back exactly the way
we found it. But I guess it doesn't matter. You see, when we put i