ASTRO-DOGS

It was a noisy fire station,
Max was menacing the mailman.
“Easy boy! You’ve got an invitation,
It’s in this letter for Chief Dan.”

Your dogs Gus and Max are invited to explore
the Out of this World Doggie Day Camp Adventure,
sponsored by Best Friend’s Beauty Shop and Pet Store,
and the Norman F. Nassau Civic Center.


“Preston, walk those dogs down to the corner,
And wait for Metro 93.
They’ll take it to the Nassau Center ---
It’s on Johnson Road at Houseworth Street.”

But on the bus there was confusion,
And it didn’t turn out like we’d planned,
When those dogs arrived in Houston,
At NASA’s Johnson Space Command!


As they wandered through the complex,
Gus said, “This camp is like a flight school!”
Then they hopped up on a rocket
And squeezed into the capsule.

“Nine! Five! Seven!”
The dogs waited for ignition,
“Eight! Six! Eleven!”
“Max!” yelled Gus, “I’ll do the countdown for this mission!”


The rockets burned, the engines blazed,
And then they lifted past the tower.
Dalmatian Gus was quite amazed,
“This toy has actual power!”

They rose through rain, they rose through clouds,
And sonic boomed in blue skies sunny.
“This camp’s a blast!” exclaimed our hound,
“I bet it cost a lot of money!”


They aimed their ship for Sirius,
In Canis Major that star did loom,
But on the way those dogs grew curious,
And took a detour ’round the moon.

Gus snapped a picture out the window,
“It’s a bright white ball with big dark spots.”
Max said, “It’s a chocolate covered dog bone,
Let’s pull off and make a stop!”


“The Beagle has landed!”


Gus donned a spacesuit white with helmet black,
Then opened up the capsule door.
Back on earth the radio cracked,
With familiar words we’d heard before.

. . .
“That’s one small step for Gus,
. . .
One giant leap for all of us.”


Max measured moon rocks with a meter,
And stuffed some samples in his sack.
Gus lowered a probe down in the crater,
And jotted down some notes and facts.

“Beagle,” said Houston,
“We’ve got an update on your mission.”
“Max,” said our Dalmatian,
“Can you receive this next transmission?”


“There are some rocks behind your module, please check their mass and bulk and size,
And then bring them back to Houston, for more precise examination.
You’ve got to wrap and pack them safely, so unbroken they’ll arrive,
And be careful when you’re washing them, to prevent contamination.”

“They said, behind our backs there is a monster, and it has massive bulging eyes,
And it’s big and black and gruesome, so we must avoid contamination.
We’re not allowed to shoot our laser, we’ve got to capture it alive,
And we need to take it straight to Washington, for a medical examination.”

“Roger, Houston,” radioed Gus.


“D-D-D-Do you hear those freaky noises?”
As that Beagle’s knees began to knock.
Then they squinted through the shadows,
And saw some footprints by a rock.

As it crawled behind their lander,
Gus shined it with a light.
It was toxic and gigantic ---
A disgusting creepy sight!


Max yelled, “Prepare for detonation,
I’m going to blast it full of holes!”
Then he turned to our Dalmatian,
“And you zap him ’til he glows.”

But Gus lured it with some songs,
And Max caught it in a net.
Then they grabbed it with their tongs,
And slipped a collar ’round its neck.


As they were heading back to earth,
There came a noxious smell and oozing foam.
Gus yelled, “I think it’s giving birth!”
And then they heard a ghastly groan:

“Baaahhh… Baaahhh.
Baaahhh… Baaahhh.”
“Max!” grinned Gus,
“It thinks that you’re his mama!”


Gus prepared their ship for landing,
And he would’ve been spot on.
But when a comet sent them tumbling,
They careened across the White House lawn.

The door sprung loose, those dogs jumped out,
“The Commander in Chief now wants to see us!”
“Uh-oh, Max, our luck is out,
It’s Dan Edwards our Chief, and he is furious!”


I woke up from my dream to learn
That I was lost in space.
My salvation I could never earn,
And it was only by His grace.

When my days on earth are through,
I’ll be glad I knew the Way and Truth.
Then I’ll begin a wonderful life anew,
With the LORD of Heaven and earth.


David J Allen
August 11, 2005


<== Soggy Doggie . . . . . Back to Top . . . . . Gus’s ABC’s ==> . . . . . Gus’s Home Page