Little Tail, Big Tales

Bonnie Pandya

Description

The countdown begins: “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five . . . ”
Astronaut Sunita L. Williams is about to blast off for space. She will live on the International Space Station, or ISS, for six months.
As the shuttle Discovery prepares to launch, her best friend and companion, a Jack Russell terrier named Gorby, watches with excitement and sadness. He will miss Suni while she’s away, but he’s happy and excited for her important adventure. He’s determined to make Suni proud of him while she’s in space.
However, being good isn’t always easy for Gorby, especially when he’s having one of his many adventures with his friends Coal, Elsie, and Thomas the cat. It’s a good thing Suni is looking down from the ISS, guiding them in the right direction as they learn many lessons.
Join Gorby, Coal, Elsie, and Thomas the cat, and more, in these stories that will warm your heart and lift your spirits and bring the wonders of space right into your hands.

Sujets

• Fiction Jeunesse
• Juvenilee Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 21 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669855811
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2022 by Bonnie Pandya. 826146

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any information

storage and retrieval system, without permission in

writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places

and incidents either are the product of the author’s

imagination or are used fictitiously, and any

resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead,

events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

ISBN:

Softcover

978-1-6698-5582-8

Hardcover

978-1-6698-5583-5

EBook

978-1-6698-5581-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022921238

Rev. date: 03/03/2023

Dedication
I dedicate this book to my three best friends.
My fantastic daughters, Dina A. Pandya and Sunita L. Williams, whose unconditional love for family, children, and animals have inspired me in many ways. Throughout my life, they have always been helpful, loving, and caring daughters who have worked hard to achieve their goals. I am blessed to be the mother of these two wonderful women.
To my cousin John who is always my first reader, cheerleader, and fellow dog lover. His kindness and generosity gave Coal a fighting chance in her fight against mast cell cancer. Because of him and his love of animals, Coal lived to enjoy a happy and wonderful life for another six years. For that, I will always be grateful.
John was the wind beneath our wings.
Acknowledgment
I owe a heartfelt thank you to Suni Williams, Dina Pandya,
Liz Warren, PhD, Ginny Hayden, Eileen Williams,
and everyone else who supported me in my effort to create this book.
A special thank you to Rachel Mills who graciously devoted long hours and positive
feedback in the development of my book.
To Stephen Upton who guided me along the initial path to publishing this book.
Thank you, Steve, for all your hard work and resilience.
To Claudio DeMarco for your wonderful drawings, and to James Yano, of Xlibris, who
continues to provide exceptional illustrations for these books.

Contents

Bonnie’s Introduction

And so Gorby’s tales begin...

Gorby’s Dream

Gorby Meets Suni at the Launch

The Launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery

Gorby’s Journey to Cape Cod

Bonnie’s Letter to Suni

Sausages and Popcorn Balls

Gorby’s Christmas Story

Christmas Morning

Suni’s Background

Gorby’s Story

Coal’s Story

All About Elsie

Thomas the Cat

Our Mom

Glossary

About the Editor

About the Author
Bonnie’s Introduction
I was shocked when my daughter, Astronaut Suni Williams (pronounced Sunny ), told me she had a new little puppy. I was especially shocked when she said it wasn’t a Labrador retriever, like the many dogs we had as she was growing up, but a Jack Russell Terrier.
This must be a mistake, I thought. Until I met him.
When she came to visit with Gorby, everyone fell in love with the little critter, which was a good thing, because he spent lots of time with me and Suni’s sister, Dina, while Suni was in training for space.
On her way to Star City, Russia, and at the European Space Agency or in Germany or the many other places she traveled for work, Suni packed Gorby up and dropped him off on Cape Cod to stay with me and Dina and our dogs, Coal and Elsie.
We enjoyed Gorby’s visits. Coal and Elsie were always happy to see him, and sad when he left to go back home to Houston.
As time went on, Suni was scheduled for her first flight to the International Space Station. Since she was a long endurance astronaut, she would be staying on the station for six months. We were all excited about her journey and delighted to take care of Gorby while she was away in space.
NASA set up a Polycom video conferencing machine in our house so when the ISS (International Space Station) passed over Cape Cod, we would be able to see her on television and speak to her.
The ISS flew over Cape Cod once a week, so usually we would invite friends and relatives to the house to see Suni in space. She did flips in the weightless atmosphere, showed us how and what they ate in space, and answered the many questions we all had about living in space. Gorby was always right up front, watching her on screen. He wagged his little tail and looked intently as she spoke. Whenever she talked to him, his tail wagged faster and faster.
I knew Suni missed Gorby and the other pets, so I decided to start writing about him and his day-to-day activities and emailing the stories to Suni. Right off the bat, these stories were a big hit.
Suni could har dly wait to get a Gorby story over her email. Every evening, when she and her crewmates had dinner and relaxed together, she would read them to everyone. The stories were a look at life down on Earth and made them all feel happy and in touch with family and friends.
It became great fun to write about the animals and, most of all, to send something up to the ISS that puts a smile on the faces of our citizens of space. It was a delightful experience and kept me from worrying about my daughter being 250 miles above Earth and traveling at a speed of 17,500 mph. It was a way for me to feel connected with her and the rest of the crew.
The stories I wrote are part true and part fiction. I based them on the experiences I had when I traveled with Suni, places I traveled with the dogs, and things we did here on Earth. We all had a wonderful time during those six months while Suni was in space.
In 2012, Suni again traveled to the ISS, onboard the Russian Soyuz , where she spent four and a half months in space, setting records and becoming the commander of the International Space Station.
Suni will be traveling again to the ISS, onboard the new Boeing Starliner, which is scheduled to fly in 2023.
While the animals in these books have passed on, they will live on forever in their stories.
Today, a new generation of animals has come to share our lives. Suni currently has a chocolate Labrador named Gunner, and a yellow Labrador named Rotor. Dina’s daughter has a spunky Jack Russel terrier named Bolta, and I have a fantastic black Labrador named Blackjack’E. They all bring much love, joy, and happiness to our lives.
And so Gorby’s tales begin...
When Gorby wakes up in the morning, he doesn’t know things are about to change. He goes about his business as usual, eating his breakfast from his king bowl, sniffing around the yard, and watching out the window when it’s time for Suni to come home from work.
But today isn’t just any day.
When it’s time for Suni to arrive home, Gorby watches her pull into the driveway, and leap from the car.
“Hmmm,” he wonders, “she doesn’t usually leap out of the car. I wonder what made her so happy.”
Suni rushes through the door in excitement, picks him up, and spins him around, laughing and crying for joy, saying, “I’m going to space, Gorby! I’m going to space!”
“Going to space?” Gorby says. “Why would you do something like that!?”
Gorby knows Suni goes to work at different training centers, and that her work involves space, but he didn’t know she was actually going to space.
“I’ve been assigned to a space mission and need to train to get ready,” Suni explains while Gorby listens. His little head cocked to the side to catch every word.
“I’m going to fly to space on a space shuttle to the International Space Station, so I need to learn all about every detail,” Suni continues.
“Oh,” Gorby says.
Gorby remembered the early morning workouts they did together and how Suni went to work early to practice for spacewalks in the neutral buoyancy laboratory.
He recalled the many times she left for the entire day because she and her crew were pretending to be living in the space station, and Suni’s friends came over to take him outside to do his business. Gorby remembered when Suni had to eat only certain space foods and couldn’t give him a little piece to try because it was part of an experiment.