I dreamt I had to go to mars.

I'm always kidding on about going to mars for the day
But faced with the reality of it, in a dream, I was terrified.

And it wasn't going to be like a moon trip
There was three of us going, but we couldn't all go on the same ship
We had to go one at a time with a day between us.

I had to go first, and it was the thought of passing through all that black space
All the darkness with nothing in it, and then being the first one to land there, all
Alone... I knew it was supposed to be all dark around, with just a red surface
But what if I got there and it was light, all civilised and populated and stuff?

So I made a plan.
The other astronauts were going to be my dad and my sister
And my dad would come first after me
So I decided when I landed I would just stay in my seat until he got there
And then we could get out together and have a look around
And see what sort of things were there.

And when I woke up and I was lying in the darkness, I thought I had landed.
And I just lay still for a while, waiting for my dad to get there too.

• A Space Boy Dream
• A Summer Wasting
• Chickfactor
• Dirty Dream Number Two
• Ease Your Feet in The Sea
• Is It Wicked Not to Care
• It Could Have Been a Brilliant Career
• Seymour Stein
• Simple Things
• Sleep The Clock Around
• The Boy With The Arab Strap
• The Rollercoaster Ride