Author: Shannon O’Connor

I watch the space ships leave and wonder what it’s like to be able to go that far and dream that big.
These days, space travel is available to the elite, but not to those on the bottom like me, who can barely afford to get by.
I used to watch the ships leave with my mother when I lived in Missouri. We gazed in awe at the explosions as the ships took off, taking passengers to other galaxies and worlds which we most likely would never see.
Now, I live in California, and I serve coffee to people who work in the tech business. I wonder how their espresso shots stay fresh if they get them delivered. I make lattes and cappuccinos for people who have impressive jobs. My coworkers and I are the ones who will never travel to space, it’s something we can only dream.
I watch the ships leave, and I am still amazed that people are able to do this. We have found places where no other beings exist; humans believe we’re alone in the galaxy.
I like to think about how big the Universe is as I’m steaming milk to make a latte. I look into the foaming milk, and wonder if the original explosion that created the universe is similar to when a milk pitcher overflows because it’s too hot. We have to stop it at one hundred and sixty-five degrees, or the milk would scald and burn.
Some coffeeshops have espresso machine where the steam wand stops at the right temperature, but I work at one that’s old-fashioned where we have to turn it off. I like working at an old-school café because it makes me reminisce about simpler times when people could not travel to space.
I don’t think it’s fair that only the rich can embark on these journeys. I have a degree in music, but that will not get me into space. Do the ships need baristas? Or piano teachers? Do they have automatic coffee machines like in Star Trek?
When I sit in the parking lot of the space center, I can feel the thrust of the ship leaving earth. I am jealous, but in awe, or what humans can accomplish. I look around at everyone else watching the takeoff, families, and single people. Some are eating ice cream, and some have coffee or wine in paper cups.
We think it’s exciting to see the ships take off, even though the people watching will probably never be lucky enough to be in one of them, to be one of the privileged humans from Earth who will get to see other parts of the Universe.
Life isn’t fair. This is the way it’s always been.
We have to work at our menial occupations, and hope for the best, that someday all of us will be able to fly to the stars, to see the universe expanding, maybe meet some aliens that are friendly, or not friendly, and make the most of our lives while we exist.
We’ll do our work on the Earth, and hope everything happens the way it should.
I sip my iced latte and watch the ship take off, drifting to the stars, until it’s not visible anymore, and it’s time to go home again, to go to sleep and dream of what it would be like in a spacecraft, hurtling to places unknown, never to touch the Earth again.