“I think the willfully unimaginative see more monsters; they are often more afraid.”

– J. K. Rowling, British fantasy author

“How many people will there be on our spaceship?”

Barry stopped and pondered the question for a few moments.

“Seven,” he said at last and then went back to sketching the ship.

In junior high school, I became friends with a bright and imaginative kid by the name of Barry. He was the eldest son of a large and desperately poor family who lived in a small shack on a quarter section of land in a neighbouring county. To escape the harsh reality of his home life, Barry read every science fiction book he could find and dreamed of commanding a starship.

“I’m going to build a spaceship,” he t...

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