One sun-glittery morning, a small green button blinked on Mira's windowsill. The space rocket Spinner was ready.

"Bobo, we're going to space!" said Mira and patted her soft rabbit. She packed banana sandwiches, a spotted blanket, and a red feather. The feather was luck.

Mira sat in Spinner, and Bobo got a little helmet. "Three, two, one... SWOOOSH!" Spinner sneaked up between clouds like cotton candy and flew higher and higher. Space dust glittered like crushed sugar. Small rock balls rolled by like marbles. A space whale of blue mist waved with a big, slow fin movement.

"Hi, whale!" shouted Mira. The whale answered with a soft "voooom" that tickled in her belly.

Spinner landed on a shimmering ground that said rustle-rustle under the shoes. Trees with silver needles stood in rows and sounded like a secret letter unfolding. The air smelled like pear candy.

Out of a bush hopped a small figure with feathers for legs. Boing! Boing! It wore a striped scarf and had eyes like two warm buttons.

"Who are you?" asked Mira.

"My name is Zing!" peeped the figure and did a spin. "Welcome to Planet Rustle. Want to hear my best jumps?"

"Yes!" said Mira. Bobo clapped her paws. Zing hopped in a circle, and the ground answered rustle-rustle-rustle like music. Mira tried too. She flew a little higher than on Earth, as if the shoes had springs. "Boing!" she said and laughed.

They ate crunchy apples that popped like popcorn when they bit into them. Zing picked a whole armful for Bobo, who nosed contentedly.

Suddenly something whooshed. "Whiiisss..." Small dark dots danced in the air and gathered into a blinking cloud.

"It's magnetic rain!" shouted Zing. "Quick, under the big mushroom roof!"

They ran. The rain of small iron dots stuck to everything that gleamed. Spinner cried "Beep!" with its little lamp and then stuck, clonk! against a giant mushroom with a shiny cap.

"My rocket!" said Mira and her heart became warm and worried.

Zing put a finger to its chin. "Rustle likes tickles. Tickles like song. Come! We'll get silver needles."

They picked soft needles that sounded like whispers. Mira took out her lucky feather. They stood around the mushroom.

"We sing softly," said Zing. "Sing words that roll."

Mira sang: "Plink, plank, plop, spin loose, spin top." Zing sang: "Zingeling, rustle, pop!" Bobo hummed: "Mm-mmm." At the same time, they tickled the mushroom cap with the feather and needles.

The mushroom vibrated. "Hooooo..." it said and smiled, if a mushroom can smile. The magnetic dots began to sleep and fell to the ground like tiny balls. The clonk released. Spinner was free!

"You did it!" said Zing and made three happy jumps. "Your feather is brave."

Mira patted Spinner. "Thank you, Zing. And thank you, rustle." She took a sparkly sticker smiley from her sweater and attached it to Zing's scarf. "A friend-smiley."

Zing gave Mira a small bag with seeds that rustled like whisper-words. "Plant them in your rocket. They grow into memories that smell like pears."

Spinner blinked, indicating it was time to move on. Zing waved with its whole body. "Boing goodbye!"

Mira and Bobo flew up from Rustle. They slid into a ring flood around a giant planet. The rings were like glass-smooth slides. "Weeee!" laughed Mira when Spinner surfed. Space dust swirled like confetti.

They passed a belt of bubbles that said "blip-bloop" when Spinner nosed them. A small bubbly fish peeked out and blinked. Bobo blinked back.

"Homeward," whispered Mira. "We have new scents with us."

Spinner glided home and landed softly on the windowsill. The room was still and bright. Mira carefully poured the rustle seeds into a small cup in the cockpit. They sounded secretly satisfied: russ-russ.

"Today we tickled a mushroom," said Mira and tucked the blanket over Bobo. "Tomorrow maybe we'll jump on a rainbow bridge."

Spinner blinked a little yes. Mira smiled. Space was big, but friendship was easy to carry along.