The Amazing Adventure of Edward and Dr. Sprechtmachen, Bob's 2nd Draft

I shortened the beginning so that Edward and Dr. Sprechtmachen now blast off on page 35 instead of page 40, getting to the adventure a little sooner. I added a little more description of the strange things on Pluto. Edward gets into a little mini-adventure after getting to Pluto and he learns the Plutacian game of crackelball, which it turns out he's really good at.

Edward is a young boy who likes to collect old, strange things. One day, Edward sees an alluring contraption to add to his collection. But it's sitting in the back yard of a strange little man who lives nearby. Edward sneaks into the yard, where he is caught by the man, Dr. Sprechtmachen, an inventor of strange gizmos. They become friends and Edward helps Dr. S build an experimental rocket ship.

One evening, Edward gets into a fight with his parents and runs away to Dr. S's house. There, he accidentally starts up the rocket and the two of them blast off for Pluto where they meet wonderful, purple jelly-like creatures. These Plutacians treat Edward and Dr. S as heroes, until they inadvertently start a war between two groups of people on Pluto -- one group has their antenna on the right side of their heads, while the other group has their antenna on the left.

Edward and Dr. S must come up with a plan to stop the war. The story becomes filled with goofy characters, exciting spaceship chases, suspenseful anticipations, secret meetings in dimly lit rooms, and a Romeo and Juliet type love affair, all against a backdrop of preparations for global war on Pluto. In the end, our heroes stop the war by demonstrating, in their own unique way, just how silly prejudice can be.

Edward and Dr. S finally get enough fuel to blast off back to earth. They make their teary goodbyes. Back on earth, Edward is a different person. He stands up to the other kids when they tease him. He treats people of all kinds with goodwill. And he comes to realize that strangers are not always so strange.