The Rocket Summary

Fiorello Bodoni wants to travel in a rocket. He's saved three thousand dollars, and can send one family member to Mars. They all draw straws and Paolo wins. His family supports him, but he refuses to go because of school. The family decides that it's best that no one goes.

Bodoni goes to his job in the junk yard, and decides to buy a rocket shell being sold for scrap with $2,000 of the money he's saved. He sits inside and examines it in the moonlight, making a humming noise, imagining taking off and flying into space. although disappointed, he stops himself from destroying the rocket shell. He starts to laugh on his walk home. When he gets home, he tells Maria to pack. The family is going to Mars.

The children are thrilled. Bodoni assures a skeptical Maria that the rocket...