The Rocket by Ray Bradbury. Short summary

5 seconds

Every night Fiorello Bodoni was awakened by the whistle of rockets taking off. After making sure his wife was asleep, the man would go outside and watch the next rocket pass through the sky.

1 minute

That night passed Fiorello Bodoni as usual. Hearing the familiar whistle with which rockets usually take off, the man opens his eyes. Making sure that his other half is sound asleep, he gets dressed and goes outside. Out on the porch, Fiorello watches the rockets take off into outer space.

On this day, however, he is called out. When he turned around, Fiorello saw an old man sitting on a milk bottle basket. He, too, was watching the rocket.

Bodoni recognized him. It was Bramante, Fiorello’s neighbor. The old man tells how he caught the flight of rockets as a child. However, in eight decades he never got to fly them. Bodoni himself dreams of flying into space. But his grandfather is quick to reply that only rich people can afford such a luxury. Recalling slogans about the accessibility of technology to all, Bramante reminds him that the average man is still not in a rocket.

However, the man went on to talk about his dreams of flying to other planets.