[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-116180-en":3,"doc-seo-116180-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":26,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},116180,34359740700684,"Finn","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1f400023980c374ae676?_k=1777273430885731487",1,"Story & Novel","Astronaut! - A Novel - Oana Aristide","Astronaut! unfolds through Lia’s tense, intimate walk home with shopkeeper Comrade Blaga on her mother’s birthday. A seemingly small gesture—holding her hand—becomes the axis of embarrassment, fear, and uncertainty as Lia feels both lost and trapped by circumstances she can’t fully explain. The story contrasts everyday details like buses, riverside life, and neighborhood routines with deeper emotional mysteries: unpaid debts, withheld gifts, and a locked home cupboard containing foreign treasures and secret money.","Astronaut!  \nA Novel  \nOana Aristide  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nTo John Petherbridge and Laurence Van Der Noordaa  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nIf it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.  \nMarcus Aurelius, Meditations  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \nChapter 1  \nChapter 2  \nChapter 3  \nChapter 4  \nChapter 5  \nChapter 6  \nChapter 7  \nChapter 8  \nChapter 9  \nChapter 10  \nChapter 11  \nChapter 12  \nChapter 13  \nAcknowledgements  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n1  \nSighișoara, March  \nLia is being walked home by Comrade Blaga, the shopkeeper, who is holding her hand. A couple of times she tries to get out of this embarrassing situation, makes her hand go limp, or folds it together in the shape of a small bird wriggling out of a nest. But Comrade Blaga does not let small birds go.  \nThey are walking by the road along the river embankment. It’s Mother ’s birthday and also Friday afternoon, and the buses are bringing people home from the factories. From the corner of her eye Lia catches a glimpse of one, so full it’s almost dragging its belly along the tarmac. It’s an accordion bus – it has that creaky, bendy rubber bit in the middle – and there are people clinging to the steps and to its three wide-open doors, a bit like bees swarming to a hive.  \nEveryone on the passing buses can see her and Comrade Blaga walking home hand in hand.  \nThe river is far below. Murky as always, barely moving along. Mother explained that it used to be higher up and wild, liked to burst its banks whenever there was heavy rain, flooding houses, shops and roads, and so the people made it live in this river-gutter instead. If the shopkeeper were not still holding her hand, Lia would be leaning over the railing, throwing pebbles into the trapped river.  \nIt’s Mother ’s birthday today and she has no present.  \nLia couldn’t believe her luck when she first spotted the vase with a big yellow sunflower painted on it, couldn’t believe that it was something people could buy. And so today, Lia had pointed at it in the homeware shop, and Comrade Blaga took the banknote from her. He looked her up and down – it was then that the bad-belly feeling started – then he locked the door of his shop. There was no one else inside.  \nAnd now – no money, no vase, no hand.  \n‘Who’s this?’A man has stopped in front of them. He shields his eyes from the low March sun.  \n‘Poor kid got lost in town. I’m delivering her to her parents,’ Comrade Blaga says. For some reason, Lia is embarrassed to look up at his face as he speaks.  \n‘Whose is she, then?’ this other man asks.  \nShe has briefly forgotten about her trapped hand, so is surprised when it hurts.  \n‘Ah, some scatty neighbours of mine,’ Comrade Blaga says. Another squeeze of her hand.‘What kind of parent lets their kid roam the streets? Lucky I know them.’  \nHe never gave back her money, and Mother ’s present is still on the shelf in the shop, high up so no children can break the precious yellow sunflower. She could tell this to the other man, who is staring at her. The problem is that although she does not remember being lost, she is not sure about that now, not sure at all. Maybe the bad feeling in her belly is the feeling of being lost.  \n‘You’re coming to the game, yes?’the other man says, by way of goodbye. He’s already stepping past Lia and the shopkeeper.  \n‘Don’t I always?’ Comrade Blaga replies.  \nLia thinks of the cupboard at home that smells of foreign countries. This cupboard is in the living room, it’s part of Grandpa’s giant bookcase. It opens on creaky hinges like a trapdoor among the books, but usually it stays locked – it has a keyhole at the top, and there’s an old, blackened key that Mother keeps in a porcelain cup in the glass bit at the top. The glass bit isnot so tall that Lia can’t reach the porcelain cup from a chair.  \nJust thinking about that cupboard usually cheers her up.  \nThe shopkeeper stops, and Lia feels cool air on her hand. He moves to sta","cbCaisznNq0vEUCb","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisznNq0vEUCb","pdf",1497626,187,"English","en",105,"# Chapter 1\n# Chapter 2\n# Chapter 3\n# Chapter 4\n# Chapter 5\n# Chapter 6\n# Chapter 7\n# Chapter 8\n# Chapter 9\n# Chapter 10\n# Chapter 11\n# Chapter 12\n# Chapter 13\n# Acknowledgements","[{\"question\":\"Why is Lia embarrassed during the walk home?\",\"answer\":\"Lia is walked home holding hands by Comrade Blaga, and the situation feels embarrassing to her. She tries to escape the awkwardness by moving her hand, but he keeps holding it.\"},{\"question\":\"What did Lia try to buy and what happened to it?\",\"answer\":\"Lia spotted a vase with a large yellow sunflower painted on it and pointed at it in the shop. Comrade Blaga took her banknote, but she later ends up with no money and no vase.\"},{\"question\":\"What is special about the locked cupboard at Lia’s home?\",\"answer\":\"The cupboard holds the family’s most colorful foreign and magical items, including treats and a false bottom with boring papers and a small pile of money. Even thinking about its “cupboard perfume” cheers Lia up.\"}]","Astronaut! - A Novel - Oana Aristide | PDF",1785656768,288,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"astronaut-a-novel-oana-aristide","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/astronaut-a-novel-oana-aristide/116180/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-02",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Why is Lia embarrassed during the walk home?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Lia is walked home holding hands by Comrade Blaga, and the situation feels embarrassing to her. She tries to escape the awkwardness by moving her hand, but he keeps holding it.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What did Lia try to buy and what happened to it?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Lia spotted a vase with a large yellow sunflower painted on it and pointed at it in the shop. Comrade Blaga took her banknote, but she later ends up with no money and no vase.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What is special about the locked cupboard at Lia’s home?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The cupboard holds the family’s most colorful foreign and magical items, including treats and a false bottom with boring papers and a small pile of money. Even thinking about its “cupboard perfume” cheers Lia up.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,95,99,103,108,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]