“So…this “Secret Mission” of yours must be pretty important…I mean, you wouldn't travel from all the way across the universe for no reason,” Elle said thoughtfully as she pulled on her socks the next morning. Moonie, currently a bright green color, hovered a few feet away, silently watching her. Despite peppering him with questions all morning, Elle had learned nothing more about his mission.
“Shouldn’t you tell someone on earth? I mean… maybe you should talk to the President of the United States, or even Mr. Johnson,” Elle said.
“Elle! The bus is here,” Mindy’s shrill voice rang through the house.
“OK, I gotta go, but when I get back, we’ll look for a spaceship repair shop, or something,” Elle said.
The bus honked outside. “Remember, don’t go outside, ‘cause Night the cat will try to kill you. Don’t go downstairs, either, because Mindy will also try to kill you. Probably. I don’t know which would be worse. Wait for me right here, Ok?”
“No problem,” Moonie said, eyes gleaming, as Elle ran out the door.
_______
Later that morning, Night the cat sauntered through the backyard like a king surveying his realm. He headed towards the woods behind the white farmhouse to check for fish in the creek. He had already gorged himself on a nest of baby birds, but he still had an appetite for the weak and defenseless.
Just as he passed the house, a little furry animal caught his attention as it carelessly frolicked near the lilac bushes. Night licked his chops and hunched down low to the ground. Slowly creeping closer and closer, he slobbered all over himself as he watched the delicious little fur-ball prancing through the yard. He hunkered down in the tall grass, green eyes blazing and focused on the creature, ready to pounce. Something about the situation smelled unusual, but his hindbrain, with its millions of years of evolution telling him to strike, was too hard to ignore.
He leapt, his claws sinking into fur, when suddenly, something felt very wrong. Too late, he realized the thing between his claws wasn’t a delicious little fur-ball, after all.
“Greetings, Cat. Consume this!”
Moonie, currently disguised as Mr. Snuggles the teddy bear, discharged a huge surge of electricity. Night jumped straight into the air, hair standing out, back arched. "YAAAWWOOOOO!" He yowled as his face burned with pain. He ran away from the backyard and the little creature as fast as his legs could carry him.
________
Elle sat in astronomy class, absolutely riveted to Mr. LaPlume, currently decked out in a matching jogging suit with high-tops and a headband.
Elle sneaked a glance around the room to see what the others thought of the lecture. Juan scowled at LaPlume with his arms crossed. Kat was also scowling, but she always scowled, so it was hard to tell. The other students looked neutral.
“…and so, considering the billions of different galaxies in our universe, scientists think that it is almost certain that life exists on other planets. What do you all think?” He finished, looking around the room.
“You mean like little green men? Pshhh! There’s no such thing!” Kat snorted, obnoxiously, adding under her breath, “This stupid class is such a waste.”
Elle had a flashback to Moonie this morning and smiled as she thought of the little green levitating alien.
“What do you think, Elle?” Mr. LaPlume said, as though reading her mind. Elle looked up into a pair of amused, shining blue eyes.
Kat interrupted her impatiently, “Everyone knows there’s no such thing as aliens. What are you going to tell us next? Let me guess. That the government locks aliens up in a secret location in the desert --Area 51—to dissect them,” Kat said, rolling her eyes.
“I wish they would lock up ALL illegal aliens. They need to be rounded up and deported, if you ask me,” she looked directly at Juan as she made her pronouncement.
“I wish they would deport all jerks and know-it-alls, but then we wouldn't have anyone left in this school…” Elle shot back.
The other students smirked at Kat who sat steaming in her seat.
“Ok, that wraps it up for today, I think.” LaPlume said, clapping his hands.
______________
“I don’t trust him,” Juan said with a scowl, slamming his tray down at the Contagious lunch table, slopping his cooked carrots onto Elle’s science book. “He’s a total imposter.”
“What?” Elle wrinkled her nose and wiped her book. “What are you talking about? And watch it with the food. I already had to spend an entire night scrubbing lasagna off my favorite shirt. You don’t trust who?”
“LaPlume. I looked at his teaching certificate. It says that he’s certified by the state of California. But when I asked him about California yesterday, he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about,” Juan finished. “He’s a fake.”
“Lots of people in Clark don’t know where California is,” Elle pointed out.
“I tried to look him up on the internet, but he doesn’t exist,” Juan said, ignoring her comment.
“Well, he just moved here,” Elle said, defensively.
“Yeah, from California, which he’s never heard of! I don’t trust him,” Juan repeated, scowling. Then his face cleared, "Hey, how's your frog, by the way?" He asked pleasantly.
"Shhh! Not so loud!" Elle said, looking panicky.
"What? Why don't you want anyone to know you have a frog?" Juan asked innocently, looking around. “Is it cause it’s nearly extinct?” He whispered. “Is it…like....illegal or something?” The nearby students, Susanna, Alicia and Jimmy, glanced up from their conversation. “Whatever you do, don’t tell Kat…” he grinned.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
"Who's got a frog?" Jimmy asked, looking at them.
"Frogs are symbols of darkness, dating back centuries. They were used as “Familiars” by witches to cast evil spells,” Susanna began, but was thankfully cut short.
"No, no, there’s nothing evil going on,” Elle interjected. “It’s just my…..Science project,” Elle invented wildly.
“Cool,” Jimmy said. “Wish I had thought of that. Mine’s gonna be on Wind Turbine Energy. What’s yours on, Juan?”
“No idea. There’s too many good topics to choose from!” He said. “Hey-I thought you were going to do yours on DNA? Isn’t that what Ms. Schmidt wanted to talk to you about after school?”
“So, then what are you doing with an illegal frog?” Susanna asked, turning the conversation back to Elle.
“It’s not illegal. It’s a…secret.” Elle said, turning red, trying desperately to change the subject. She looked around the lunchroom and saw a poster for the upcoming homecoming events.
“You guys going to homecoming? It says there will be the student council election,” Elle pointed at the sign.
“Nah. What’s the point?” Jimmy said. "Kat’s running for student council president, which means there will be absolutely no competition.”
"Why is Kat so popular?" Elle wondered aloud.
"She's NOT popular!” Alicia said, wrinkling her nose. “But she scares the crap out of everyone cause she's so mean.”
“And violent,” Jimmy agreed.
“So people just vote for her rather than make her mad," Alicia said.
“Probably a traumatic event in her childhood....” Susanna started, and they all groaned.
Elle silently took in the information.
“By the way, that was pretty brave when you stood up to her in class,” Alicia said, looking at Elle with obvious admiration. “No one does that to Kat, not even teachers.” Elle felt a small surge of happiness, which quickly dashed. “You better watch your back—Kat doesn’t like to be challenged!”
_________________
That afternoon, Elle returned home, comforted to see that there were no police cars parked in the driveway. Her grandfather was out back, puttering around in his observatory, and the house was completely quiet, devoid of Mindy and her mindless chatter. Her excitement turned to worry as she her mind began racing, concocting dire situations involving Mindy finding Moonie.
Elle ran up the stairs, two at a time. As she burst inter her room, she was relieved to see Moonie resting quietly in his water bowl.
“Moonie! I'm so glad you're here. And actually, I'm a little surprised," Elle said. "I thought you might have gone out or something.”
Moonie hovered over to her shoulder and greeted her with a warm, tingly sensation. “Welcome to your one and only home,” Moonie said.
"So---what did you do today? Did you just sit here in my room all day?” Elle asked.
“Well, I did go outside for just a while to work on my ship,” Moonie admitted.
“And no one saw you?” Elle asked.
“Not a single human,” Moonie said, accurately.
“Oh, thank goodness," Elle said, slumping onto her bed, "Any luck on fixing your ship?” Elle asked, eager to discuss the activities of the day, but unfortunately, at that moment, the front door slammed and Mindy called up the stairs, "Elle, come and help me bring in the groceries."
"OK, I gotta go, but I'll be right back.”
After a few minutes, Moonie floated out of the bedroom and down the stairway. The kitchen table was covered with brown paper bags full of groceries. Moonie spotted a cellphone laying on the counter and floated over, looking curious. He started typing furiously on the keypad.
At that moment, Mindy walked into the kitchen with a grocery bag cradled in one arm.
Moonie looked up at her from the phone. Mindy stared at Moonie for a moment or two. Then she started screaming, and dropped the grocery bag, spilling everything onto the floor.
Elle dashed into the room and took in the whole scene—from a stunned Mindy to Moonie. As Mindy was taking a breath to start screaming again, a tinny voice from the cellphone could be heard in the background: “Stop calling here, buddy! You hear me? If you call again, I’m gonna shove your phone up your…”
Elle scrambled to hang up before the man could finish. The room reverberated with a stunned silence.
“Must have been a spam robo-call,” said Elle, smiling like a maniac, just as Mindy demanded, “Was that lizard making a phone call….?”
“Nope!” Elle interjected quickly. “He wasn’t. It wasn’t,” she corrected.
Mindy looked suspiciously between Elle and Moonie. “And why is that creature back here?” She demanded, pointing at Moonie.
“Grandpa said I could keep him last night. He was very definitive.”
“Hmmm. We shall see,” she said.
“You can ask him yourself,” Elle said.
“Well, fine. I suppose you can keep it. Just make sure to keep it out of the kitchen,” Mindy said.
“Yeah, sure. No one wants to be in here anyway,” Elle mumbled under her breath, gently scooping up Moonie.
“And you should keep it in a cage,” Mindy continued.
“No,” Moonie said.
“What?” Mindy said, turning around and eying Elle and Moonie suspiciously.
“No...Problem!” said Elle, jovially, forcing laugh. She yawned theatrically. “Well, goodnight!”
“Elle….it’s only 4pm ….”
“Gotta get caught up in my sleep! There might be a pop-quiz tomorrow!” Elle said, inventing wildly.
“Oh,” Mindy shook her head as Elle retreated from the kitchen. “But what about dinner?”
“I’m fasting. You wouldn’t understand. 'Bye!”
When Elle got back upstairs, she gentle released Moonie, “What was that about?"
"I wanted to see what you were doing,” he said simply.
Elle wasn't listening. She went on, "Mindy probably thinks that I’m crazy. She’s going to start taking me to the doctor, just like grandpa, and then will get me committed to an insane asylum,” she concluded, turning and facing Moonie. “Maybe I AM crazy and I just don’t know it. It would explain a lot,” she said, looking at the red and green-striped creature floating above her bed.
“Me paenitet,” Moonie said humbly, interjecting in Elle's verbal flow. "I am most humbly apologetic,” he translated, when Elle looked confused.
Elle sighed. “No, no, it’s ok. I’m the one that should be …paenitet, or whatever. I should be helping you get your ship fixed.”
“It is no problem,” Moonie said. “I will be leaving soon, and you will not have to worry about me anymore.”
Elle looked confused. “But your ship is WRECKED, remember?! You can’t leave without it…-” Elle began.
“I have found a solution. All I need is another phluwet,” Moonie said, excitedly turning florescent green. "And I have located someone that can get one!”
“What is a …"phluwet" and who has one?” Elle asked, perplexed.
“Your friend, the one you give nuts to everyday,” Moonie said.
Dead silence. Elle’s face radiated confusion. Then it registered.
“You mean…the SQUIRREL? Nutty?!” She stammered as Moonie nodded.
“Your telling me that the little baby squirrel I feed has an extra part to a SPACESHIP?” Elle was dumbfounded. “How is that possible? He can’t even find any NUTS by himself!”
“Of course he can. He just doesn’t bother because you keep giving him your nuts. He feels sort of sorry for you, I think. He thinks you must be crazy. And he is not a baby. He is not even from earth. He’s actually a Fillion. They’re notorious for their handiwork and for hording spare parts. He’s a genius working on small engines. You are most fortunate to have him here,” Moonie said.
“A Fillion?” Elle said, stunned.
“Yes—they are quite prevalent on this planet, and are very friendly, if the right incentive is presented,” Moonie said.
“The right incentive? What? Like nuts?!” Elle asked, flabbergasted.
“Yes. Nuts are always popular. They also appreciate certain services,” Moonie said mysteriously. “Let’s just say I got rid of a little…problem for him."
“What problem?" Elle asked, wondering aloud.
“A certain… predatory problem,” Moonie said smugly, eyes glinting mirthfully.
There was a pause as his words sunk in.
“Wait--you mean the cat, Night? What did you do to him?” Elle groaned.
“Nothing that he won’t recover from—although he may have to wait a while until his hair grows back—and he definitely won’t be bothering the Fillions around here any longer,” Moonie said.
Elle sat down, mind reeling.
“So, let me just get this all straight. The squirrel I've been feeding--because I felt sorry for it-- all this time turns out to be a member of an alien race who happens to be a world-class mechanic who runs a small spaceship repair shop and has an extra "phluwet," which is a special type of part for your space-ship….?”
“That is correct,” Moonie said.
"But…but…but…" Elle stammered, looking blankly at the wall.
"It is difficult for you to accept this news," Moonie astutely observed. "You thought you were the only inhabitants of earth."
“Yeah!" Elle burst out. “Are there other aliens on earth?”
“Yes. Many.”
"And humans have absolutely no idea that the planet is overrun by aliens?” Elle asked.
“Not overrun. Inhabited,” Moonie corrected her. “You are displaying xenophobia.”
“No, I’m not!” Elle surreptitiously checked her zipper on her pants. “Um, what’s that?”
“Xenophobia is fear of others. Fear of aliens, fear of the unknown. People can be controlled by fear. Fear leads to distrust and hatred. Fear can be used to control—it is very powerful.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Elle said, thinking about Kat. “Ok, well….this is a lot to take in. So, you’ll be leaving soon?” Elle said, getting back on subject.
Moonie nodded somberly, and Elle’s heart sank. She stood up and said, “I understand, I guess. Well, it’s been a very interesting and educational day, but I better go check that I’ve done all my homework. I’ve got enough problems trying to pass 8th grade. I finally got caught up on some of the homework that Mr. Johnson assigned and then Ms. Schmidt dumped a whole chapter on us after only two classes and…”
“Schmidt?” Moonie interrupted, looking interested.
“Yeah, she’s my science teacher at school,” Elle said. She took another determined breath and launched on, “Just to be safe, maybe you should stay in a cage tomorrow so that Mindy doesn’t get too suspicious.”
“OK. No problem,” Moonie said, gliding over.
“Really? You don’t mind?” Elle said, briefly derailed, looking at Moonie.
“Not at all. A cage—no problem. Right after school,” Moonie said, looking happy, rubbing his little toe pads together excitedly and chirping.
“No! There is absolutely NO WAY that you are going to school with me tomorrow!”