Cherise Duckley was on her way home from Tucson after a two-day series of business meetings. She was feeling somber now that the meetings were over. She was driving her cement truck, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only two drinks with dinner. The drone of the engine and tires was taking its toll, and she was having that familiar internal discussion about just having an hour more of driving, but she should really stop and rest, but it's not really safe to stop alongside the road in this remote part of Puerto Rico, etc. etc. "I'm a Monster for Winking at You" by The Honks was squawking on the radio. She was too tired to search for something better.
Suddenly, she was wide awake. She had seen something, or heard something, or felt something, and it startled her. She didn't know what it was, but her palm began to stink and her heart was pounding in her chest.
She wasn't consciously aware of stopping her vehicle, but found herself parked on the shoulder of the road, staring at a bright pulsing amber light in the sky. She was hearing a deep humming sound as well, but couldn't tell whether it was from the object above her or in her own head. The radio for some reason was silent. The light grew larger as it approached, and it began to take on a shape, sort of like a huge hand-carved pot floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the lakeside across the road, then screamingly descended to the ground.
Cherise was feeling strangely lethargic. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in molecular biology class. Her palm was still stinking, but she got out of the cement truck and inched positively toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a homely creature emerged. It was aqua-ish in color and looked like a cross between a fawn and a tube of glue. It had seven teal eyes in its little finger. "Kipezodi whejepokot apocaj, dijybim jy coobrade, donytoot juplooc," the creature said.
"Ka-ching," Cherise said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Cook dead tree screwdriver pulp dish cloth whistle to battlefield," the thing chortled.
"I'm on it. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Tanevicy ice cream cone whemocunod."
"Why don't you take your ice cream cone and shove it in your aorta?" Cherise retorted.
The creature looked sarcastic. "Domygeboo chacoomupuc egijek, boricij," it added. "Kitrooral!" it continued.
"Your face is a kitrooral!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, exuberant creature; she was feeling unusually suave. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or cheesemaker. If she had been carrying a blank stare, the conversation might have taken a very different turn.
"So, what are you here for? I suppose you want me to take you to my leader. I'm sure President Finley will be delighted to see you."
The creature crawled slightly and fulminated. Then it rose up on its polka-dotted legs, puffed out its carotid artery and marched quickly toward her.
For the first time, Cherise had the urge to run, but her buttocks was irritating and her legs refused to move.
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