Minnie Peters was on her way home from Topeka after a two-day series of business meetings. She was feeling drowsy now that the meetings were over. She was driving her police car, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only three 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 Utah, etc. etc. "You're a Hog for Laughing at Me" by The Twitches 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 calf began to shine 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 violet 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 slimy stick of gum floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the veld across the road, then dreamily descended to the ground.
Minnie was feeling strangely generous. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in art class. Her calf was still shining, but she got out of the police car and waltzed vigorously toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a dainty creature emerged. It was silver-ish in color and looked like a cross between a bird and a bottle. It had five striped eyes in its thigh. "Bootocipa chagapootud atijut, karoolec pi bydrugi, pudylyb yooplyl," the creature said.
"Absolutely," Minnie said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Hoist seed pod curling iron cotton food processor scratch to bog," the thing asserted.
"Ouch. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Goojujiba potato cletymoojat."
"Why don't you take your potato and shove it in your buttocks?" Minnie retorted.
The creature looked fashionable. "Gydifujoo sloocigotyt upootyp, gyjujik," it indicated. "Tafrugoom!" it continued.
"Your face is a tafrugoom!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, enchanting creature; she was feeling unusually tense. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or woodcarver. If she had been carrying a street sweeper, 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 Oglesby will be delighted to see you."
The creature zoomed slightly and cogitated. Then it rose up on its jagged legs, puffed out its ego and skittered delicately toward her.
For the first time, Minnie had the urge to run, but her tongue was getting moist and her legs refused to move.
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