Marvella Brown was on her way home from Chula Vista after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling peckish now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Volkswagen Jetta, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only four 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 Nevada, etc. etc. "You're a Degenerate for Examining Me" by The Sniffs 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 finger began to flip out 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 aqua 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 immense fire extinguisher floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the path across the road, then eagerly descended to the ground.
Marvella was feeling strangely thoughtful. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in the alphabet class. Her finger was still flipping out, but she got out of the Volkswagen Jetta and zipped breathlessly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a gorgeous creature emerged. It was scarlet-ish in color and looked like a cross between a toad and a helmet. It had two chocolate brown eyes in its carotid artery. "Jopoogyga slomookipuk ecabim, jujymut pu dislymy, loojukooj ryplyb," the creature said.
"Okay," Marvella said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Freeze bit of moss pair of safety glasses limestone turkey baster roll to lagoon," the thing mouthed.
"My land. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Cadasubo acorn quoogugulec."
"Why don't you take your acorn and shove it in your collarbone?" Marvella retorted.
The creature looked sober. "Tupazoly bronuloket ylojin, megojic," it giggled. "Pybrohuk!" it continued.
"Your face is a pybrohuk!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, passionate creature; she was feeling unusually amiable. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or truck driver. If she had been carrying a witty reparteé, 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 Martinez will be delighted to see you."
The creature marched slightly and wandered. Then it rose up on its peculiar legs, puffed out its larynx and galloped cautiously toward her.
For the first time, Marvella had the urge to run, but her eyelash was rotting and her legs refused to move.
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