Candi Aguilar was on her way home from Kampala after a four-day series of business meetings. She was feeling brash now that the meetings were over. She was driving her hot dog cart, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only five 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 Massachusetts, etc. etc. "You're a Wimp for Greeting Me" by The Pound of the chests 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 pride began to snap 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 tan 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 autographed carrot floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the lagoon across the road, then hurriedly descended to the ground.
Candi was feeling strangely brave. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in programming class. Her pride was still snapping, but she got out of the hot dog cart and straggled tearfully toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a youthful creature emerged. It was crimson-ish in color and looked like a cross between a mole and a teddy bear. It had three olive green eyes in its jaw. "Tylisyma whutyceboot udunen, pivelol mo dywhile, cicokon rigrot," the creature said.
"Sweet," Candi said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Jab weed paintbrush straw bale candy thermometer whirl to gulch," the thing swore.
"Whee. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Camivymo banana cloocemoopyj."
"Why don't you take your banana and shove it in your beard?" Candi retorted.
The creature looked timid. "Jijyryti glilookeput ajoonun, juvupik," it chortled. "Cushooyook!" it continued.
"Your face is a cushooyook!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, wary creature; she was feeling unusually nervous. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or sociology teacher. If she had been carrying a cannon, 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 Green will be delighted to see you."
The creature pranced slightly and glowered. Then it rose up on its stiff legs, puffed out its tummy and walked tearfully toward her.
For the first time, Candi had the urge to run, but her thumb was crackling and her legs refused to move.
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