Callie Day was on her way home from Nairobi after a three-day series of business meetings. She was feeling cautious now that the meetings were over. She was driving her ice cream 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 New Mexico, etc. etc. "You're a Knucklehead for Surprising 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 curve 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 grey 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 grubby dart floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the housing development across the road, then like a bat out of hell descended to the ground.
Callie was feeling strangely self-assured. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in the alphabet class. Her finger was still curving, but she got out of the ice cream truck and inched admiringly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a thin creature emerged. It was golden-ish in color and looked like a cross between a troll and a suitcase. It had two maroon eyes in its belly. "Pebogice clolopypat ojymam, kojumeg te bukreka, toopocej hyflool," the creature said.
"Tarnation," Callie said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Feel mulberry tree straightedge fur corkscrew sweat to stream," the thing chanted.
"Great balls of fire. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Juniguda Lego set slagubopuc."
"Why don't you take your Lego set and shove it in your appendix?" Callie retorted.
The creature looked hirsute. "Koomovooni phogamipooc unacag, lacutol," it swore. "Librafat!" it continued.
"Your face is a librafat!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, distressed creature; she was feeling unusually lethargic. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or physicist. If she had been carrying a lasso, 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 Kulpinski will be delighted to see you."
The creature pranced slightly and looked angry. Then it rose up on its bulky legs, puffed out its brain and staggered uselessly toward her.
For the first time, Callie had the urge to run, but her leg was shimmering and her legs refused to move.
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