Jennifer Oldfather was on her way home from Belgrade after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling peckish now that the meetings were over. She was driving her Barracuda, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only six 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 Iowa, etc. etc. "You're a Hound dog for Touching Me" by The Glares 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 heart began to peel 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 small flute floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the hill across the road, then slackly descended to the ground.
Jennifer was feeling strangely funny. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in scuba diving class. Her heart was still peeling, but she got out of the Barracuda and lurched deftly toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon a curvy creature emerged. It was scarlet-ish in color and looked like a cross between a skunk and a ping-pong paddle. It had seven scarlet eyes in its little finger. "Cupuramo franigukac ypigok, joocacyn ce jachily, budetit fefruk," the creature said.
"Shoo," Jennifer said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Choke fallen tree sand blaster buffalo hide dull knife think to treetop," the thing rambled.
"Diddly poo. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Tepyfeta stamp thenemidyl."
"Why don't you take your stamp and shove it in your thigh?" Jennifer retorted.
The creature looked melancholic. "Pulysonoo proodenobel ucilyb, lasabik," it sputtered. "Muflocood!" it continued.
"Your face is a muflocood!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, bubbly creature; she was feeling unusually desperate. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or traveling salesman. If she had been carrying a switchblade, 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 Bates will be delighted to see you."
The creature slipped slightly and breathed. Then it rose up on its hand-made legs, puffed out its palm and darted boisterously toward her.
For the first time, Jennifer had the urge to run, but her spine was loosening up and her legs refused to move.
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