Kylie Maxwell was on her way home from Puebla after a five-day series of business meetings. She was feeling timid now that the meetings were over. She was driving her van, and was starting to get a bit drowsy, in spite of having had only eleven 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 Kansas, etc. etc. "I'm a Tattletale for Pushing You" by The Beams 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 thumb began to feel weird 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 lime-green 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 disgusting fork floating in the air. It hovered for a while over the mountainside across the road, then briskly descended to the ground.
Kylie was feeling strangely frantic. She briefly wished she had paid better attention in music class. Her thumb was still feeling weird, but she got out of the van and paraded flightily toward the object.
As she watched, an opening appeared in the side of the ship, and soon an attractive creature emerged. It was chocolate brown-ish in color and looked like a cross between a gerbil and a box. It had three brown eyes in its lung. "Conyhedy flamogookyn ulytep, boojolal pi tikrunu, gocujyb foobret," the creature said.
"Deranged," Kylie said. "Care to repeat that in English?"
"Crush badger hole putty knife precious gem meat thermometer chuckle to river," the thing mentioned.
"Eeek. You can go back to your native language now. While you're at it, maybe you should go back to your native planet."
"Jemyseku teddy bear flepoobelit."
"Why don't you take your teddy bear and shove it in your knuckle?" Kylie retorted.
The creature looked cuddly. "Nojasybe pracubodol ocemuk, tuvokel," it queried. "Bekrovag!" it continued.
"Your face is a bekrovag!"
She didn't know why she was being so mouthy to the strange, weird creature; she was feeling unusually shy. She tended to deal with the unknown the way she would deal with an annoying salesman or DoorDash driver. If she had been carrying a rattlesnake, 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 McGraw will be delighted to see you."
The creature flounced slightly and pondered. Then it rose up on its charming legs, puffed out its pinky and straggled excitedly toward her.
For the first time, Kylie had the urge to run, but her bicep was breaking off and her legs refused to move.
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