The bike ride home was amazing. Elle happily watched Moonie riding in her bike basket, tongue out, and occasionally chirping high-pitched notes of enjoyment.

  Except for the brush-in with Juan, they hadn’t seen another soul. Elle furrowed her brow as she thought about Juan--why was he always popping up everywhere? Always wanting to talk, always being friendly and helpful…..what’s wrong with that kid?! Elle thought. Some people have no idea how to socialize, she shook her head.

  But nothing could dampen her day--Elle was ecstatic. After months of loneliness, she actually had a friend. Or at least a friendly acquaintance. And not just any acquaintance. Moonie was a real-live space alien!

  When they finally arrived at the little white house, Elle noticed, with a surge of irritation, that Mindy had set up folding tables by the garage. There was a sign by the front drive: “Garage Sale.” Mindy hustled back and forth between the garage and the tables, stacking old plates, linens and knick-knacks.

  Elle stifled a few curse words, but her annoyance was surpassed by the excitement of talking to her little alien acquaintance. While Mindy was busy emptying a box of silverware onto the table, Elle carefully smuggled Moonie into the back door and raced to her room without raising any calls of alarm. She gently set Moonie on the bed and turned to lock the door, debating whether she should shove the dresser in front of the door for good measure. When she turned back, Moonie was hovering a few inches above the patchwork quilt on her bed, calmly somersaulting in the air.

  "So, I couldn't help but notice that you can…float," Elle stammered, master of stating the obvious.

  Moonie bobbed gently in the air, “Voluce,” he said, “Linith is a water planet--we have adapted to living deep under water. I am used to enormous pressure. Your gravity here on Earth is very light, comparatively speaking,” he explained, as Elle looked at him blankly. "Incidentally, if you have any water, I would be most obliged," he said, courteously.

  "Oh, yes! Of course," Elle said, "I’ll be right back. Don't go anywhere," she said, and bolted out the door. A few minutes later, she returned with a large glass bowl full of water. She set it gently on the bed stand, and stepped back as Moonie delicately dipped a toe in. "Yes, excellent," he murmured appreciatively as he sank slowly into the water like it was a swanky hot-tub. As he sank, his skin darkened from light yellow to a deep, vibrant orange.

  “OK…so floating is normal for you. Got it. You’re…um…also changing color. Is that normal, too?” Elle wondered aloud.

  Moonie’s light, tinkling, high-pitched chirp reminded Elle of a short bird call. “Linthians change colors to camouflage ourselves or to warn predators that we’re poisonous.”

  “You’re poisonous?” Elle asked, stepping back, slightly.

  “Yes. I have poison glands under my skin. It’s a form of self-defense,” he explained, his tail flashing bright yellow with red polka-dots. “But don’t worry—it’s completely harmless to you.”

  “Ok, that’s a good skill to have,” she said as Moonie left the bowl and floated up to her shoulder, dripping water. He gradually turned the same shade of red as her sweatshirt as he dried.

  “Yes. It is to avoid being consumed.”

  "What do you mean 'consumed'?" Elle asked with horror. "You mean things try to eat you?"

  "Yes, Eat. Eat,” he repeated the word softly a few times, as if memorizing the word. “Also…." he paused, as if consulting some inner memory, “Ingest. Bite. Chew. Swallow," he went on.

  “Got it. Middle school’s the same way. If you let your guard down for even a second, they eat you alive,” Elle said, knowingly.

  “Ah…I had no idea humans still practiced cannibalism…Most interesting. Tell me more about your species. I have read all about you, of course,” he said, enthusiastically. A tingling sensation spread over Elle's body, from her shoulders to her neck and jaw. She felt the hairs on her neck begin to rise and as she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she broke out laughing. A few strands of her hair were standing on edge, like she had a case of serious static cling.

  “How do you do that?” she asked, pointing at her hair. Her scalp felt light and ticklish.

  “We do not use our eyes for vision under the water, so we use Lumen to illuminate our skin—it is a mild electric current,” Moonie said. Elle could feel her teeth vibrating.

  “Sounds impressively dangerous,” Elle said, teeth chattering, “But you’d better stop the demonstration—I think I can smell my brain starting to fry!” The current dropped to zero and Moonie turned a flamboyant shade of turquoise.

  “So--what about humans--?” Moonie asked excitedly. “Tell me everything!”

  “Well, we don’t naturally generate electricity, we can’t change our skin colors—and nobody really eats us,” she ticked off on her fingers. “Normally,” she added. “Oh, and no floating either.” She realized that humans sounded pretty boring and tried to think of something interesting to tell him. “But some people can run pretty fast, and, uh, some people are really smart and…” her sentenced drifted off “….we’ve been to the moon,” she finished lamely, as she realized that this was slightly less than impressive news to a telepathic levitating alien.

  “And you use toilets,” Moonie said, knowingly, “as a receptacle for your bodily wastes.”

  “Sure, I guess there’s that,” Elle said, uncertainly, not sure where this line of conversation was going.

  “And you consume….eat… a food item called ‘donuts’,” he said.

  “Yeah, sometimes. But not all the time…” Elle said defensively.

  “Yes—and you wear clothing called “string bikinis” and hats that look like animals!”

  “Well, wait a minute, not everyone does that,” Thank goodness, Elle thought. “And not usually at the same time. I mean, technically, yes, they could, but we also wear lots of other things, like, you know, normal clothes……and that’s sort of beside the point,” Elle began. This did not reflect her species in the best of light.

  “And you have strange mating dances and reproduce in the most extraordinary way!” he said enthusiastically, his voltage suddenly increasing several notches.

  This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Well, I guess,” Elle said, turning red, mentally blaming the electricity emanating from his little body. “I’m a little young for that, though,” she mumbled, trying to think about how to change the topic.

  “Oh, of course,” Moonie said quickly. “Please accept my apology. I did not mean to offend you,” he added, courteously. “There is just so much that fascinates me about your species.”

  “Yeah, humans are ok, I guess. Some of 'em, anyway. But what about you?” Elle asked, changing topic. “Are you here to study us?” Elle asked eagerly, “Or are you here to run experiments on us? Or…Oohh! Ohhh! I know! I bet your race is here to enslave all human-kind, aren’t you?!” She said, rubbing her hands together enthusiastically, imagining Kat being taken prisoner.

  “Negative. No enslaving,” he demurred.

  “Ok, fine. You’re not here to enslave humanity,” Elle said, thinking aloud. “Are you here to tell me what lays in wait for earth if we don’t stop polluting and ruining the environment? Let me guess, the earth becomes some sort of futuristic trash-heap?” Elle said.

  “No, no, no,” Moonie said reassuringly. “Not at all.”

  “Ok, phew! That’s good.”

  “It will be destroyed long before that,” Moonie said casually.

  “What?! Earth’s gonna be destroyed?” Elle said, panicked. “That’s horrible! Are you sure?”

  “98%,” he said, licking his left eye. “But do not be concerned. You will be dead before that happens.”

  “Oooookaaay,” said Elle, “Still not reassuring!”

  “The science is irrefutable if the course continues," he said.

  "So you are here to warn us!" Elle said.

  "No. This is general information available to the public. I have obtained it from the library. Humans understand the consequences, whether they want to or not. I cannot change their minds. And--it is not my mission."

  "That's terrible," Elle said.

  "All things end,” he said, studying her with beady black eyes.

  Elle shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, I’m aware,” she said, a memory of her mother surfaced briefly. She shoved it aside. “Ok, fine. You're not here for dire warnings, torturing or experimenting," she said, running out of ideas. "So what are you here for?” she asked.

  “Apologies. I cannot divulge that information,” Moonie said. “As soon as you can show me my ship, I will depart. The Mission awaits!” He bowed his head somberly.

  “Ok, yeah. I suppose you need to get back to work, or whatever you’re doing...” Elle said with a note of sadness. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed. It was just too good to be true. Sure, she had met an alien, but he couldn’t stay.

  Dejectedly, she opened her closet door, and looked in the back under a stack of half-folded, half-shoved clothes. The closet was alarmingly empty of intergalactic space ships.

  “Ummmmm,” Elle said, nervously. “We have a problem.”

  “What is problem?” Moonie said, hovering near her shoulder, turning grey.

  “Well, your ship WAS right here, but now it’s gone!” Elle said, starting to sweat. “I don’t understand, I put it here last night….it's not like anyone….wait a minute…” she finished, narrowing her eyes. “I think I might know where it is. But you better stay here,” she added, heading towards the door.

  “Negative. I will accompany you to my ship,” he said, tailing her closely like a bobbing balloon.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Elle said, hand on the door knob. “I mean, what if someone sees you? They’ll probably ask a lot of questions, like, 'What is that floating frog doing here?'”

  “I will give them many answers,” Moonie said, enthusiastically. “I enjoy answering questions.”

  “Oh, really? Ok, what is your mission?”

  “Except for that” Moonie said, decisively.

  “Fine,” Elle conceded, giving up on the argument. “But we need some sort of disguise.”

  Thinking quickly, Elle grabbed a small old stuffed teddy bear out of the closet, found a scissors on her desk, and performed minor surgery on "Mr. Snuggles" by cutting the stuffing out of the head of the teddy-bear, leaving a little slit between its button eyes. She gently slid the bear carcass over Moonie. Glinting black beady eyes peered out of Mr. Snuggles forehead.

  Elle scooped up Mr. Snuggles, descended the stairs and exited via the garage door with the masquerading Moonie cozily cradled in her arms.

  She stomped over to the Garage Sale tables, ignoring Mindy’s insipid voice, and surveyed the items. At that moment, a voice rang out from behind her, “Ohhhh, Elle!! I didn’t know you still liked teddy bears!” Elle winced with annoyance, and turned to see their neighbor, Janice McNulty. She blinked at Elle through misty eyes. “That’s just adorable, Elle!” She crooned.

  Elle quickly disentangled herself from Janice before she could get her camera out, cruised around the tables heaped with junk, and then stopped, shocked. Not only had Mindy collected every stray object she could get her hands on, but she had apparently gone to great lengths to be as annoyingly disruptive as possible. There was the basement TV that Elle used, the only matching set of plates they had, and….hey!

  Elle stomped angrily over to the second table where her grandpa was standing near his telescope. There was a large sign on the side of it that said, “Telescope for Sale for $10. Do not touch.” Grandpa was attempting to look through the telescope while not touching it.

  “What’s going on here? Why is Mindy trying to sell your telescope? That’s it. I’m shutting this operation down!” Elle grabbed the Garage Sale sign, ready to rip it up, when her eye caught sight of Moonie’s black ship at the edge of the last table. She and Mr. Snuggles hustled over and grabbed it. Then Elle stomped back over to her grandpa and said, “Come on, grandpa, grab your telescope, we’re leaving.”

  “But it says 'Do not touch',” Grandpa said, then whispered conspiratorially, “And I heard the lady running this sale is a real piece of work!"

  Elle did an about face, resolutely walked to the kitchen, grabbed a sharpie marker and the overflowing garbage can from the garage and stomped back.

  After a few thoughtful moments with the sharpie, Elle revealed her masterpiece. She had blacked out a few choice words on the sign, and it now read: “Telescope for Arnold for free. Please touch.”

  There was one more thing to do, and Elle felt a surge of confidence as she approached the sign on the front lawn. After a few careful moments, the GARAGE SALE sign now read: GARBAGE DUMP.

  She carefully arranged the garbage can next to the sign, partially blocking the tables.

  By this time, Elle’s grandfather had decided that he would purchase the perfectly good free telescope and put it in his observatory tower. Elle concurred, and they both left the garage sale.

  When they finally got Grandpa and his telescope set up again in the old observatory, Elle and Mr. Snuggles made their way through the back yard to Elle's Thinking Stone by the edge of the stream. Elle set Mr. Snuggled down beside the black ship. The bear rose into the air as Moonie ran his eyes loving over its smooth surfaces. Then he chirped anxiously.

  “What’s wrong?” Elle asked, alarmed.

  “It looks damaged!” Moonie said.

  It looked fine to Elle, but then again, she was the first to admit that she was hardly an expert when it came to intergalactic space-travel.

  Moonie tried to start the ship, a process that apparently involved some mental activity, because he didn't touch anything on the ship. Riotous lights flashed erratically, the engine hummed energetically and then, just as Moonie chirped excitedly, everything went dark. Moonie tried a few more times, but each time the ship whirred to life, it would just as suddenly blank out.

  “^^-^! Now what am I supposed to do?” Moonie agonized.

  “I don’t know,” said Elle, shrugging despondently, feeling totally unhelpful.

  Moonie chirped a few more times as he floated around the ship. Elle tried to look as concerned as possible, but she was finding it hard to take him too seriously, because he did look pretty adorable in the little teddy-bear outfit.

  She would never admit it to Moonie, but she was secretly overjoyed that his ship was wrecked because it meant that he would be able to stay with her a little longer (and Moonie was too polite to admit to Elle that he could tell exactly what she was thinking).

  “I need to find someone who can repair ships,” he said as he finally disentangled himself from the furry disguise. “And some way to contact the Counsel—they’ll be worried that I haven’t checked in with them by now,” Moonie said, gazing distantly over Elle’s shoulder.

  “What’s the “Counsel”?” Elle asked eagerly. “Oh! Is this part of the “Secret Mission”?” Elle asked, putting the quotations in place. But Moonie wasn’t paying attention. He was peering at something behind her.

  “Who is that?” Moonie asked. Elle whipped around, partially expecting to see Janice the Neighbor again, and only slightly less relieved to see the tom cat, Night, greedily peering at them from behind a bush about ten feet away. She reached down and gently scooped up Moonie. She felt a warm, tingly sensation in her palms as her hand brushed his cool skin.

  “Shhhh! That’s Night. He’s a cat. Don’t go near him. He likes to eat small creatures like you,” Elle said. “You know--'Consume: Bite. Chew. Swallow'….? One time, I caught him with a little bunny---poor little guy didn’t make it.”

  “Interesting,” Moonie said, mildly intrigued.

  “Yes, I know. There’s a little squirrel in the back yard that I feed--I call him Nutty-- and that cat is always trying to catch him. So far, he’s been unsuccessful, but you never know,” Elle said.

  “What is a squirrel?”

  “You know, a little furry animal that climbs trees and eats nuts—about this big," she said, holding her hands a foot wide. "It has a fluffy tail?” Moonie was very quiet after he heard this news, but his eyes shone with a pensive look.

  "Come on, let's go get you some fresh water while we think about what to do," Elle said, picking up the ship and trudging towards the house.

  Back in her room, as Moonie rehydrated in the bowl, Elle carefully hid the black box at the back of her underwear drawer. Hopefully Mindy wouldn't go poking around in there.

  “ELLE! Come down for dinner,” Mindy shouted from downstairs.

  “I better go or she’ll come up looking for me. I’ll be right back, and then we can try to figure out how to fix your ship,” Elle told Moonie.

  “I will go with you,” Moonie said, splashing out of the bowl and hovering towards the door. “I would enjoy to see you humans consume food…..eat,” Moonie said, correcting himself. “I hear it is truly disgusting!” He sounded quite excited about it.

  “It’s really not that big of a deal,” Elle said, but Moonie insisted on coming along and rather than risk leaving a highly curious alien alone in her room, Elle finally consented.

  “Ok, but you have to stay hidden in my sweatshirt pocket,” Elle said. “Mindy really wouldn’t understand and my grandpa would probably want to keep you.”

  While Aunt Mindy said grace, Elle could feel Moonie peeking out from her sweatshirt pocket. She gently poked him back down. After a few moments, she felt him nuzzling his way back out again.

  “How was your day at school, Elle?” Grandpa asked as he passed the peas.

  “Oh fine. How’s it going with you?” Elle began, picking up her fork.

  “Exceptional! I think I’ve charted a new star with that telescope I got at the garage sale!” Grandpa said excitedly.

  “Well, I don’t understand why we didn’t have more luck at the garage sale,” Mindy complained. “And I had to chase the garbage truck away twice!”

  “Bummer,” said Elle, smiling to herself.

  Mindy 1; Elle 1