Writer's Cramp Entries

The Crash

Prompt: It’s finally happened – first contact. Tell in a poem or story what happened when the first alien/aliens touched base with humans.
Entry for 04/22/05

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Mary Jo hummed softly to herself as she chopped the vegetables for dinner. The lovely countryside she had called home for the past month was a wonderful get-away from the city with all its hustle and bustle, and although the nearest shopping center was about ten miles away, her only daughter – sixteen year old Morgan – didn’t seem to mind.

Mary Jo threw open the doors to the patio to let in some fresh air. Miles and miles of untouched land surrounded their small cottage, giving them a sense of isolation. It was everything Mary Jo had hoped for and then some. No noise, no deadlines, no…

What in the world?!

“Mom!” Morgan screamed as she ran into the kitchen, having to hold on to the wall to steady herself. “What’s going on?! Are we having an earthquake?!”

“I don’t know, honey!” Mary Jo yelled over the thunderous sounds coming from the heavens. She clung to the counter, watching in dismay as her pots and pans slid to the floor. She gazed outside the window in growing fear, the clouds becoming darker and darker until there was simply no sun in the sky. She didn’t think they were about to have a thunderstorm, although it wasn’t uncommon to experience those every once in a while out here. However, the weather channel had said it was going to be a nice and sunny day. So what in the world was going on?!

“Eeeeek!” Morgan screamed in terror. And she had good reason to, for the furniture and everything else in between seemed to be rising right off the floor! “MOM! I’m floating away!!”

“You’re not the only one, sweetie!!” Mary Jo replied as she too was now barely hanging on to the counter top. The thunderous sound was now so deafening, she couldn’t even hear herself think.

“Look, Mom!” Morgan shouted. “Look outside! There’s something falling to the…!”

DOOM!!

The entire world shook at the terrible collision and then all was mercifully silent.

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“Oow…my head,” Mary Jo groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. She blinked to gather some sense of coherency before sitting up quickly at the memory of the events that had taken place. “Morgan? Morgan?!”

She jumped to her feet, ignoring the mind-numbing headache and the disaster that was now her kitchen. At least her house was still intact. Thank God for small mercies.

“Morgan! Where are you?!” she bellowed as she ran out of the house, only to come to a screeching halt at the unbelievable sight before her.

“Oh dear…now I know I really must have bumped my head a bit too hard.”

“Mom! Look! Isn’t it great?! They’re aliens!” Morgan was running towards her, her youthful feature wreathed in smiles. She was dragging a being (Mary Jo wasn’t sure of what else to call it) along with her and came to a stop before her mother, all but shoving the small figure before her.

The gray luminescent thing, which was actually in the shape of a human, bowed politely – which Mary Jo found quite charming – and held up its hands in greeting. They looked scaly and a cross between a claw with a frog like webbing between them. Its black eyes were rather wide and reminded Mary Jo of a cartoon character. It had a rather tiny nose and its mouth opened and shut continuously, revealing a slick red tongue each time.

“It’s saying hello, mom,” Morgan the translator piped in. “Their ship is broken and they wondered if they could dock here for a while until they got it fixed.”

“And how do you know all that?”

“They gave me this.” She held up a small device in the shape of a pebble, which she held to her ear. “It’s like a translator thingy and it’s pretty cool! They haven’t come to hurt us. So can he stay, mom?”

“Well…” Mary Jo looked towards the huge spaceship that was oddly in the shape of a doughnut and sighed. She could only imagine what would happen if the FBI or CIA or NASA decided to drop by for a visit. “I dunno…”

The alien made more yapping motions with his mouth and Morgan, after listening intently, translated again. “He said there’re only twenty of them in the ship and they’ve been traveling for many zaniela – that’s their way of saying ‘miles’ – but their stupid captain made them get lost on the way to their home planet of Modelei.”

More yapping and listening.

“He says he’s always been curious about Earth and this would be a good time as any to explore it. He’s not going to make any trouble. Pretty please, mom?!”

Mary Jo was ready to shake her head again, when she noticed the silent line of pleading aliens behind her daughter and her new friend. She wondered how they moved so quickly. Besides, they weren’t that ugly looking and could easily pass for humans if a wig and some baggy clothes were thrown over them.

“All right, everyone in,” Mary Jo said with an inward sigh of resignation. “But everyone’s got to help clean up my home and then we can all have some tea and biscuits.”

“Yay!” Morgan squealed in delight, as she hugged her mom tightly. “Wait till I tell the others in school about this. Come on Anxlyz!”

Apparently, Anxlyz must have realized that the hug was a symbol of greeting amongst the humans, for he too threw his arms around Mary Jo’s neck and then gave her a translating device.

“Thank you, kind mother,” the alien said. Its voice was quite soothing.

To Mary Jo’s delight; they did a great job helping to clean up the mess they had created. And as soon as tea and biscuits were served (the aliens seemed to enjoy it immensely), Mary Jo wondered if it was legal to adopt one of them.

After all, she and Morgan could always use the extra company.

Word Count: 996

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