An intergalactic real estate broker shows a sovereign couple a potential new home |
Contest Entry for "Invalid Item" Prompt: At 11.59 PM on December the 31st, alien creatures land on planet earth. Word Count: 491 "And, this is Earth, your highnesses," R'Kel Muel'r proclaimed to her clients. "This is the planet I've been dying to show you." "This is it?" King U'Lysses asked mockingly (at least, it seemed so to R'kel). "But, it's so...blue..." "I don't like blue too much..." sighed Queen S'Reena, mostly to her husband, while tugging on his sleeve. "But, we could terraform it to however you want it to look, madame," R'Kel--using one of her time-honored sales pitches--quickly interjected. "My contractor would only need two days' notice." "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six...!" "Wh-What's going on here?" asked the king, while pointing at the footage of Times Square that was being shown on one of the monitors in R'Kel's mobile real estate office. "Five! Four! Three! Two...!" "Um, it's...uh..." R'Kel stammered, frantically flipping through several pages on the property spec sheet. Crap! What in Alura's name is going on?! The home office didn't tell me about this! Those creatures look like they're about to have a damned revolution! There goes my hefty commission this month! "One! Happy New Year!!!!!" "Good gods..." the queen whispered, still tugging on her husband's sleeve, while a smile slowly crept on her wrinkled face. "Look, dear, they're having a party! Do you think it's for us?!" "I would most certainly expect so," responded the king, smugly. R'Kel stared wide-eyed at the screen, mouth agape, for only a few seconds before regaining her composure. "Of course, your highnesses!" she exclaimed. "The inhabitants here were especially excited about their planet being on our catalog this month." Good gods, I'm good! "But," the queen sighed, again tugging at her husband's sleeve. "It's blue...I was hoping not to have to redecorate too much." "It is a bit of a fixer-upper, isn't it?" the king added, casually brushing his wife's hand off of his sleeve. Think, R'Kel! Think! Close the sale, dammit! "I could throw in complimentary maid service for a full year," R'Kel heard herself say, smiling through gritted teeth, realizing how much this "free" item was going to skim off of her commission. "I mean, what high-profile couple couldn't use that, huh?" "We most certainly couldn't," King U'Lysses quickly remarked. "I mean, we have it now. But, we should certainly have more." "Exactly," R'Kel agreed, smiling, instinctively pulling out the stylus from her digipad. "All I would need is your signature here, your highness, and I'll take care of all the paperwork." King U'Lysses shot his wife an annoyed look, and the queen abruptly let go of her husband's sleeve. "What do you think, honey?" The queen gave her husband a huge grin. "Well, it is quite close to the Alpha Centauri Shopping Complex..." The king's face softened and he flashed his wife a loving smile. He took the stylus from R'Kel's waiting tentacle, and signed on the digipad. R'Kel tried to conceal her glee, while she mentally enumerated what she would be doing on her long-overdue vacation. |