The alien spaceship landed in Suzi Stoneham's back yard between the lilac bushes and the rock garden. It looked more like a beat-up old propane tank than anything else. It broke two limbs off the best cherry tree as it came down, and when Suzi saw the three small travelers emerge, she marched out to complain.
The visitors had roly-poly little bodies, enormous big blue eyes, button notes, and chubby cheeks the color of pink baby blankets. Suzi thought about the vast distance they must have come to wind up in her back yard and decided that it would be petty to complain about cherry tree limbs. Suzi Stoneham did not approve of petty behavior.
Her initial attempts at sign language seemed to only confuse the visitors, when when she sat down on the grass and talked to them quietly, they listened with rapt attention. By the time George got home, complaining because there was no dinner, she felt that they were beginning to understand each other.
``You should have called the authorities right away,'' George said, picking up the phone. ``Those creatures will want to see the President, not hang around in our back yard. And if that beat-up old ship of theirs sits out there very long, it's going to kill all the grass underneath it.''
Not long afterward a police car arrived, followed later by a truckload of soldiers, three FBI men, and a local professor of political science.
``Maybe we should have left well enough alone,'' George said, watching the yard fill up with people. ``Any minute now somebody is going to trample one of the rose bushes.''
Suzi nodded abstractedly. She was worried about whether her pink-cheeked aliens could cope with so many people so much bigger than they were. She wasn't even allowed close enough to see them now.
The next morning, the street was blocked off at both ends. There were trucks from the television networks and all the local stations. A professor of linguistics who had flown in from Berkeley had a tape recorder set up and wanted Suzi's help.
``Ask them about their power source,'' said a wiry looking man with horn-rimmed glasses and a pocket full of pencils.
A man with a round red face and broad shoulders drew Suzi off to one side. ``Try and find out if they have weapons.''
A sharp-chinned woman with a stethoscope said nervously, ``Explain that I only want to listen to their heartbeat.''
``Would you consider doing a commercial for MCI?'' a man with a bright tie asked before being rushed away by FBI agents.
At first Suzi tried to teach others to communicate with the aliens, but there were too many people and too much confusion. It worked better when she was left alone to talk to them quietly.
``I told them about cancer,'' she reported. ``They said it sounded like one of their minor illnesses and is easy to cure. They don't approve of nuclear power at all. They use something much less dangerous and more efficient. And they have a simple method for desalinating water.''
The red-faced man with broad shoulders pulled her over to the far side of the yard. ``See if you can get them to come into the house for a while so we can get at their ship. We won't hurt it, but we'd like to move it to a secure place to make sure they don't take off again before we've found out everything we want to know.''
Suzi went back to the aliens and they conferred near the hachway for several minutes. The three kept turning to look at the house and the crowd with their big round eyes. Finally they nodded and Suzi came forward.
``Everyone will have to step back for a moment.''
After a little confusion, a large circle was cleared around the ship. The three aliens turned, climbed up the hatchway, and closed it behind them. The ship rose slowly from the ground, sailed gracefully over the top of the cherry tree, and headed toward outer space again.
Suzi Stoneham did not approve of petty behavior.