The Alien Next Door 2: Aliens for Dinner?! Read online

But Xad didn’t seem to hear her

  and instead pointed at the label on

  Harris’s T-shirt.

  “What is the purpose of this?” Xad

  asked.

  That’s really strange, Harris thought.

  Who doesn’t know what a shirt label is?

  “Um, it tells you the

  size and fabric, and

  how to clean it,”

  Harris explained.

  “Fascinating,” said

  Xad, making notes on

  a tablet.

  A panel in the

  hallway wall slid

  open. Out popped

  Harris’s and Roxy’s

  jackets.

  “Thanks again!” said Roxy.

  “Bye, Zeke!” said Harris as they

  headed out the door and walked back

  to Harris’s house.

  “What a cool house and family! He’s

  a really nice kid, isn’t he?” said Roxy.

  She got on her bike and rode away.

  Harris couldn’t believe she didn’t

  comment on everything weird that

  happened there. Yeah, it was fun, but

  based on the way-too-advanced tech, the

  crazy food, and Zeke’s strange parents,

  he’s definitely a nice alien kid!

  ZEKE JOINED HIS PARENTS

  in the living room. All three floated

  upside down in the air, up near the

  ceiling.

  “I’m not certain it was wise to

  show your friends all that Tragas

  technology,” said Xad.

  “You’re the one who was so obvious

  when you inspected their clothes!”

  Quar said.

  “I think it’s all okay,” said Zeke.

  “Harris may still be a little suspicious,

  but he’s the only one.”

  “Well, just be careful, Zeke,” said

  Xad.

  Zeke rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, Xad.”

  Meanwhile at Harris’s house, his

  parents wanted to hear all about his

  visit to Zeke’s.

  “I hope you were nice to Zeke,” said

  his mom.

  “Yeah, no more alien talk,” added

  his dad.

  “No, no, we just played some games,

  that’s all,” said Harris. Games from

  another planet! he thought. Even if they

  were kind of fun . . .

  “Did Zeke’s parents tell you anything

  about Tragas?” asked his dad. “I’m still

  surprised no one has ever heard of it.”

  “It’s true. They’re our new next-

  door neighbors, but we know so little

  about them,” said his mom.

  Harris saw a familiar expression

  coming across his mom’s face. Uh-oh,

  he thought.

  “Why don’t we invite Zeke and his

  parents here for dinner?” asked his

  mom.

  “What a great idea!” said his dad.

  Harris was shocked. The aliens . . .

  here?! Zeke is one thing, but the parents

  with their odd food and their strange

  questions? I can’t

  believe Mom is

  serious!

  “Roxy can come, too,” his mom added.

  Hmm, Harris thought. Maybe this

  isn’t a bad thing after all. Maybe seeing

  Zeke and his parents doing weird stuff

  at my house, in front of my parents, will

  be the proof I need to get everyone to

  realize that Zeke really is an alien.

  “Sounds good, Mom,” said Harris.

  HARRIS WAS LOOKING

  forward to having Zeke’s family over

  for dinner. This would be his big chance

  to prove to his parents and Roxy that

  Zeke was an alien. The dinner was set

  for the following Saturday.

  At school that week, Zeke almost

  seemed to be showing off.

  In gym class, everyone had to climb

  up a rope. Harris struggled to pull

  himself even halfway up.

  He glanced to his left and saw Zeke

  scurrying up his rope—with his hands

  behind his back!

  “Wow! That kid sure has strong

  legs!” said the boy who was climbing

  the rope to Harris’s right. Zeke smiled

  at Harris on his way down the rope

  after touching the ceiling.

  Is he showing off? Harris wondered.

  Could he be getting too confident now

  that I’ve been in his house, met his

  parents, and seen his Tragas technology?

  Later, during arts and crafts, Harris

  worked on building a birdhouse. He

  started gluing Popsicle sticks together.

  As he waited for some of them to

  dry, he looked over at Zeke and saw

  that he had already completed a big

  birdhouse. It had a hole cut in the

  front, a perch, and a completed roof.

  Harris had barely begun, and Zeke

  was already finished.

  How did he do that so quickly? Harris

  wondered.

  The next day, Harris was sitting in

  math class.

  “Okay, class, here’s your brain-

  buster problem for the day,” said Ms.

  Milton, their teacher.

  She proceeded to write a long list

  of four-digit numbers on the board.

  Then she wrote a five-digit number

  right below it.

  “I’d like you to add this list of

  numbers together, then divide the

  result by the number on the bottom,”

  said Ms. Milton.

  Zeke’s hand shot into

  the air.

  “Yes, Zeke. Do you

  have a question?”

  asked Ms. Milton.

  “No, Ms. Milton. I have the answer,”

  Zeke said.

  His fellow students giggled. Zeke

  looked around, puzzled. Then he told

  Ms. Milton the answer.

  “Why . . . that’s correct, Zeke,” she

  said. “Very good! You certainly have a

  flair for math.”

  Should I be surprised that an alien’s

  brain works faster than a human’s?

  Harris thought. I can’t wait for Saturday

  night. Then everyone will finally know.

  SATURDAY FINALLY CAME.

  Harris was excited, but nervous. His

  parents would finally see for themselves

  how strange Zeke’s family was.

  He spent most of the day helping

  his parents clean the house and set up

  for dinner.

  Roxy came over early to help.

  “Now remember, Harris, you need

  to be on your best behavior,” said his

  mom. “We want Zeke’s family to feel

  welcome in the neighborhood.”

  “Nothing to worry about, Mom,”

  said Harris, smiling.

  Just then, a whistling sound came

  from outside their front door.

  “What in the world is that?” asked

  Mr. Walker.

  Harris remembered Zeke’s first

  day at school. Zeke had whistled

  outside the classroom door instead of

  knocking.

  “That’s Zeke and his parents,”

  Harris explained. “That’s how people

  knock in Tragas!”

  Harris opened the door.

  “Come in,” he said to the three of

  them as he suspiciously eyed the food
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  they were carrying.

  Harris introduced everyone.

  “Zeke, these are my parents,” Harris

  said.

  “Welcome,” said Harris’s mom,

  extending her hand. “Rita and Felix

  Walker. Nice to meet you.”

  Zeke’s father stared at Mrs. Walker’s

  outstretched hand. “I am Xad, and

  this is my wife, Quar,” he said.

  Xad extended his elbow toward

  Mrs. Walker.

  “Um, Dad? People here don’t touch

  elbows as a greeting,” Zeke explained.

  “They shake hands.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” said Xad, reaching

  out and grasping Mrs. Walker’s hand

  firmly before shaking it.

  “I kind of like the elbow thing,” said

  Mr. Walker. He extended his elbow

  and touched Quar’s elbow. They both

  smiled.

  “Why don’t we have some appetizers

  in the living room?” said Mr. Walker.

  The whole group settled into the

  living room.

  Harris’s dad picked up a cracker

  and placed a slice of cheese on it.

  “Cheese and cracker?” he offered

  Quar.

  She took the appetizer and stared

  at it. When she saw Mr. Walker take

  a bite, she did the same.

  “It tastes kind of sweet and crunchy,”

  said Quar. “I like it. Oh, we brought

  a delicacy from Tragas to share with

  you. These are called kreslars.”

  Xad took the lid off of a platter,

  revealing what looked like glowing

  purple slugs.

  “Are they raw?” Harris asked, a

  little grossed out by the slugs’ slimy

  appearance.

  “They are, but they don’t have to

  be,” replied Xad. “Try one, Harris.”

  Harris picked up a slug and noticed

  that steam was now coming off of it.

  It was warm to the touch.

  How did they do that? he wondered.

  How did they make it hot?

  “Interesting; they taste kind of like

  warm fruit,” said Mr. Walker.

  After trying one, Roxy smiled and

  looked at Harris. “Not bad, right?”

  A buzzer rang in the kitchen, and

  Harris quickly put his slug back.

  “Okay, everybody,” Mrs. Walker

  announced. “Dinner is ready!”

  THE DINNER GUESTS SAT

  down around the dining room table.

  Roxy and Harris carried steaming

  platters of food from the kitchen.

  Zeke got up to help.

  As Harris put down a platter of

  fish, he saw Zeke returning from the

  kitchen. Zeke balanced two bowls,

  three plates, and a pitcher of water

  on his arms, shoulders, and head—all

  quite easily. Harris’s parents clapped.

  “That’s pretty impressive!” said

  Mr. Walker. Harris put his face in his

  hands.

  “Zeke told us you move around

  a lot. You must have lived in some

  interesting places for your work,” said

  Mrs. Walker.

  “Oh, yes,” said Quar. “In Plaxima,

  the weather was so severe that we had

  to walk backward so the wind didn’t

  blow us over. In Jerstik, people could

  eat their clothing.”

  “And in Nanstu, the language was

  so complicated, just saying hello took

  five minutes,” added Xad.

  “I’ve never heard of any of these

  places,” said Mrs. Walker.

  “They are pretty far away, and very

  small,” Zeke said quickly, shooting

  his parents an annoyed look. After

  all the warnings they gave him about

  keeping the truth hidden, here they

  were telling strange stories.

  As he listened, Harris grew more

  convinced than ever that Zeke and

  his parents were aliens. He also

  noticed that platter after platter of

  food somehow appeared in front of

  Zeke and his parents. But he never

  saw anyone touch or pass anything

  to anyone else.

  I could have sworn those potatoes

  were in front of Roxy a second ago, and

  now they’re in front of Zeke!

  Harris also saw that neither Zeke

  nor his parents used their utensils.

  He watched as the food subtly floated

  up from their plates to their mouths

  when no one else was looking.

  Why doesn’t anyone else see this?

  Harris wondered in frustration.

  “What’s that?” Roxy asked, pointing

  to a bottle of orange-and-green liquid

  that Zeke’s parents brought.

  “It is Saurlic, a popular beverage in

  Tragas,” explained Xad. “Try some.”

  Roxy poured herself a glass and

  took a sip.

  “Mmm . . . takes like a cross between

  lemonade and orange juice,” she said.

  “I like it.” Roxy quickly drank down

  the whole glass.

  Harris looked away for a second to

  see what Zeke was up to. Zeke was

  only looking back at him, smiling.

  When he turned back to Roxy, her

  empty glass was full again!

  How did that happen? he thought.

  The bottle is all the way across the room.

  There is no way anyone could have

  brought it over, refilled Roxy’s glass, then

  put it back in just a few seconds!

  When dinner ended, Mrs. Walker

  stood up.

  “Let’s move to the den for dessert

  and coffee,” she suggested.

  AS HIS PARENTS PREPARED

  dessert and Harris was walking toward

  the den, he spotted Zeke’s parents in

  the front hallway. They were both

  leaning into the coat closet.

  “Are you looking for something?”

  Harris asked.

  Quar and Xad turned around

  quickly. The both looked embarrassed.

  In reality, they were researching the

  clothes in the closet. But they couldn’t

  say that to Harris.

  Zeke walked in and spoke up. “My

  parents left the dessert they brought

  in the closet,” he said.

  “That’s right,” said Quar. She

  reached back into the closet and pulled

  out a white cake with colorful frosting

  in a pattern of square shapes.

  “Uh, great,” said Harris. “You can

  just bring that into the den.”

  But Harris was suspicious. This

  sounds fishy to me, he thought. They

  never even wore coats and had no reason

  to go into that closet! Why would they

  have put a cake in there?

  Harris joined the others in the den.

  He picked up a knife to cut a piece of

  the cake and noticed that the squares

  in the frosting had changed into a

  series of wavy lines.

  Harris looked around. Everyone was

  chatting, sipping coffee, and happily

  eating dessert. Zeke and his parents

  were even using utensils now. It would

  have seemed perfectly normal if not

  for everything else Harris had already
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  seen.

  Why does no one but me ever seem

  to notice all the strange stuff that

  happens around Zeke and his family? he

  wondered. The appetizer that suddenly

  cooked itself, the refilling glass, the

  food appearing magically in front of

  Zeke, Quar, and Xad, the changing cake

  frosting, not to mention everything that

  happened at Zeke’s house and also at

  school. It’s all too much. And yet nobody

  sees it but me!

  “Well, we would like to thank you

  for a lovely evening,” Quar said when

  everyone had finished dessert. “But

  we should be getting home.”

  Quar, Xad, and Zeke all stood up.

  This is it! Harris thought. My best

  chance to prove that Zeke’s an alien is

  about to end. I can’t take it anymore.

  I have to convince them. They have

  to have noticed something. It’s now or

  never!

  Harris stood up.

  “That’s it! The game is over, Zeke,”

  he announced. “I know that you and

  your parents are aliens!”

  Everyone looked horrified. Roxy

  looked at Harris and shook her head.

  Harris’s parents jumped up from their

  seats. “Harris!!!” his mom said.

  But Harris continued.

  “With all the strange stuff that

  happened tonight—the floating

  trays of food, the refilling glass, the

  steaming appetizer, the—”

  Harris’s mother cut him off.

  “THAT’S ENOUGH!” she shouted.

  “Harris. You are grounded. Go to

  your room right now!”

  “But—”

  “Now!” his dad said.