I walked slowly over to where Vicky was sitting, she was still comforting the weird, alien
creature. I noticed that as Vicky stroked and soothed him, his soft blue glow grew slowly
brighter, and what inside him, looked like computer circuits began to spark and shoot tiny
coloured lights all over his blobby, blue, body. The room was bathed in blue light, and the
little circuit lights gave the impression of excited little fairies buzzing, zooming, zipping
around the room. My attention then turned to Vicky and the blob, they looked oddly
content, cozied up in a big pile of fluffy, foofy pink pillows, that had earlier been discarded
from the gluttonous array that usually lay scattered across Vicky’s princess bed. Then, like
warm water trickling over my head and down my back, a weird sense of calm began to fall
over me, my mind began to empty of all worry and I felt a strange energy pull me, slowly
towards Vicky’s bed, where I lay down and stared at the ceiling. There, I lay on my back
staring up at the tiny lights that danced above my head. The soft blue light began to dim
and my breathing fell into time with Vicky’s and the quiet buzzing noise the blob made, my
eyes fell shut and I drifted, peacefully off to sleep.
“Breakfast!, Vicky, Matthew...breakfast” mmmmm the sound of Saturday morning, I thought
to myself, I hadn’t yet opened my eyes, but I felt a smile form over my face, as I thought of
the pancakes, golden syrup, and the hot cup of milo that awaited me. Then the less
familiar feeling of my sister shaking me and huskily whispering in my ear, “Matthew,
Matthew wake up, wake up, its the morning” a mixture of my mother and Vicky’s voice’s
rung in my ears, and the chaos from the night before felt like little more than a bad dream.
“Matt, Matt!!” my sister voice grew louder, “what are we going to do about Missa!” Missa?”
Missa, she said Missa? That named wrenched me from my contented warmth, I sat
straight up, grabbed Vicky by her shoulders and looked at her with my eyes wide open.
“Missa?” I looked directly at her, my face full of desperation, please don’t say what I think
you said, please don’t say what I think you said. “Yes Matt, Missa, the alien that we found
under my bed last night, from pluto, he’s come to find out why Pluto’s planet status has
been revoked, shall we tell mum and dad? I think he likes potatoes, we should get him
some...” “....wait, wait, wait, stop Vicky, stop!” Vicky went silent, staring at me expectantly,
and in this silence I heard the quiet hum of Missa, who was sitting directly behind Vicky.
This was no weird dream, this was weird real. My mind started to race, I tried frantically to
piece together the events of the night before, why had I just gone to sleep so easily? Had I
been put into a trance? What was the alien doing here? All of a sudden I had finished
processing Vicky’s rant, “wait, wait,wait, he’s here because he want’s to know why Pluto’s
planet status has been revoked? How do you know that?” “Oh, we have been getting to
know each other all morning” she replied in such a casual way it made me feel slightly
uncomfortable.. “Breakfast you two!” mum’s impatient voice rang up the stairs again,
followed closely by her foot steps. “COMING!” I frantically yelled back, not wanting mum to
come anywhere near Vicky’s room right now, then we heard her foot steps retreating.
“Ok” I said grabbing Vicky by her shoulders and looking her dead in the eye again. “We
are going down to breakfast, and the blob” “Missa” Vicky interjected. “Missa” I replied
rolling my eyes. “Missa, will stay here, we are going to act cool around mum and dad, you
hear me, cool, cool, cooly cool, cooly coolies..” “..Yes Matt, I get it, we are going to be
cool” Vicky replied to me, in a ever so slightly condescending voice. “Yes, cool” I continued
“and not tell them anything just at the moment.” I needed time to think, and I knew mum
and dad would just call the authorities, they were just those kind of people. My mum, was
a nurse, and always seemed to be working or sleeping, and if something wasn’t her
responsibility she wasn’t gonna look after it. My dad was a Captain in the Army and he
would either be home for months on end, or away for more. I knew for sure, dad would
have Missa bundled up and taken straight into military custody and I had seen enough
alien invasion movies to know what happens next... - interplanetary war! Besides, do you
know who is always right in those movies.....the kids. No, no, no, if Hollywood has taught
me anything, it’s to keep this stuff to yourself, at least until we find out a little more about
him. “What about some food for Missa?” Vicky’s question suddenly broke me from my
thoughts, “we’ll sort that later” I said hastily, “now put your dressing gown on and let’s get
downstairs, before mum comes back up.”
Breakfast felt awkward to say the least. My mum has a weird way of always being able to
know when I have been up to something, or have something to hide. Call it intuition, or just
wisdom from years of relentless experience. My mum’s eyes followed me from the
moment I entered the room, until I sat down. Vicky hopped up happily next to dad, gave
him a kiss on the cheek and said, “Good morning, dad!” in her sweet, princess voice, that
always made dad melt, and made me feel sick. Mum came up behind me and dished
some pancakes onto my plate, “Good morning, kids”, said mum as she placed three
pancakes on my plate, “Morning, mum!” chirped Vicky. Now, I have to admit for a 5 year
old, who had just had her first alien encounter, and now had that alien stashed away in
her bedroom, Vicky had a pretty good handle on this playing it cool thing, which was more
than I can say for myself. I mustered up, what I thought was my best, everything is cool
voice, and said “Yo, what up momz,” .....oh yeah real cool, I thought to myself, Mum gave
me a weird look, Dad and Vicky were now tickling each others tummies and stealing each
others noses. “How did you sleep?” asked mum, as she sat down beside me. “Ummm, ok”
I replied, stuffing pancake into my mouth before I could say anything else, “How bout you
my little princess?” Mums whole demeanor changed, her voice was softer, her body more
relaxed, she always did this when interacting with Vicky, to my mum Vicky was cute, me, I
was work, hard work. I found school work hard and making friends at school harder. I was
always getting into fights, and getting kicked out of class. My mum loved me, but she was
tired, and weary of my antics. “Good thanks Mum, bestest sleep in the whole, wide, world”
chirped Vicky. “I’m glad to hear it” remarked mum, before she continued “I heard a bit of a
kerfuffle last night, was everything ok?” I looked at mum, then at Vicky, I was just about to
open my mouth to speak when Vicky interceded for me, “Oh yes mummy, I had a
nightmare, but Matt helped me back to bed and stayed with me so I felt safe” “I’m glad to
hear that too, Vicky” then my Mum looked at me and gave me a small, by meaningful
smile.
After that I began to relax a bit and we all began to dig into our breakfast, when all of
sudden Vicky asked, “Dad, why did Pluto have it’s status as a planet revoked?” “Pardon”
said dad, slightly gagging as he swallowed his mouth full whole. “Well” said Vicky,
“apparently in 2006, Pluto had its status as a planet revoked, meaning it’s no longer
classiflied” “Classified”, dad corrected her. “Class, classi, classifi-ed a planet”, Vicky
continued indignantly, “and scientists now think it should be called a moon.” Now, you
must understand how odd this conversation is around our dinner table, most of our meals
are eat’n in relative quiet, apart from the odd story about the princess game Vicky had
played that day, or the outcome of the latest discussion my parents had with my teacher,
and remember Vicky is 5 and in love with all things princess, she simply does not ask
questions about the status of the planets in our solar system. “That’s a very interesting
question Vicky?” said my mum, as she took a sip of coffee. “Yes, Vicky” began my dad “I
couldn’t tell you the reason, but I’m sure it won’t be hard to find out.” “Oh good”, Vicky said
with a huge smile on her face, as she took her next bite. I stared at Vicky, trying to get her
attention, but she just sat there happily swinging her dangling feet, and anticipating the
next mouth full of pancakes, syrup and berries. Then mum asked, what I had hoped she
wouldn’t, “what made you ask such an interesting question Vicky?” I continued to stare at
Vicky, wondering what she might say next, “Ohh, just curious” she calmly replied, “a boy
in my class was very upset about it yesterday, he said it wasn’t fair.” “Well I can’t see how
it would matter,” said dad, “there isn’t any life on Pluto, their status, as far as I can tell
shouldn’t affect anybody? What an odd thing to get upset about?” remarked dad. “How do
you know there is no life on Pluto?” Vicky then asked, looking my dad directly in the eye,
“Well, that’s a good question Vicky, I guess I don’t, after breakfast, we will try to find out
why Pluto is no longer a planet.” “Thanks dad” Vicky responded happily, “...and can you
make me some roast potatoes for lunch today mum?” I nearly choked on my pancakes,
“Potatoes Vicky, why potatoes?” asked mum. “I think I just feel like them today” replied
Vicky, as if what she was asking wasn’t weird at all. “Would you like any other roast
veggies with your potato?” mum asked curiously. “No thanks, uummmm, but maybe a
cheese toastie”, replied Vicky. Mum looked across the table at dad with a confused look on
her face, dad shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat his breakfast. I just hung my
head, and stared at my plate wondering what Vicky might say next.
The rest of breakfast was pretty uneventful, I helped my dad with the dishes while mum
and Vicky went upstairs to get ready for the day. Moments later I heard Vicky yelling at
mum, “Stay out of my room mum! I can get ready myself! No you can’t come in, I’m
making something special for you.” Stuff like that always worked a charm on mum,
especially if it was Vicky who was saying it. “Oh alright then”, I heard mum say.
“Your sister’s acting a little strange tonight” said my dad as he swirled the dish cloth
around the inside of the frypan, “yeah, a little,” I replied. After the fry pan, and several
plates dad began to speak again, “How’s school going, Matty?” It was a stupid question,
he must know how school was going, it was going stink. I was behind in every subject,
hated sports, and had no friends, but I didn’t feel like bumming my dad out right now, he
had just got back from a 3 month posting in the Pacific Islands, so I replied “It’s going ok
thanks dad, how was your trip?” “It was alright to, but I’m looking forward to being home
with you guys for a little while now” he said, still staring onto the sink. “How long will you be
home for?” I asked looking up at him, he continued to look down. “2 months this time, you
know Matty, I never did very well at school either, and I used to get into a lot of fights too”,
he said, as he passed me the last plate. This was weird, dad never, ever talked about
himself, especially not his feelings. “Like me, dad” I replied after a short silence. “Yeah
buddy, like you.” I looked up at my dad, and for the second time that morning one of my
parents gave me a small, but meaningful smile.
I finished up the dishes with dad, and raced upstairs. I knocked on Vicky’s bedroom door,
“Vicky” I said in a hushed voice, “it’s me, Matt, let me in.” Vicky opened the door and I slid
in. Vicky went and sat at he end of her bed next to Missa, I stood there my body slumped
against the door, staring at the two of them. We had made it through breakfast.
Now what?
