Alien in the Family

FARYKO:
I landed my ship on the alien planet, setting down in a clearing near some trees. Didn't know when or where I would meet some of the natives, but I thought I saw a dwelling nearby so I walked toward it.

I had designed the ship by myself and was undertaking this journey as an experiment. I knew the people of this planet looked similar to me, as I had seen their broadcasts on my receiver. Surely they would welcome me...or would they? They might not even realize I'm an alien, as I looked so much like them.

I'd quickly learned their language by watching the programs I saw beamed from the alien world.So there would be no language difficulties.

Well, I approached the dwelling and was confronted by a massive, furry creature. It was not one of the people of this planet--and it towered over me; even though it was on four legs, it was twice as tall as I was (and much heavier).
The creature looked down at me and growled a bit--I tried not to show any fear. It was wagging its tail nervously. I tried to look as friendly as possible.Then the creature suddenly dropped to the ground, rolled over, and lay on its back,its tail now waving in a more friendly manner. Cautiously I approached its belly and rubbed it with my hand. "Nice doggie,"I said (the first words to pop into my head).

Doggie! Yes, it indeed was a "dog" but much bigger than I thought itwould be, based on the video pictures I had seen from this planet. Come to think of it, the dwelling I saw next to me was also bigger than I'd thought it would be. The dog went into a door in the house, one that seemeddesigned for him so he could have easy access, in or out. I followed him.

The canine went over to a dish and started eating. The roomI was now in had a high ceiling and what looked like kitchen appliances --but colossal ones--all around. Next I went into another room and saw a giant boy sitting at a "computer"...had I made a miscalculation here? Sure, he looked like a boy of my world wouldbut so much bigger. Suddenly the boy stood up and walked toward the"kitchen"--and that's when he saw me. I was frozen in my tracks as he cautiously moved toward me.

He wore a T-shirt, pants, and socks (no sneakers)--hiskneecaps were slightly over my head! I suspected he was aboutfour and a half times my height.

"Welcome to Earth! Ah, are you from some otherplanet?"

"Yes, I am from Arisixto (AH-ree-SEEK-stow). We look like you dobut I didn't know you'd be so big."

"Well, I'm 11...the grownups here are even bigger." Only 11, I thought, and yet if he were on my world, he would be a gargantuanmonster who could lift cars and throw them like toys. He'd weighabout 80 times as much as most of my people did and would have much morepower.

"Would be cool to be as small like you," he said. "Though you must not be too strong here."The boy got a hardcover book and asked me to lift it. No chance.Then he got a paperback which was about half as long as I was tall.I could lift that, though it was bulky and heavy to me.

"Be cool if I was on your planet--I'd be a giant!" Maybe he was reading my mind; my thoughts of a moment ago.

"Yeah, you would, but my space ship would be too small to carryyou back." Crazy images floated in my mind of what would happenif I COULD do just that. Me back on Arisixto: "Oh, Hartek? This is myadopted son, Ryan..."--as Ryan trips over something and fallsdown, flattening a small house.

"You seem like a cool kid," I said. "Maybe I can stay with youfor awhile." In truth, I always fantasized about being a tiny personin a land of giants, though I wondered if it would be too muchtrouble in the long run. I would be fairly powerless in a "big"world, looking like a doll that had somehow come to life. Butwho knows, maybe it would be fun. Or an adventure of sorts!

"That'd be awesome, Faryko!" He carefully put his hands around mybody and put me on his lap as if I were a baby. So far so good;though I knew if he weren't so careful, doing something like thatcould crush me to death.

I asked the kid, Ryan, to bring me to my spaceship which was in the field nearby. I got aboard and the kid lifted it up and took it back to his bedroom. That's right, a little kid could lift my spaceship! Being so tall and strong, he carried it with little trouble.

Little space dude! I was the only kid to have one. Not a toy but a real alien, and real little. I'm a giant to him! Kewl...

I had Faryko stay in my bedroom and took some food out to him.I found a small tupperware container and put some meat loaf and veggies in for him, plus some soda in a dixie cup. Even part of a cookie. When I went to bed I lay a T-shirt on the floor and hegathered it up around himself like a blanket.

The next day Ihad school and wondered whether or not to take Faryko with me.He could fit in my backpack if he tried--I think he only weighedabout a pound or so. In science class I had to do a project so Itook out Faryko and put him on top of the teacher's desk. "Thisis my robot, Faryko," I said, and I had him do some simple stuffand I used an old TV remote control to (pretend to) "control him".He walked over and picked up a pen and handed it to me. I pushedanother button and he grabbed some papers my teacher had balled upon his desk, and he carried them over toward the wastebasket anddumped them in.My teacher thought it was a neat project; I told him I'd taken an olddoll I had and put some electronics in it.

After class, Laura Weld, one of my classmates, came over and wantedto play with my robot. "You have a cute doll, Ryan."

"Not a doll, it's a robot. And please don't pick it up, you mighthurt him."

"Him?," she laughed. "You mean it. You act like this doll is real."

"Well, be careful with him...I spent a lotta time working on himand maybe I can make some money making dolls like him."

FARYKO:The girl had to go to another class so she handed me backto Ryan and I stayed in his backpack the rest of the school day.

The next day I awoke to hear a scraping noise outside. I climbed upto look out the window and saw the ground was covered with snow;the noise was a snowplow passing. Ryan wasn't awake yet but hisclock radio clicked on and I heard: "no school today in Acton,Beverly, Boxford, Billerica..."

I climbed up onto Ryan's bed andsaid, "Hey, Ryan, you got the day off from school today..." He replied, "cool!"

We heard on the radio that his town would be getting a foot of snow--as deep as I was tall! His door opened--I jumped down to the floor--and his dad peeked in. "Hear that, son? No schooltoday...but breakfast will go on as scheduled."

Ryan went out andate and later brought me back a small plate with a bit of a pancake, some sausage, and a tiny cup of hot chocolate. "My mom and dadare staying home, too," he said. "Snow's too heavy for them to goto work." Maggie the dog came in, sat down in front of me, and put her head down so I could pat the top of it. I climbed up on top of the dog and suddenly the dog ran back into the kitchen as I held on.

Ryan was keeping me a secret from his parents but the secret was about to be exposed! Ryan's mom Debbie looked down at her dogand saw me holding on. At first she thought I was a doll of somesort but that misconception ended when I suddenly lost my balanceon top of the pooch and fell down to the floor. Being so tiny andweighing so little, the fall didn't hurt me as much as you'd think,but I let out a cry of pain; Debbie had an amazed expression as shelooked down and saw me scramble to my feet and attempt to run away.

She put her hand down to block my way and gingerly picked me up.

RYAN MORGAN: It was like in that movie "The Borrowers"--Faryko had been "seen". Oh no! Mom looked over to me and said, "Is this somesort of special doll or..."

"He's an alien, mom... I found him."

FARYKO:
John Morgan, Ryan's dad, walked in and saw me in his wife's hands. Ryan looked up at his dad and said, "He's a real live lil' dude fromouter space...I just wanted to help him out. His name's Faryko."

JOHN MORGAN: I was really amazed. My son had found an alien, allright, and maybe a foot tall. Debbie and I both told Faryko that we were honored to have him here. He would be safe here. "After all,if I were your size and living on a planet of giants, I could usea little help myself."

Hey, why not, right? I only hoped that he didn't carry any strange diseases, coming as he did from an alienworld, and I wondered what would happen if someone from the government found out he was staying with us...

FARYKO: A few days later something amazing happened.
Ryan had brought me to school again, this time staying in his backpack most of the time. He got talking to a fellow student near the front of the room; I heard a student behind me saying "I'm gonna do it Monday, you just watch."

"I don't believe you," came the voice of another boy.
"You just watch! I know the combo of my dad's gun rack and there will be fireworks here!"
"You wouldn't do it, Eddie..."
"But everyone makes fun of me, and they stole my stuff--they are gonna pay!"
"Well if you DO...just don't, OK?" At that point Ryan came back and the two boys behind me stopped talking (class was about to begin anyway.) When school ended I told him what I'd heard.

"Oh Eddie? He's a real troublemaker. But you think he's gonna bring a gun into school?" I told Ryan it sure seemed that way. Ryan called the school and told the principal's secretary that he had heard a classmate, Eddie Litton, say he was going to bring a gun to school the following Monday. She said she'd tell her boss.

When Monday came (Ryan took me to school again), nothing seemed strange. The first period went by without incident. Then second period began and I suddenly felt a huge kick in the bookbag Ryan had placed me in (on the floor). I dizzily got out and saw Eddie's huge sneakers next to the bag, his body looming behind his desk. I couldn't see his face but I could hear him laugh. Eddie ran out of the classroom and I could swear I saw him with a gun in one hand.

Just then a policeman walked in the building, heading toward the principal's office. He was about to tell the principal that Eddie's father had discovered a gun missing from his gun rack. But he saw Eddie himself, about to shoot some of his fellow students! The principal came out of his office saying, "Oh, officer, I'm glad you're here-- we had a rumor going around that one of our students---"

The principal saw Eddie too! He dashed over to the boy and pinned him to the ground, and he and the officer successfully wrestled the gun away from the boy. Tragedy had been averted! It was indeed Eddie's father's gun, loaded with several rounds. (The principal had, at first, doubted Ryan's story but then he started to think twice...)

Did I make a difference? Did my overheard conversation help prevent Eddie from shooting his fellow students? I'm not sure. I had gone back to Ryan's bag without anyone noticing. But soon people WOULD notice me. And we wanted it that way.

RYAN MORGAN: I'm glad they caught Eddie. He's going to a reform school now; I'd hate to think what would have happened if we hadn't told the principal, and if Eddie's dad hadn't noticed his gun rack was missing one gun. Anyway, me and my family decided that maybe we SHOULD go public with Faryko. Did you see it on the news?

Cut to: Interior of an elementary school classroom. Tiny Faryko is on the teacher's desk as students gather around it.

REPORTER: Faryko is only a foot tall but he may have saved the lives of some kids much bigger than him.

YOUNG GIRL: He looks so cute! A lil' doll-sized guy. And a hero, too!

RYAN MORGAN: He came right into my house and we welcomed him, y'know? I mean, he's from another planet and he's real small but we wanted to help him.

REPORTER:And this tiny alien may have just helped some of these Earth kids when he overheard a young boy who was planning to bring a gun into school...© 2001 Bob "shrinkingman" Nelson