The Day a Spaceship landed in the Park
Kaitlyn, Susan, Brad, and Charles raced around the park playing tag. It was a normal Saturday. All of the kids had sped through breakfast so that they could meet each other at the park like they did every Saturday. They would spend most of their morning at the park until one of their parents came by and picked up the kids to take them to get lunch. Then they would go to the movies or bowling, and then spend the night with each other. This weekend they would be staying at Kaitlyn’s house.
They had about two more hours before Mrs. Harper would pick them up. They liked it when they stayed with Kaitlyn because the Harpers had a fire pit that they got to cook with.
“Hey, Kait, what are eating tonight?” Charles yelled as he raced around a group of teens checking their phones.
“I don’t know, but I know dad was filling up the pit this morning.”
“Cool.”
“I hope we have hot dogs,” Susan said.
“We had those the last time we were at Kaitlyn’s. I want kebobs,” Brad replied.
“I don’t care what we eat as long as we get to have s’ mores,” Chares stated.
“How about we focus on the game,” Kaitlyn said.
The kids went back to chasing each other around the park. They ran further into the park to an area that most people didn’t visit anymore. One weekend they had stumbled upon the secluded area. There was a treehouse and swingset that they would play on. There was sometimes the occasional dog walker that would pass by, but for the most part, they were always alone.
“Let’s play something different. I’m tired of tag,” Charles said.
“Like what?” Susan asked.
“I was thinking…”
But before Charles could finish his thought, the children were encircled by a large wind. They looked up at the sky just in time to see smoke plumes shoot down. The kids watched as a large white spaceship landed right in front of them. The ship sighed as it came to a complete stop. The lights on the ships flashed bright reds and blues before blinking out. A loud grinding came from the ship as the door rose to show a man dressed in a puffy orange suit.
The orange-clad creature stepped down the stairs of the ship and stopped in front of the kids. Their mouths hung open in awe at this space creature. They watched as he reached up to his helmet. Ssspooosh! He slipped the helmet off his head and hugged it under his arm. The strange man didn’t look like other men the children new. His ears came to a point, his skin a light green, and his eyes glowed a bright orange.
“Hello tiny Earthlings,” the strange man said, “Could you tell me where I landed.”
“Denver,” Kaitlyn whispered.
“Denver! Fascinating! I’m sure you’re wondering who I am. Well, I’m Zork from Mars, and my spacecraft has failed me on my journey back home.”
“You’re from Mars!” the children screamed in unison.
“Oh, I suppose you Earthlings have never met any of my kind. Why, yes, I am a Martian, and I travel all throughout the Universe to the different planets all the time. Earth isn’t a planet aliens tend to visit.”
“Why?”
“Earth was one of the last planets to form life, so they haven’t had the time to explore the Universe like the rest of us have. Maybe one day your people will get to visit my planet. It’s really rather nice. We have the best candy bars.”
“Candy?”
“I see you tiny Earthlings like sweets as well. I happen to have a few with me, but I need your help first. Can I know your names?”
“I’m Kaitlyn, and this Susan, Charles, and Brad. And we’re children, not tiny Earthlings.”
“My sincerest apologies, Kaitlyn. Are you children good at keeping secrets?”
“Yes.”
“Good because I need you guys to help me repair my spacecraft, but we mustn’t alert anybody else, especially adults. If they find out, I surely won’t get to return to my planet.”
“Sure, what do you need?” Charles.
“Charles, we only have an hour and a half before Mrs. Harper picks us up. How are we going to help him fix his ship in that amount of time?” Susan questioned.
“This is a big fix and will likely require a trip to, what I believe you call, a hardware store,” Zork said.
“I think we should help him,” Kaitlyn said, “We’re going to the movies after lunch, so we could easily sneak out since my mom doesn’t sit with us.”
“I’m game if you guys are,” Brad said.
“Me too,” Charles replied.
“I suppose we could try,” Susan said, giving in to the pressure of her friends pleading eyes.
“Perfect! None of you happen to have a pocket knife or the like on you, do you?” Zork asked.
“I do,” Charles replied, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a Swiss Army knife, “I got it for my birthday.”
“Thanks.”
Zork took the knife and stepped to the side of the ship. He sat his helmet down and pulled the knife attachment out. With a swift movement, he snapped a square panel off the side of the ship. Green, red, blue, and yellow wires spilled out of the open, sparking and sizzling.
“It’s worse than I expected. Tell me, is this place safe for me and my ship to stay?”
“Yeah, nobody ever comes this way, except for a few dog walkers. If you push it behind those bushes, nobody will ever be able to spot it,” Brad offered.
“Good idea. Come on, help me.”
The children lined up next to Zork and pushed. Amazingly, the ship moved easily behind the bush. The children moved a few branches, leaves, and twigs to help hide more of the machine as Zork tinkered with the masse of wires.
“How quickly could you get to a hardware store?” Zork asked.
“There’s one across the street, but we don’t have any money and were not supposed to cross the street without an adult,” Kaitlyn stated.
“I see. I believe I can resolve your money issue, but I can’t be seen out in public. I don’t exactly look like the average Earthling.”
“I’m 11, so I’m almost an adult. And if we all walk together and hold hands, I’m sure we’ll be fine. Nobody here is going to tell on us anyway,” Charles stated.
The others nodded in agreement. Zork smiled and reached inside his spacesuit and pulled out a small wooden box. Opening the box, he revealed a neatly organized container of money. There was the most interesting looking money within the box. Some glittered in the sun like gold, a few were colored like the rainbow, and one even looked like it was alive. Zork thumbed through the money and pulled out a familiar group of bills.
“Here we go. I believe this is your money.”
Kaitlyn took the bundle of bills and counted the money.
“Wow, there’s over $200 here.”
“That will be enough, right?”
“It will be more than enough. What are you going to need?”
Zork took out a pad of paper and pencil from his pocket and quickly wrote down a long list of items. He handed the paper to kids. After a long, silent second, the kids looked back up at Zork, bewilderment on their faces.
“That’s a lot of stuff, but some of that the hardware store isn’t going to have,” Brad said.
“Yeah, some of this is food,” Susan added.
“Food? You mean you eat some of those things?” Zork exclaimed.
“Yeah, what do you do with bread, milk, eggs?”
“Why, I make rocket fuel.”
“Rocket fuel, out of those things?”
“Certainly, burns clean, and you can get just about anywhere. What I really need right now are those first six things. Can you get that at the store across the street?”
“Yeah, those we can.”
“Alright, go get those, and then we’ll see what we need to do.”
The children nodded and took each other’s hands. The glanced around the park to make sure nobody was watching them, and stepped out on the sidewalk. None of them had crossed a street without an adult before, but they knew they had to press a button, wait for the walk signal to appear, and then look both ways before they set foot out on the road.
Brad, being the tallest and the one closest to the button, pressed the silver circle. They waited for what seemed like ages for the sign across the street to tell them it was safe to cross. They each looked both ways to see if there were any cars, which the street looked dead, and then they raced across the road to make sure they made it time before the light turned red again.
Charles had frequented the hardware store with his dad since he was in construction, but for the others, this was a new place to explore. They all wanted to play, but they were on a mission. Charles looked down at the list.
“Kaitlyn, you can get the wires and wire connectors on aisle four. Susan, go to aisle seven and look for a lighter. Brad can grab the electrical tape on aisle eight. And I’ll get the light bulbs and zip ties on aisle one. We’ll meet back here in a few minutes.”
The kids scattered throughout the store and grabbed their assigned items. Within minutes, the kids were back at the front of the store with their hands full of goodies. Charles checked the items to make sure they had the right things. They tossed their items on the counter and waited for the cashier to ring them up.
“That’ll be 15.67,” the nasally cashier told them.
Kaitlyn pulled a 20 out of her pocket and handed it across the cashier. They waited as she counted back their change and bagged their items. They grabbed their bag and raced out of the store. They patiently waited to cross the street again and ran to where they had left Zork.
“Here,” Charles said, handing him the bag.
Zork looked through the bag.
“You did great kids. Now let’s see what I can get done.”
The children noticed that Zork had emptied the hole in the ship of all of its wires. Inside the hole, there were things that looked like bells, whistles, and candies. Zork pulled out a yellow wire and red wire along with the connectors, lighter, and tape. He used Charles knife and stripped some of the covering off of the wires to expose shiny copper wires beneath. With his lighter, he heated up the wires and pressed them together. He wrapped the ends with some tape and twisted a connector over them.
He placed the wires inside, connecting one wire to what looked like a gumdrop and the other wire to a whistle. He continued to connect wires together and place them carefully inside of the panel. The kids had sat down to watch them make quick work of the supplies they had bought him.
“Kaitlyn,” a booming voice echoed across the park.
“My mom’s here. What are we going to do?”
“You kids go on. I’m sure you’ll figure out how to get the rest of the supplies and bring them back to me. I’ll be here working on what I can and keeping out of sight.”
The children ran across the park to Mrs. Harper. She held the door of the car open for the children to file in before getting into the front seat.
“Where do you want to grab lunch at kiddoes?” Mrs. Harper asked.
“Hey, Pizza Pizzazz has a lot of bread, and we might be able to find some other items there,” Brad whispered.
“We can get the milk there too,” Susan stated.
“We want to go to Pizza Pizzazz,” Kaitlyn replied.
“Alright.”
The children jumped out of the car as soon as Mrs. Harper stopped in front of Pizza Pizzazz. They raced inside and picked a table close to the drink counter. Susan slipped past and grabbed a small carton of milk, and placed it in her pocket.
“Here, I grabbed my bag from the car,” Kaitlyn said, offering a drawstring bag to her friend.
Each child walked past the drink counter and grabbed a carton of milk, dropping it into Kaitlyn’s bag. It was an all you can eat restaurant, so the milk would be paid for. Mrs. Harper slid in at the table with the kids.
“My, you must be hungry.”
“Yep,” Kaitlyn replied.
The children hurried dinner along, gulping down pizza and sliding the crust and garlic knots into Kaitlyn’s bag. They were ready to go just and quickly as they came in. Before Mrs. Harper knew it, the children were racing to the door, ready for the movie.
“Slowly down and wait for me,” Mrs. Harper shouted.
The children slowed slightly, so Mrs. Harper could catch back up with them. The impatiently waited as she bought five tickets to the latest children’s movie and raced into the darkened theater. Mrs. Harper waved at the kids as she took a seat closer to the front.
“We still need to get eggs, bubble gum, marshmallows, decorative lights, and peanut butter,” Susan whispered.
“We can get those at the store next door; we just have to sneak out, get the stuff, take it to Zork, and get back before the movie is over,” Kaitlyn replied.
“The movie is almost two hours; I think we should have enough time if we work quickly.”
The lights went out, signaling the start of the movie. Charles motioned for the others to follow him. They slipped to the floor and crawled to the door at the back. Barely cracking it open, the children slipped back out into the lobby and ran out the front door.
They raced next door to the grocery store. Brad handed out the orders this time, and before long, the kids were back at the front of the store with the last of the items for Zork. Kaitlyn paid, and the kids were off again.
The shopping center where the movie theater and store were was only a couple of minutes away by car, so the kids knew they would have no probably running back to the park in just a few more minutes.
“How are we doing on time?” Kaitlyn asked.
Charles looked down at his watch, “It’s only been 30 minutes.”
Bags in hand, the children ran down the sidewalk back to the park. They raced past other children and their parents and received a couple of groans from people they bumped or disturbed. Soon, the familiar green hedges came into view. Instead of running all the way to the entrance, the kids darted through the bushes and came out right in front of their play area.
Zork was still there, working on the ship. They tossed the grocery bags and Kaitlyn’s bag on the ground.
“There you go,” Kaitlyn said, huffing and puffing.
“That didn’t take long at all. Let’s get this thing up and running, shall we?”
Zork pulled out the bread, milk, and eggs and handed them to the children. He took the rest of the products and began to place them inside the hole with all of the wires he had attached while they were gone. The kids looked at the food he had left in front of them.
“What are we supposed to do with this?” Brad asked.
“I’m sorry. Here you go.”
Zork handed the kids a bowl and spoon.
“Mix all of that up for me, will you? It will save some time.”
The kids shrugged, but they did as they were asked. Kaitlyn started opening the milk cartons and pouring into the bowl as Brad and Susan cracked open the eggs. Charles pulled the bread apart into smaller pieces and dropped them into the bowl. He grabbed up the spoon and began mixing everything together until they had a lumpy, gross mess of milk, bread, and eggs.
“Now what?” Kaitlyn asked, presenting the bowl to Zork.
“I’m just about down.”
Zork took a piece of partially chewed gum out of his mouth and pressed it inside of the hole. Turning to Kaitlyn, he took the bowl, twisted off a cap on the side of the ship, and poured the mixture into the ship. The ship burped and shook as it came back to life.
“We did it,” Zork shouted, “You helped me fix my ship.”
“We did?”
“You did, and I will forever be grateful. Before I leave, I promised you some Mars bars. Here you go.”
Zork pulled four candy bars from his spacesuit and handed them to the children. They watched as Zork walked back onto his ship, closed the door, and whirred back into space.
“Oh no, we need to go. The move will be over in five minutes,” Charles shouted.
They threw the chocolate bars into Kaitlyn’s bag and raced back down the street. The kids screeched back into the lobby of the movie theater as Mrs. Harper stepped out of the darkness of the theater.
“There you kids are.”
“We had to use the bathroom,” Kaitlyn said.
“Alright, well, let’s get going. We’ve got some kebobs to grill.”
The kids talked in hushed whispers about Zork and his ship all afternoon. That night, when they were supposed to be sleeping, they tried the Mars bars Zork had left them. They were some of the best chocolate bars the kids had ever had, but they would never get to tell anybody about it.