As the president stepped back from the podium, Pixie andPoppy both leaned back in their seats. Poppy glanced over at Pixie.
“They can cure AIDS? And cancer?”
“Pops, that’s amazing. Think of it…these aliens couldliterally save millions of people.” Pixie sounded as excited as Poppy felt.
Both girls had some friends and family members who’d been ableto overcome cancer but a few of them had succumbed to the disease eating attheir bodies. A few years ago their last surviving aunt had passed away aftermultiple rounds of treatment for breast cancer. Both of the girls had felt theblow as if it were their own mother. Aunt Tilly had been their last link totheir parents and had resembled their mother so much they’d felt as though theywere losing more than their aunt.
“And don’t forget the energy crisis,” Brian mumbled around afull mouth. “I wonder if that means we wouldn’t need to rely on foreign oil?”
“Hmmmm…” Pixie looked as if she’d wondered that herself.“Hey, he said we were negotiating… What do we have that they need? If they haveall this technology, what does Earth have?”
Thinking back to her nutball neighbor, Poppy blurted out, “Ican safely say that Florida has an abundant amount of idiots we can send them.”
“Well, it doesn’t appear like he’s going to say anythingelse tonight. Let’s put on a movie. What are you in the mood for?”
“I vote for comedy,” Poppy piped up.
Brian shrugged, indicating he couldn’t care less what waschosen.
The three of them settled on the couch and relaxed as muchas they could. All of them had vetoed anything with aliens or zombies sincethat hit a little too close to home right now, even if it was done jokingly.Making popcorn and relaxing with Pixie turned out to be exactly what Poppyneeded. Since this was a movie they’d seen before, the girls talked throughout,which annoyed Brian.
“Hey, fussypants, why don’t you go to bed and get some moresleep? You’re really grumpy tonight.” Pixie patted Brian on the shoulder.
He shrugged. “Well, since you two won’t stop yapping for meto hear, that’s probably a good idea.” Laughing when Pixie swatted his butt ashe stood up, he nodded a good night to Poppy.
After he left, Pixie reached for the remote and turned downthe volume. Twisting sideways on the couch, she stared at her sister.
“How was your trip to the store?” Leaning on an elbow, shemimicked Poppy’s pose.
“How do you think any trip to hell would be? The torturestarted in the parking lot and lasted through the checkout line.” She smiledand tapped her chin with her fingers. “I did see a couple hotties though.”
“Were they stockpiling like everyone else?” Pixie reached downfor her soda and took a large gulp, waiting for Poppy to answer.
“I don’t think so, they didn’t have carts or anything andjust seemed to be watching the chaos unfold around the frozen food section.”Grinning, she waggled her eyebrows. “I think maybe their tour bus must havestopped there, because they were wearing leather pants and all had long hair.Super. Hot.”
Laughing at Poppy’s version of an eyebrow wiggle, Pixie sether now empty can back down. “I don’t think there are any concerts around here.They were probably just passing through.” Pixie stretched back and reached herarms over her head with a groan. “I don’t know about you, Pops, but I’m beat. Ihaven’t been sleeping for shit this past week. Is it okay if I hit the sack?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll head to bed soon too. I’ve had troublesleeping myself. You going in to work tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I have to finish some paperwork, but then I should beable to head out early. ’Night.”
Once alone, Poppy wandered over to the living room windowand peeked through the blinds. Yep, the aliens were still there. What couldthey possibly want from Earth?
Chapter Four
The next morning Poppy woke up after having slept fairlydecently. Tossing on a pair of her ever-present yoga pants and a T-shirt, shethought she’d take a walk in the neighborhood. Being cooped up this last weekhad not agreed with her and she needed fresh air. The first thing she sawoutside was a ship floating above. Having watched the news all week long, Poppyknew that the ships had not actually done anything other than hover above thecities. It was time to get back to her normal life. Who knew how long thiswould last, and Poppy had things to do and people to see. Patting her pocket tomake sure she had her phone, she walked down the driveway and started along thesidewalk.
After walking around the subdivision for about thirtyminutes, she felt the skin on her arms tingle. Pausing to peer around, shedidn’t see anyone but felt that maybe she should turn around to head back tothe house. As she did so, she caught sight of an idling car at the stop sign.It was what she would normally refer to as an “FBI-mobile”. The large black SUVhad completely blacked-out windows and after Poppy stared at it for a couple ofmoments, it moved down the street at a slow crawl.
That was weird.
Poppy checked the mail before going into the house. It wasamazing that they had been delivering all week long. The USPS delivers—rain,shine and even during alien invasions. Giggling, she pictured that motto ontheir badges. Tossing the letters onto the counter for Brian and Pixie to gothrough, she sat on the couch and flipped on the TV. Since every channel seemedto be showing news twenty-four hours a day, she thought she’d watch it for alittle bit before giving up and tuning into cable.
Seeing a red banner pop up on TV caused
