January, 2019 Storytime Blog Hop

Once again it’s time for a fun adventure. Enjoy my story below, then follow the links to other stories of participating authors in the blog hop.  Leave us comments.  We love hearing from you!

Field Trip to the UFO Museum

            Allison bounced up and down on the bus seat.

            “It has a lid.”

            “That doesn’t mean it can’t spill.”

            “You two have been bickering all morning,” Flipper complained from the seat across the aisle.

            They were on a field trip to the UFO Museum. Allison had lived in Roswell, New Mexico — home of the supposed 1947 alien crash — all of her life, yet had never been to the museum.

            In fact, she hadn’t realized how much she wanted to go until her teacher announced the trip two weeks ago on the first day of sixth grade.

            Unfortunately, her cousin Flipper and their best friend Josh didn’t want to go. She wasn’t about to let them keep her from enjoying the experience.

            When they arrived, all the kids set their drinks on an empty table, away from the  main area. There were dozens of displays with pictures and articles. Allison made a beeline to the closest display. She wanted to read them all! Before she started her teachers called everyone together and introduced the tour guide for the morning.

            “Welcome to the Roswell UFO Museum. We are open from nine to five, seven days a week. I’m going to walk you through the museum and tell you about the crash of 1947. Please feel free to ask any questions along the way. Follow me to the first exhibit.”

            “This is crazy,” Josh complained.

            “And boring,” Flipper added.

            Allison scolded them. “Shh! This is interesting.”

            “Disney princess fairy tales are more interesting…and realistic.” Josh gave a wry smile.

            “You have no taste,” Allison spat.

            Flipper stepped between them. “You two are getting on my nerves.”

            For thirty minutes the tour guide led them through the museum, explaining the events that occurred on July 2, 1947, and talked about other UFO sightings. Allison hung on every word. She loved space and hoped there were really aliens out there somewhere.

            When the tour ended they took a ten-minute bathroom break. Allison, Josh, and Flipper got their drinks. Josh sucked on his straw and spit it all over his arm. Allison and Flipper laughed.

            “Why did you do that?” Flipper asked.

            “This is awful!” Josh lifted his lid and exposed a ketchup packet on the end of his straw.

            Allison laughed, thinking that justice was done. Josh had been a pain all morning and had it coming.

            Josh glared at her. “Why did you do that?”

            She gasped. “I didn’t do it!”

            “Right!” Josh said with thick sarcasm.

            “Josh, clean that up immediately,” their teacher, Mrs. Smith, ordered.

            “I’ll get you back,” Josh muttered to Allison.

***

            Josh and his family had moved to Roswell three years ago. He still wasn’t used to all of the alien displays around town. A flying saucer on the front of the Wal-Mart building? He thought it looked ridiculous.

            He didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, but a big deal it must be. Here he was with twenty-one of his classmates suffering through the UFO Museum. Josh was bored, irritated with Allison, and couldn’t get the taste of ketchup from his mouth. He had no use for this field trip.

            The longer their tour guide droned on and on about aliens the more Josh had become determined to prove the alien crash false. He didn’t think anything could redeem the trip — until the alien showed up.

            The tour guide wore an alien costume; Josh loved costumes and found himself listening intently as the tour guide/alien explained what it was like to come from another planet to Earth. As an alien, the tour guide even had a sense of humor.

            “I want one,” Josh declared to Allison and Flipper when the alien departed.

            “Want what?” Flipper asked.

            “The alien costume.”

            “I should have known you would like that.”

            “I thought you didn’t like aliens,” Allison said snidely.

            “I didn’t say I did,” Josh mimicked her tone.

            Allison lifted the straw to her lips and stopped. She removed the lid and peered inside. After a close examination she decided it was safe and tipped her cup and drank.

            Not only did Josh and Flipper laugh, but so did several other students around them. Allison stopped drinking and watched the laughing kids suspiciously. The laughter ceased but everyone continued to stare her direction. When Allison lifted the drink toward her mouth again the laughter returned.

            She glared at Josh and he shrugged his shoulders, smiling mischievously. One of their classmates pointed to her cup. Allison cautiously tilted the cup. Written across the bottom in large, black letters was the word DUNCE.

            “Josh! I swear!”

            “Allison! Josh! Come here!” Mrs. Smith barked.

            They glared at each other but obeyed. Mrs. Smith marched them out the back door. “I want you two to wait outside while the rest of the class has snacks. Whatever is going on between you two, work it out. The bickering ends now.” She stormed back into the museum.

            Josh noticed a metal door leading underground and took a seat on it, his chin in his hands. “I love cookies.” He said dejectedly.

            Allison sat beside him. “They’re playing a game where you have to answer questions about the museum and it’s history. I know I would have won.”

            Josh chuckled. “Who could beat you?”

            “Josh, I’m sorry I laughed at you..”

            “But you’re not sorry you put ketchup in my soda?” Josh’s gaze remained forward.

            “I didn’t do it,” Allison insisted. “Beside, you humiliated me by writing on the bottom of my cup.”

            “I didn’t do it.” Josh sighed.

            Josh’s eyes grew wide. He spun toward Allison and their eyes met. At the same time they shouted, “Flipper!”

***

            Flipper sighed contentedly. He didn’t have to listen to Josh and Allison bicker any longer. With no one looking he tossed the extra ketchup packet in the trash and replaced the sharpie in the pencil holder beside the cash register.

            Flipper shoved a cookie into his mouth — his third — and smiled.

           

If you enjoyed your time with Flipper, Allison, and Josh, please check out their other adventures in Before Vetrix, or their real encounter with aliens in the book Vetrix. Read the first chapter of Vetrix for free here.

Please enjoy some more stories from my friends!

Scary Monsters and Other Friends, by Lisa Stapp
Morning Has Broken, by Katharina Gerlach
Good Honest Work, by Chris Wight
Bad For Business, by Gina Fabio
The Last Friday, by Raven O’Fiernan
Lost And Found, by Angela Wooldridge
Bia Trevi’s Worldly Eats, by Barbara Lund
Hunting Bob, Vanessa Wells
Don’t Drink The Water, by Juneta Key
Duty, Elizabeth McCleary
The Footnote, Karen Lynn
The Monster Under The Bed, by Nic Steven
Field Trip to the UFO Museum, by Bill Bush