Gagar chuckled. “Well, they all do where I come from–once they earn their flea capacitor. But yes, here on earth, I see what you mean.”
“Besides, I had to be so careful not to be seen. The braver I got, the further I went. Who knows when I might have been picked up by radar and shot down by a missile or something.”
I put the chain around my neck again and caressed the golden grasshopper. “I’ll just keep it for the memories. It’s like an old friend.”
“Well, now you’ve put a rat in my teeth,” Gagar said in exasperation.
“Pardon?” I asked, looking closely at him to see what he meant.
“That’s an old Ylepithon saying—from a time when we had teeth. It means you’ve put an obstacle in my path. I have a problem I was hoping you would help me with, but now I have nothing to offer in return.”
“Another problem?” I asked, becoming a little annoyed. Now what did he want me to collect.
Gagar’s voice tinkled with laughter as he once again read my mind. “No, no . . . I do not want you to collect anything. This time, I have brought my daughter, Galena, for you to baby-sit!”
CHAPTER 3
I must have still been feeling guilty about letting Gagar down last summer, or maybe I was feeling full of confidence after my baby-sitting course, or . . . maybe my brain was turning to mush. Whatever the reason, I’d somehow agreed, and now a little creature in a purple space suit stood staring at me with enormous, unblinking black eyes. One of her hands tightly clasped Gagar’s, the other clutched a little furry object. Gagar’s other hand held a small silver suitcase. What had I gotten myself into now?
The colored lights on the little creature’s belt blinked and raced in different tracks. When hers stopped, Gagar’s did too.
Gagar’s voice tinkled with laughter. “Galena says you look weird, Lisa. It’s the first time she’s met a real humanoid.”
I looked weird! Except for a mass of long golden curls, and the fact that she was less than half his size, she looked exactly like Gagar. And she thought I looked weird?
“I don’t understand,” I said, perplexed. “Why do you want me to baby-sit her?”
“Galena is developing a unique power and is meant for great things in the future of Ylepithon. As you know, we lived on Earth many millennia ago. It is very important for her to get in touch with her roots, as your saying goes.” He stepped forward, pulling Galena along with him. “Besides, I’m on my way to Tular to get a shipment of their wonderful fleas. I took Galena the last time. She thought the fleas were cute and let them out of their cage. They leapt around the spaceship with such force that it threw us off course and we were much delayed getting home.”
“What about her mother?” I asked.
“My Mate is of super intelligence and is very busy designing the new flea capacitor to handle the power of these monsters. She has no time for Galena at present,” Gagar replied, prying his hand loose from Galena’s in order to gesture as he spoke.
“She must love her a lot. She will miss her,” I persisted.
The lights on both of their belts went out for a few seconds as they regarded each other in silence. Gagar turned back to me. Then the lights on his belt danced again.
“Love? I had forgotten about that ancient emotion. In order to survive, it is said our beings left that behind when they left Earth.” He looked at Galena for a moment and then back at me. “Let me think . . . love . . . mmm . . . It’s not the same as fear, or anger, is it?”
I shook my head, for once at a loss for words.
“How about embarrassment, is it similar to that feeling?” he asked, somewhat perplexed. I shook my head again.
“Ah . . . ha . . . There is another emotion we feel. Tolerance. I think that might be close. But love? No, we do not experience it.” He scratched his chin. “Do you find it useful?”
“Love? Useful? Well, I . . . I . . .” Again I found myself unable to elaborate. How could you explain love in terms of usefulness, especially to someone who had never experienced it?
In the background, the spaceship made a whirling sound and glowed brightly.
“I must be off.” He thrust the silver suitcase at me.
“But, wait, I know nothing about Galena. How am I supposed to look after her?”
“Inside the suitcase, there are instructions and a few things you’ll need. Galena is used to spending a great deal of time by herself. Besides, her only mission here is to get an education. She won’t be a lot of trouble.”
“But . . . but how long is this for anyway? Will you be back tomorrow?”
Gagar didn’t look at me. “Our time is very different than yours. Not tomorrow, but soon,” he said vaguely.
He turned to Galena, holding his hand up with fingers spread apart. She did the same and their hands met briefly.
“By the way, Lisa, alpacas were part of our ancient past. They were thought to be very precious, as they are today. Galena will ‘tolerate’ them, I’m sure, and you might, as you say, ‘love’ them.”
“Love a big, ugly bird?” I scoffed.
Gagar just laughed his tinkling laugh as, stroking his flea capacitor, he gently floated up into the air and over the side of the house. Moments later, the spaceship lifted off in a blaze of humming light. It disappeared before my very eyes.
Galena walked to the window and shyly put her hand up to me. She was too short to climb over the window sill. I leaned out and put my arms out to lift her. She quickly took a step backward with her hand still up, then she spread the fingers of her hand toward me, as she had done to Gagar. I did the same back and our hands touched briefly. Then she stepped forward, allowing herself to be lifted over the sill.
I expected her to be heavy and warm like a small child, but her body was cool to the touch. She wasn’t any heavier than a stuffed doll, but I soon learned she really was alive!
Roper must have begun to suffocate under all the blankets. He crawled out and jumped off the bed. Sniffing the air, he took a step towards Galena.
“Yikes!” her translator box yelped. She scrambled up my legs and wrapped herself around my waist from behind. With her arms around my neck, she clung to me in a strangle hold.
“Ouch! Galena, your translator box is digging into my back.” Gently pulling her hands apart so I could breathe, I commanded Roper to “Stay!” He sat down, thumping his tail.
Galena relaxed. Pulling her around, I sat her on the bed. “See, Galena, Roper won’t hurt you. You’ve never seen a dog before, have you? He’s a dog. D-o-g. Dog.” I muttered. What else hadn’t Gagar told me?
“Dog. D-o-g. Dog?” Galena’s translator box chimed in a singsong voice.
I sighed. “No, just dog. He’s a dog. His name is Roper.”
“Roper Dog.” Galena said, putting out her little hand. Roper slowly approached her, sniffing her outstretched hand. His tail began to wag. Galena tinkled with laughter.
“Well, it looks as if she’s learned to ‘tolerate’ you pretty quickly,” I said to Roper as he lay down beside the bed.
I