by Suzie Taylor
Ben snorted. Alf was crazy when it came to sleep. The only time he wanted to sleep was in the morning which was why he was always late for school. Although they walked home together, it was a different story in the morning. Ben rode his bike, complete with packed bag and lunch to arrive a good half hour early, whilst Alf was invariably tossed out of his mother’s car, hair uncombed and uniform barely on, five minutes after the bell. His mother insisted that it wasn’t her fault.
Ben hung the bird feeder back near the house and let himself in quietly. The cool air enveloped him and the smooth coldness of the tiles was a welcome change from the muggy heat outside. He closed the door carefully behind him and padded to the kitchen where he stopped to take a quick drink. How many more nights were they going to do this and who were they going to show? They still had no concrete evidence that anything they had experienced was real... and even if they could prove their story, would the bug dragons be protected or hounded by tourists and scientists?
Ben’s teeth felt uncomfortably furry from the jelly snakes. He hesitated by the bathroom door wondering if he could be bothered. The bathroom was unusually messy. His mother had left make up strewn across the bench and her necklace sat precariously near the edge so Ben entered and pushed it to a safer position. One of the security lights flicked on outside and the multi coloured stone gleamed in its light.
Ben cleaned his teeth roughly then turned to head for his bedroom… but something made him stop. A slight sound and a tiny flicker of light just in the corner of his eye. He turned.
Mouse was sitting on the bench, staring happily at the necklace which was clutched firmly in his claws.
“What are you doing?” whispered Ben in astonishment.
“How did you get in?”
Mouse hugged the necklace and looked at Ben with big round eyes.
“No – you can’t have that, it’s Mum’s.” Mouse looked as though he was going to fly away then hesitated.
Ben reached out and gently prized it out of his claws. Mouse squealed loudly.
“Shhh!! Quiet!” Ben glanced anxiously into the hall. “Here, get on my arm and we’ll go to my room. You came in on my back didn’t you? Nice try, but you’re gonna have to leave. Come with me first though, I’ve got something you can have.” He entered his room and quickly shut the door. “Here – have a marble. It’s even a blue one.” Mouse took it and turned it over in his hands. Apparently it was a poor substitute.
“Well I’m sorry,” said Ben, “It’s that or nothing. Now off you go.” He opened the window. Mouse considered his options, picked up the marble and buzzed off into the night.
“That was a close one,” thought Ben and then frowned. If Mouse had managed to sneak inside, he might not have been the only one! Ben crept back out into the hall and glanced back at the bathroom as he passed. The necklace was gone! He headed quickly for the family room where he stopped and peered around the corner. Everything was dark and silent... but then he thought he could see a faint flicker of light in the direction of the lounge room. Ben tiptoed hastily across to the doorway where he stopped to listen. Everything was dark but there was a very faint sound of buzzing. The moment he entered the room however the sound instantly stopped. He began searching and feeling behind things. He checked behind the sofa and around the back of the curtains before making his way along the shelves, picking up ornaments as he went. There was a large bunch of tiger lilies on the piano. He shifted it slightly and as he did so there was the definite sound of a sneeze and something in the flowers flashed with the brief brilliance of a rainbow in the dark.
“Gotcha!” Ben took a swipe at the flowers, knocking them to the floor. The bug dragon flew out as they fell and zoomed down the hall towards the kitchen with Ben in hot pursuit. There was a bit of scrabbling around one of the windows, then it flew up behind the fridge and disappeared. Ben peered up in the alcove after it and noted that there was a gap between the wall and the ceiling going up into the roof space. With a sigh, Ben headed back to the lounge-room where he turned on the light to survey the damage.
“What are you doing?”
Mrs Prinsloo, looking a bit dishevelled in her dressing gown, had entered from the hall.
“N... nothing!”
“Doesn’t look like nothing! My flowers! What’s going on?”
“Sorry I...” Ben picked up the flowers and attempted to rearrange them on the piano, noting with relief that the necklace had been dropped amongst them. “Um... I’ll dry the floor and get some more water.” He escaped into the kitchen.
“What were you up to?” his mother persisted, following him.
“I... I’m not sure.”
“Have you been sleep-walking again?”
“Maybe. I think I dreamt that I was chasing something.”
She sighed. “Go back to bed... and stay there!”
Gypsy was seething. She had it! If it wasn’t for that wretched Mouse the boy would never have detected her and she would be the colony champion! How dare he come in like that and sabotage the mission? He had had his chance and failed – nobody gave him orders to enter a second time. He was as clumsy as he was stupid. Growler was going to be furious!
Gypsy wasn’t bothering to be dark any more. She shone like an exotic jewel as she zipped through the forest, swerving this way and that dodging twigs and branches with ease. A large spider-web strung between the trees was deliberately lined up and she flashed through it like a bullet, leaving the astonished spider with a large hole to repair. If there was any benefit to her adventure, it was that she had found a way into the human hive without using the doorways or windows. Once inside the roof space it hadn’t been hard to find a gap between the tiles and the eaves. The problem was going to be getting hold of the necklace again – it would certainly be more closely guarded now.
“Ben! Wake up!”
“Noooo.”
“You’re going to be late! Ben!”
Ben rolled over and buried his face in the pillow.
“Can’t,” came the muffled response.
“Just how long were you up last night?”
No answer.
Mrs Prinsloo gave up and walked out. He never used to be like this. Something was definitely wrong. She rang the school and told them he was sick then continued to get herself ready for work. She was going to have to take him to the doctor. What a pain.
“Ben, I’ve got to go now,” she said addressing the motionless lump in the bed. “Just rest today. Your lunch is in the fridge. We can talk about this when I get home.” There was a faint sound from under the covers. She shook her head and left.
Ben slept until 1pm. Then he dragged himself up and ate some Weetbix before collapsing again in front of the telly. It was no good; he was going to have to call a halt to the night time explorations at least until the holidays – and that was only two weeks away. By the evening he almost felt normal and told his mother so when she arrived home from work early. She was not so easily convinced however. A little research on her part had uncovered the fact that his school work had suffered that term and he was behind with his homework.
“Are you sure there’s nothing bothering you at school?” she asked him gently. “Anyone giving you a hard time or is there something you’re struggling with? You must tell us if there is; we can help you know.”
Ben sighed. The only hard time he ever got at school was because of Alf. He was the only one who did not pick on Alf for his peculiarities and Alf had a tendency to follow him like a shadow so that he too had become branded as weird. It did not ruffle him too much, but sometimes he wished he could have more breathing space and told his friend to back off. Alf usually complied for about ten minutes.
“No, I’m fine,” was all he said.
“You’re feeling well then? No aches or pains or anything?”
“No.”
“I do think we need to do something about this sleepwalking thing though,” his mother insisted.
“It’s ok. Stop fussing.”
Ben went and hid back in his room and plopped himself in front of his computer with a sigh, casually perusing the BURP file. Alf wanted to go out again tomorrow night but he was going to have to wait despite the gaps in their research. Primarily they still hadn’t found answers to the big questions: Where were the bug dragons coming from and why were they only choosing to hang around Ben’s place?
“They’re little thieves,” he told Alf the next day as they sat down to have lunch. “Mouse and Gypsy snuck in and tried to steal Mum’s necklace.”
“What necklace?” asked Alf through a mouthful of carrot.
“The one I gave her for her birthday. I forgot you haven’t seen it. It has a bright bluish stone which obviously appeals to them. It is pretty awesome.”
“Maybe they’re like bower birds and decorate their homes to attract a mate.”
“Look, I know we need to do more research but not for a few days ok?”
“Why?”
“I need a few nights off.”
“Why?”
“I’m tired Alf! Mum thinks I’m sleepwalking and Mouse keeps coming around all the time and tapping on my window. Just give it a few days break ok?”
“Can I come over by myself?”
“Guess so – so long as you’re careful not to be seen.”
“The timing of this thing could be critical. We shouldn’t be slowing anything down now that we’re getting so close…”
“Woo hoo, getting close are you?” a voice laughed behind them.
Ben rolled his eyes and stood up to face the joker. Alf was always an easy target and Stuart enjoyed teasing so long as the joke wasn’t on him.
“Don’t let me break you apart!” Stuart mocked.
“Ha ha, very funny.”
“Hey Alfy, whatcha getting close to Ben for? He smells like a dog turd.”
Alf got up and ran away to another part of the playground. Ben gave Stuart a withering look. He had stepped in a turd on the school playing field the previous week and nobody was letting him forget it.
“Why do you let him hang around all the time Ben?” Stuart asked “He’s weird.”
“That a crime?”
“Might be.”
“He’s interesting. And he’s smart. He might be the next Einstein or something.”
“Huh. Doubt it. He talks too much crap. Maybe that’s what you both have in common. Crap.”
Ben stood up to his full height and folded his arms. He was pretty thick skinned but he was also taller and bigger than all the other boys in his class. Alf looked like a waif next to him.
“Get a life Stu,” he said as he picked up his lunch and turned away. “At least Alf is not predictable.”
“You’d better not let us down at the game tomorrow Turd Brain,” Stuart called after him. “You’re only in because of Jack’s foot you know. We’d be better off with Alf.”
Ben’s ears burned but he continued walking. Despite his size and strength, he was a terrible sportsman and couldn’t throw straight to save his life. He didn’t want to play – especially if his Mum was coming to watch.
The night time escapades were halted for a week which proved to be a good thing. Ben felt much better for catching up on sleep and Mouse had not appeared at all. Whilst he was a little disappointed by that, he still caught the occasional glimpse of coloured lights moving in the garden and then one evening in the last light of dusk, he discovered two ‘early risers’ deep in conversation amongst the flowers... and one of them was Gypsy!
“You!” exclaimed Ben, recognising her instantly.
They paused briefly to look at him, and then as if he lacked sufficient importance to hold their attention, resumed their conversation which was clearly quite passionate and intense. Gypsy, who was doing most of the talking, was very animated in her speech, and rather wild looking. The other was a much more sedate individual and just chipped in here and there like a good natured agony aunt. Ben listened until they became irritated by his nosiness and glared at him.
“Sorry,” Ben murmured, and turned away.
“What were you staring at Hun?” his mother asked as he walked inside. She was crumbing schnitzel at her favourite spot by the kitchen window.
“Nuthin. Insects.” He said.
“Speaking of insects, I must get Dad to check those security lights; they seem to be turning on and off way too often. Thought it might be those giant moths we keep getting all the time or the wind in the tree… or maybe it’s that damn cat from next door.”
Or something else. Ben frowned. “Uh huh,” was all he said and went to check if Alf was online.
“Dinner’ll only be ten minutes,” his mother called after him. “Don’t get wrapped up in some game now.”
Ben sat down at his computer.
‘Hi Alf, just saw some BD’s near the back door’ he typed.
‘Already?’
‘Yes. Gypsy and another female I haven’t seen before. They were talking a lot. Have you checked your place lately?’
‘Affirmative. Nothing to report.’
There was never anything to report from Alf’s place. He said he looked all the time but never found anything. Ben was sure it was the same with the neighbours; he only ever saw them fly in and out over the back fence, never to the side. Was it just because his garden was nicer?
‘Can I come round tonight? 1am?’ wrote Alf.
‘If you want but I’m not coming out. Just keep it quiet ok?’
“Em! Come and set the table!” Mrs Prinsloo’s voice echoed from the kitchen.
Emily’s door crashed open. She knew better than to hesitate when summoned. Ben’s family always ate together unless his Dad was really late from work. Usually he was home on the dot of six-thirty and dinner was served accordingly, but from time to time he was stuck on site trying to fix or finish a job that some ‘incompetent dipstick’ couldn’t do. It turned out that this was one of those nights.
“I wish he’d ring me earlier,” his Mum complained as she put down her phone. “I wouldn’t have cooked his schnitzel. It’s better when it’s fresh. It’s not like we have it all the time.”
“It’s very nice Mum!” said Emily brightly. “Can we have pizza tomorrow?”
“I guess so. Dad ‘n I are going out tomorrow night. Aunty Jax is going to come and mind you.”
Ben and his sister exchanged grimaces. Pizza was a poor consolation for having to put up with AJ. She was an old grouch who made them go to bed too early. She was also all flubbery when she kissed them and looked and smelled like an accident in a cosmetics factory. Besides, Ben was too old for a babysitter.
Mrs Prinsloo was not sympathetic. “Not yet you’re not. And don’t be nasty.”
“Where’re you going anyway?” asked Ben.
“Work do. Dad’s got a junket thing in the city. Dinner and a show. It’ll probably go late.”
“What show? Why don’t we ever get to go to a show?” Emily grumbled.
“One day…” her mother consoled her. “You be good for Jackie though. I don’t want to hear any bad reports… and mind you leave the kitchen in a fit state if you decide to do some cooking this time.”
It was a quiet evening after that – until Ben went to clean his teeth. It was then that the security light began flicking on and off again. His mother was looking out of her bedroom window to see what it was and his Dad was lying on the bed communing with his ipad.
“There it goes again,” he heard his Mum saying. “It’s not even that windy out. Mark do you mind…?”
Ben spat into the sink. “I’ll check it out,” he offered quickly. His Dad grunted.
Ben ran outside. Sure enough Scamp was playing attack chasey with his friends, and deliberately flying through the motion sensor.
“Go away!” Ben whispered, flapping his hands at them. “You can’t hang around here! You’re gonna be caught!” They flew into the potted lemon tree and hung upside down like little glowing fruits. Ben glanced anxiously behind him then addressed them more urgen
tly. “I mean it - go away!”
The bug dragons turned off their lights and disappeared. ‘Large insects’ was the explanation he offered to his parents when he went back inside.
“Mark can you look at that sometime?” his mother asked. “It’s annoying when it goes off all the time like that. It seems to have become hyper sensitive all of a sudden.”
His Dad sighed.
Ben went to bed. That was a close call. How could he continue to keep the bug dragons secret if they were going to hang around all the time causing trouble? Maybe it was all a mistake. Maybe they shouldn’t be protecting them and encouraging them to be friendly; they were clearly smart enough to look after themselves. Alf would not like the idea, but perhaps it really was time to come clean and make their announcement to the world. Ben worried until he fell asleep, but then he slept like a log. Mouse did not tap on his window, and if Scamp and his mates returned, he wasn’t aware of it.
The morning brought unexpectedly good news - Aunty Jax wasn’t available to babysit after all! Not only that but his mother had arranged for Emily to stay at Chloe’s house, even though she owed Chloe’s mother two sleepovers already, and he was staying the night with Alf.
Finding floor space for a mattress in Alf’s room was always a challenge. Alf played the front end loader while Ben dragged the narrow day bed mattress in from the veranda room. Mr Cunningham brought home fish and chips for dinner which was almost as good as pizza but not quite.
They had planned to have an early night but it didn’t quite work out that way. Having done their homework and played computer games, the temptation to watch a movie was too great and it turned out to be a long one involving an alien invasion and a guy that kept coming back to life over and over again to fight them. Alf set his alarm for 1am then picked up the B.U.R.P. file and stopped at the most recent picture.
“See, look. I took this one last night – Mouse looked like he was giving a speech and that Gypsy character had a lot to say as well. It was impossible to stay undercover and they knew I was there but they didn’t seem to mind. I recorded the whole thing.” Alf chewed thoughtfully on the ragged skerrick of plastic that still held the end of his pen together. “I just wish I knew what they were talking about. What if we’re about to be invaded by millions of them like a plague? There’s probably a massive colony in orbit right now, just waiting for the ‘ok’ signal to be sent. I’ve listened to the recording over and over but I just don’t understand any of it.”
