The Mystery of the U.F.O.

by David A. Adler

  Cam felt something moving in her coat pocket. The flap opened and the kitten looked out. Cam petted the back of the kitten’s neck. The kitten purred. The flap closed as she settled back into the warmth of Cam’s pocket.

  “I think you’ve got yourself a pet,” Eric said. “Let’s give her a name.”

  “She likes to climb trees,” Cam said as they walked along. “We could call her Twigs or Leaves.” Cam thought for a minute. “Or we could give her an outer-space name. After all, we found her and saw a U.F.O. at the same time.”

  “Well,” Eric said, “we can call her Rocket or Stars or Saturn.”

  “Saturn, that’s good,” said Cam. “We’ll name her after one of the planets. Let’s see. There’s Mars and Pluto and Neptune. That’s a good name for a cat. We’ll call her Neptune.”

  Cam and Eric were getting close to the park. Cam stopped and looked at the trees.

  There were many different evergreens. Evergreens are green all year and are easy to tell apart. But the other trees, the ones without leaves, all looked the same.

  Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click. The tree the U.F.O.s hit has white bark. It’s a birch between two tall pines.”

  Cam opened her eyes. “That’s the one,” she said, pointing.

  Cam and Eric walked past the birch tree. The park was empty and dark. The only light came from street lamps outside.

  Cam and Eric looked for some hint of a U.F.O. landing. There was nothing near the tree. Toward the center of the park Eric found two ripped balloons.

  “Here’s something,” Cam said. She held up the wrappings from several small pocket flashlights, and a used roll of tape. “But these aren’t from outer space.”

  Cam and Eric kept looking. The ground was covered with leaves. They found cigarette butts, crushed soda cans, and candy-bar wrappers.

  Then Cam and Eric heard noises. It sounded like people talking, but they couldn’t make out the words. A motor started and bright lights went on. The lights were behind the wall of the handball court.

  “Let’s see what’s over there,” Cam whispered.

  “No. Let’s go back. We have homework.”

  “We can do it later. Come on.”

  Cam walked carefully through the leaves. She tried not to make any noise. Eric followed her.

  “Look!” Eric said.

  A strange-looking creature with wrinkled silver skin ran out. It had a head, arms, and legs and was about the same height as Cam and Eric. Its hands were green and its feet were blue. It was holding something long and thin.

  Then a second creature ran out. It was carrying a pile of colored objects. Both creatures dropped what they were holding and ran back behind the wall.

  Chapter Five

  Cam and Eric stood still. They were afraid to move.

  “What do we do now?” Eric whispered.

  “I don’t know. Let’s just wait.”

  Cam and Eric waited quietly. They saw one of the creatures run out again. It was holding something.

  “Get back here, Cindy,” a voice called out. The silver creature dropped what it was holding and ran back behind the wall.

  “Did you hear that!” Cam said. “They speak English. Now how would a creature from outer space learn English?”

  “Well, maybe they studied it in school,” Eric said. “Or maybe they’ve been here before.” Eric thought for a minute. “Or maybe they’re wondering how come we speak their language.”

  “Or maybe they’re not from outer space,” Cam said. “Come on. Let’s get closer.”

  Eric didn’t want to get closer. He wanted to go home. But before he could tell Cam, she ran ahead.

  She ran from one tree to the next. Eric followed her. They tried to run quietly, but the dried leaves made noise when Cam and Eric stepped on them. Neptune made noise, too. She meowed inside Cam’s pocket.

  Cam and Eric stopped running when they reached a large tree close to the wall of the handball court. There was a pile of leaves next to the tree. Cam put her lunch box and books down. She tried to hide behind the leaves. She couldn’t. The pile was too small.

  “Help me,” she whispered to Eric. “Let’s build this up.”

  Eric passed leaves to Cam and she placed them on top of the pile. When the pile was high enough, Cam and Eric crawled behind it.

  They waited. They watched the wall, but nothing happened. It was quiet.

  Cam took Neptune out of her pocket. She stroked the back of her neck. Neptune purred softly.

  “If we could see what they dropped behind that wall,” Cam said, “we might be able to find out who they are.”

  Cam put Neptune back in her pocket. Cam crawled around the tree. She got closer to the wall. Then Cam stopped. She heard voices on the other side of the wall.

  “Cindy,” a boy’s voice said, “fold your arms like this. And, Steven, you stand like this.”

  There was a flash of light on the other side of the wall.

  “Steven, you hold the ray gun. Cindy, you sit down next to Steven.”

  “Oh, Bobby, why can’t I hold the ray gun?”

  Cam crawled closer. She could see a pile of colored objects ahead, behind the wall.

  “Don’t smile,” Cam heard Bobby say. “Look curious.”

  There was another flash of light.

  Cam crawled closer to the wall. The pile of colored objects were children’s sneakers, two jackets, an empty box of aluminum foil, and the wrappings from two pairs of green rubber gloves.

  Sneakers? Cam thought. Aluminum foil and rubber gloves?

  Cam sat there. She looked at the sneakers and the coats. These aren’t creatures from outer space, Cam told herself. They’re children covered with aluminum foil.

  Cam reached into her pocket. Neptune was still there. She licked Cam’s hand and purred.

  Then Cam looked back at Eric. He was signaling for Cam to come back. She didn’t. She crawled along the back of the wall. There was a large tree just at the edge of the wall. Cam hid behind it and looked out.

  A car was parked facing the handball court. Its headlights were on. There were two children covered with aluminum foil. They were both wearing blue wool socks and green rubber gloves. One was holding a toy ray gun. The children’s faces were hidden behind silver masks with holes for their eyes and mouths. An older boy, the one called Bobby, was there, too. He was about eighteen. He had a camera and was taking pictures.

  It was hard for Cam to see the children and the older boy clearly. The lights from the car reflected off the aluminum foil. Cam held her hand over her eyes to shield them. She looked straight at the two children and said, “Click.”

  Cam heard a noise behind her. Then she felt something poke her in the back.

  Cam was afraid to move.

  Chapter Six

  Without turning around, Cam reached behind her. Something thin and pointed poked her hand. Slowly Cam turned around. It was Eric. He had moved closer to the wall. He was hiding behind a big tree and was trying to get Cam’s attention by poking her with a branch.

  Cam crawled back to join him. The tree was almost wide enough to hide them both. When Cam looked out, she could clearly see the front of the handball court.

  “You were right,” Eric said. “They’re not from outer space.”

  Cam and Eric watched while Bobby took photographs. “Bend down,” Bobby told Cindy, “like you’re looking at something.”

  “I can’t bend. This foil is too tight. Let Steven bend.”

  Steven crouched down and picked up a leaf. The foil covering his knees ripped. His pants showed through.

  “See,” Cindy said. “I told you!”

  “All right,” Bobby said, “hold this newspaper. Hold it like you don’t know what it is.”

  Cindy held the newspaper upside down. Steven put a page into his mouth as if he were trying to eat it.

  “Good, very good,” Bobby said as he took another picture.

  “You know what,” Eric whispered to Cam. “I’ll bet he’s
planning to enter the photography contest and win the hundred dollars.”

  Bobby continued to take photographs.

  “No one will believe him,” Eric went on. “No one will believe that creatures from outer space landed.”

  “We almost believed it,” Cam said. “After we saw those U.F.O.s take off, we were ready to believe it.”

  Cam sat behind the tree with her legs crossed and thought. While she sat there, Neptune crawled out of Cam’s pocket and into her lap.

  “But how could they have known,” Cam asked, “that we would see a U.F.O. tonight?” Cam thought for a minute. “Unless,” she said, “the U.F.O.s were a prank and they’re the ones who did it.”

  Eric looked at the handball court.

  “They’re taking off their masks. What do we do now?”

  Cam jumped up. Neptune fell off her lap and ran away.

  “Quick!” Cam said. “Take their pictures while they have their costumes half on and half off. A picture like that would prove they’re fakes.”

  Eric held his camera up and looked through it. He pressed the shutter. Nothing happened. Eric pressed it again. Again nothing.

  Eric looked at the back of the camera. “Oh, no!” he said. “I’m out of film. I took the last picture in the parking lot.”

  Eric opened his camera. He took out the roll of film and put it in his pocket.

  “Let’s go back,” Eric said, “and get someone to help.”

  Just as Cam and Eric were leaving, they heard Neptune.

  Meow.

  Neptune was standing on a branch that hung right over the handball court. The branch was shaking.

  “Neptune’s going to fall,” Eric said, “and right on top of Bobby!”

  Chapter Seven

  Meow.

  Neptune raised her right paw. The branch shook.

  Neptune fell. She fell right onto Bobby’s shoulder. Then Neptune jumped into a pile of aluminum foil. She grabbed a silver mask in her mouth and ran off.

  “Get that cat!” Bobby yelled. “Get that mask!”

  Bobby dropped his camera and ran after Neptune. Steven and Cindy followed. They chased Neptune around the car, over low bushes, and between trees. They couldn’t keep up with Neptune.

  But Neptune wasn’t running away. She was playing a game. When she saw the others were far behind, she turned around and ran toward them. She ran close and then darted away.

  Then Neptune ran to Cam and Eric.

  “Quick, let’s hide,” Eric said. He dived into a pile of leaves.

  “No!” Cam yelled. “Let’s run.”

  Cam started to run. She didn’t get far. Steven and Cindy caught her. Bobby reached into the pile of leaves and pulled Eric out.

  “Look what I found,” Bobby said, “a walking tree.”

  Eric shook the leaves off.

  Neptune stopped running. She sat next to Cam and purred. Steven took the mask out of Neptune’s mouth.

  “What are you doing here?” Bobby asked.

  “Watching you,” Cam said. “We know Steven and Cindy aren’t from another planet.”

  “No one will believe you took photographs of creatures from another world,” Eric said. “And anyway, you can’t enter the contest because you’re too old.”

  Bobby laughed.

  “I’m entering for him,” Cindy said.

  “And I’m not worried,” Bobby said. “They’ll believe me. If they believed that some balloons and flashlights could be a U.F.O., they’ll believe creatures from outer space got off and looked around.”

  “Well,” Eric said, “we saw you. We’ll tell about what you did.”

  Bobby laughed again. “Oh, no, you won’t. If you don’t tell anyone what you saw, we’ll share the prize money with you.”

  “We don’t need a share,” Cam said. “We’ll win the whole hundred dollars by ourselves.”

  Eric looked at Cam. He didn’t know what she was talking about.

  “We have pictures of Steven and Cindy with their costumes half off,” Cam said. “That proves this whole thing is a fake.”

  “Give me that!” Bobby said. He grabbed Eric’s camera.

  While Bobby was opening the camera, Cam reached into Eric’s pocket. She took the film out and put it in Neptune’s mouth. “Run!” she yelled.

  Neptune ran off.

  “The cat’s got the film,” Steven said.

  “Get it!” Bobby told Steven and Cindy. “I’ll follow in the car.”

  Steven and Cindy ran after Neptune. Bobby got into the car. He left his camera and camera bag behind. He backed up the car.

  Crunch.

  The car ran over the camera. Then it went forward and out of the park.

  Cam ran over to the broken camera.

  “Look,” she said. “Their film is ruined. Now they can’t enter the contest.”

  Cam gathered her books and lunch box. Eric closed his camera, put it back into the case, and picked up his books. They walked out of the park.

  “I’m glad they can’t enter the contest,” Eric said. “But it’s too bad we lost Neptune.”

  “Maybe not,” Cam said. “There’s one place we can look, and it’s on the way home.

  “I should have known,” Cam said as they walked. “The lights were shaped like balloons. Bobby must have taped tiny flashlights to them. That’s what made them look like colored lights.”

  “But how could he be sure the balloons would go up?” Eric asked.

  “They were probably filled with helium, like the balloons they sell in the zoo.

  “It was dark,” Cam went on. “No one was near the park so no one knew what the lights were.”

  Cam led Eric back to the tree where they first found Neptune.

  Meow.

  There was Neptune, resting on one of the branches. On the ground right under the branch was Eric’s roll of film. He picked it up.

  When Neptune saw Cam and Eric, she moved toward the end of the branch. The branch began to shake.

  Meow.

  Cam held out her arms. “You’re not getting any food,” she said, “so you might as well come down.”

  Neptune jumped into Cam’s arms, looked up at her, and purred. Cam put Neptune in her coat pocket, picked up her books and lunch box, and started to walk home with Eric.

  Cam smiled. “Now,” she said to Eric, “we can go home and do our homework.”

  Chapter Eight

  Three weeks later Cam was at Eric’s house. They were watching the evening news on television. Cam was sitting on the floor holding Neptune. Eric was sitting on the couch. His baby brother, Howie, was in his arms drinking from a bottle.

  “And now,” the television reporter said, “let’s go to Stephanie Jackson, who is standing by.”

  Stephanie Jackson’s picture came on the television screen. “The winners in the Junior News Photography Contest have just been announced,” she said.

  “This is it!” Cam said.

  Stephanie Jackson held up a photograph of a window washer. He was cleaning the windows of one of the city’s tallest buildings. A bird had landed on his head.

  “This is the winning photograph. It was taken by eleven-year-old Karen Grey.”

  Stephanie Jackson held up two other photographs. The first was of a crowd of people watching the U.F.O.s.

  The second photograph was of Neptune. Neptune was leaning out of Cam’s pocket and was eating from someone’s bag of groceries.

  “These two photographs were awarded honorable mention. One was taken by twelve-year-old Michael Wagner. The other was taken by ten-year-old Eric Shelton. Congratulations.”

  “I won! I won!” Eric shouted.

  Cam smiled. “We always talk about my amazing mental camera,” she said, “but I think you and your camera are pretty amazing, too.”

 

 

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