BLUE PUDDLES

                                                                 BY

                                                     MARCELLA SANDERS    

UNICORNS AND FLYING SAUCERS, ALL THESE THINGS ARE MAKE BELIEVE, OR ARE THEY?  ON A DAY, MUCH LIKE TODAY, CARTER, AND HIS FRIENDS FIND OUT FOR SURE.

IT WAS DURING THE CHRISTMAS BREAK, THAT CARTER RAY AND SHADOW, SAW IT.  IN THE SNOW WAS WHAT LOOKED LIKE FOOTPRINTS, WHILE CARTER AND RAY WERE DECIDING IF THEY SHOULD FOLLOW THE STRANGE FOOTPRINTS OR NOT.  SHADOW, HAD NOTICED THAT NEXT TO EACH FOOTPRINT, WAS A SMALL BLUE PUDDLE.

WHEN CARTER AND RAY LOOKED AROUND, THEY NOTICED THAT SHADOW HAD ALREADY STARTED FOLLOWING THE TRACKS, THEY RAN TO CATCH UP WITH HER AND FOLLOWED THE FOOTPRINTS WITH HER  ALL THE WAY, DISCUSSING WHAT THEY THOUGHT THE BLUE LIQUID BESIDE THE PRINTS MIGHT BE.

THE BOY'S OF COURSE, THOUGHT IT WAS ALIEN BLOOD AND WHY NOT? BUT EVERYBODY KNOWS ALEINS ARE GREEN, SO WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE BLUE BLOODSAID RAY. THATS RIDICULOUS SAID CARTER, IT WAS THEN THAT SHADOW, STOPPED AND LOOKED UP, THE FOOTPRINTS HAD COME TO AN END BUT THE BLUE LIQUID HAD NOT.  THERE WAS A HUGE PUDDLE AT THE BASE OF THE TREE.  SHADOW KNEW THEN, WHAT THE BLUE LIQUID WAS, IT WAS TEARS.   

THE BOY'S STARTED TO LAUGH AT HER, FOR THINKING IT WAS TEARS BUT THEY SOON STOPPED, WHEN THEY NOTICED THAT SHE WAS POINTING AT A BRANCH UP IN THE TREE, IT WAS THEN THAT THEY COULD SEE FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHAT SHADOW, KNEW WAS OUT THERE ALL ALONG.  IT WAS GETTING LATE AND STARTING TO GET DARK BUT THEY COULD SEE UP IN THE TREE WAS A SMALL FIGURE, THAT APPEREAD TO BE CRYING  BUT IT WAS HARD TO TELL JUST WHAT THE FIGURE WAS, WAS IT HUMAN OR AN ANIMAL?   BEING PROTECTIVE OF SHADOW, THE BOY'S WERE ABOUT TO GRAB HER AND RUN, WHEN THEY HEARD HER SAY "DON'T BE AFRAID, WE WON'T HURT YOU.

JUST THEN THE FIGURE MOVED AND JUMPED DOWN AND LANDED RIGHT NEXT TO SHADOW, THE BOY'S WERE STARTLED TO SEE THAT THE FIGURE WAS INDEED AN ALIEN BUT BEFOR E THEY COULD SAY ANYTHING, SHADOW HELD OUT HER HAND AND THE ALIEN TOOK HER HAND, SHADOW SMILED AND TOLD THE BOYS NOT TO BE AFRAID AND TO COME WITH HER.  THE BOY'S WERE SCARED BUT THEY WEREN'T GOING TO LET SHADOW GO OFF ALONE WITH SOME ALEIN.

SHADOW AND THE ALIEN, WERE SO FAR AHEAD OF RAY AND CARTER, COULD HARDLY KEEP UP, SHADOW HAD ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO OUT RUN THEM BUT THIS WAS DIFFERENT AND THEY STILL HADN'T GOT A GOOD LOOK AT THE ALIEN EITHER.  THEY SHOUTED FOR SHADOW, TO SLOW DOWN. THEY STOPPED RUNNING AND TRIED TO CATCH THEIR BREATH, THEY WERE SO CAUGHT UP IN CATCHING THEIR BREATH, THEY DIDN'T NOTICE THE ALIEN WAS NOW WALKING TOWARDS THEM.  RAY LOOKED UP AND STARTED TO TUG ON CARTER'S COAT, TO GET HIS ATTENTION BUT WHEN CARTER LOOKED UP, HE DIDN'T SEE AN ALIEN, HE SAW SHADOW STANDING IN FRONT OF THEM.

SHADOW HANDED EACH OF THE BOY'S WHAT LOOKED LIKE A BLUE MARBLE AND TOLD THEM TO HOLD ON TO IT WHILE THEY RAN, IT WOULD HELP THEM BREATH, THEY LOOKED AT EACH OTHE BUT DID WHAT SHE SAID.  THEY CONTINUED THEIR JOURNEY AND THEY SOON REALIZED THEY HAD BEEN RUNNING NON STOP, FOR A WHILE, WHEN THEY DID STOP, THE BOY'S REALIZED THEY HAD NEVER GONE THAT DEEP INTO THE WOODS BEFORE.  THEY WERE TRYING TO GET SHADOW TO TURN AND GO BACK BUT SHE LET THEM KNOW THAT THEY HAD REACHED THEIR DESTINATION.

WE'RE HERE, SHE SAID  SHADOW WAS SO EXCITED TO BE BACK, "I WASN'T SURE I REMEMBERED HOW TO GET HERE, WE HAVEN'T BEEN HERE, SINCE WE LANDED.  IT WASN'T UNTIL THAT MOMENT, THAT RAY AND CARTER , REALIZED WHAT WAS HAPPENING, THAT ONE OF THEIR BEST FRIENDS WAS AN ALIEN AND THEY NEVER EVEN KNEW IT, HOW COULD THAT HAPPEN.  THEY HADN'T REALIZE THAT THEY WERE TALKING OUT LOUD, UNTIL THEY NOTICED SHADOW AND THE ALIEN STARING AT THEM, SHADOW PLACED HER HANDS ON HER HIPS AND SAID "WELL THAT'S EASY TO EXPLAIN, THE TWO OF YOU ARE ALIENS TO" , YOU JUST DON'T REMEMBER, MOST OF US DON'T, THAT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS ONCE WE REACH A CERTAIN AGE, THE MEMORY OF BEING FROM A DISTANT PLANET, FADES AWAY BUT SOME OF US WERE CHOSEN TO BE GUIDES FOR NEW ARRIVALS AND THAT'S MY JOB AND UNTIL NOW, I'VE NEVER HAD TO USE THE POWER BUT I'M GLAD I REMEMBERED AND KNEW WHAT TO DO, WHEN ONE OF MY KIND NEEDED MY HELP.

JUST THEN A VERY TALL FIGURE WALKED UP AND SPOKE TO THEM, "HELLO, I AM        X-LAR, GENTLEMEN, WILL YOU FOLLOW ME", THEY LOOKED BACK AT SHADOW, SHE WINKED AT THEM TO LET THEM KNOW IT WAS OKAY.  X-LAR LEAD THEM TO AN OFFICE, WHERE THEY WERE TOLD TO BE SEATED AND WAIT.  ALMOST AS SOON AS X-LAR, STEPPED OUT OF THE ROOM, THE OFFICE DOOR SWUNG OPEN AND IN WALKED THEIR PARENTS AND THEY WERE DRESSED IN THE SAME STRANGE CLOTHING THAT THE OTHERS THEY PASSED ALONG THE WAY TO THE OFFICE, WERE WEARING,  IT WASN'T UNTIL THEN, THAT THEY BELIEVED WHAT SHADOW, HAD TOLD THEM ABOUT BEING FROM A DISTANT PLANET THEMSELVES.

CARTER'S FATHER AND RAY'S FATHER, BOTH HELD OUT A PAIR OF ROBES FOR THE BOY'S, "THESE ARE FOR YOU, THE TWO OF YOU WERE BEING TESTED AND YOU HAVE PASSED, NOT ONLY DID YOU HELP TO RETURN ONE THAT WAS LOST, DESPITE YOUR FEARS, YOU WENT ALONG WITH SHADOW, TO PROTECT HER, WHICH SHOW US THAT YOU ARE READY TO HELP .  THERE ARE MANY MORE, WHO ARE LOST AND WE NEED MORE GUIDES, TO HELP THEM FIND THEIR WAY HERE, SO THAT THEY TO CAN LIVE AMONG THE HUMANS AS WE DO.

RAY AND CARTER, WERE EXCITED TO LEARN ABOUT BEING FROM A DISTANT PLANET AND ABOUT BEING CHOSEN TO BE GUIDES BUT WHAT THEY LIKED MOST, WAS LEARNING THAT THEIR ARE OTHER BIENGS AMONG US, ON DIFFERENT PLANETS AND EVEN ON EARTH, THEY MIGHT EVEN BE YOUR NEXTDOOR NEIGHBOR.