Scary, Really Bad News

DOCTOR PROCTOR LOOKED somberly at the others gathered around the coffee table in Gregory’s living room.

“I’ve put off telling you this as long as I could. After all, it’s all just rumors.”

“And what are the rumors?” Lisa asked.

“That the moon chameleons are coming to eat us,” Doctor Proctor said.

“Eat us?” Lisa, Nilly, and Gregory all asked in unison.

Doctor Proctor nodded, his facial expression gloomy. “The rumors in Paris went like this: Mars used to be inhabited by Martians . . . ,” he began.

“Sounds logical,” Nilly said. “I mean, if anyone was going to live there, that’s who you’d expect it to be.”

“No one lives there,” Doctor Proctor said. “The moon chameleons ate them all up, because that’s what they do. They travel from planet to planet devouring any intelligent life they encounter. And the most intelligent life on earth is . . . well, us.”

“I agree,” said Nilly, who didn’t seem to have noticed how frightened Lisa and Gregory were.

“By us, I mean all people,” Doctor Proctor said.

“But—but—,” Lisa stammered, “why haven’t we ever heard of a single person being eaten, then?”

“If I’m right, it’s because moon chameleons are pretty clever beasts,” Doctor Proctor said. “They’re planning something, something that will keep us from realizing what’s going on until it’s too late.”

“If what you’re saying is right, we need to find out what their plan is,” Gregory said.

“And then those of us who haven’t been hypnotized by the moon chameleons need to organize some sort of resistance movement,” Doctor Proctor said.

“A resistance movement!” Lisa exclaimed. “Like what they had in World War Two!”

“Well, we’re out of cookies,” Nilly said, waving the empty package around.

They all sat there in silence; the only sound was Nilly munching away on the last cookie as they tried to think smart and hit-the-nail-on-the-head kinds of thoughts. And, as we all know, it’s not that easy to do that on command. Finally there was total silence in Gregory Galvanius’s living room. It was so quiet they could hear the faint buzzing sound of the insects in the bedroom; the distant sounds of choral singing from the neighboring houses, where everyone was glued to their TV sets; and a lone car driving by outside.

Something occurred to Lisa. “I know!” she exclaimed.

Everyone else looked at her.

“I know how people are being hypnotized!”