Ben was tempted to run out of the house as fast as he could, but he knew that might make the aliens suspicious. He was also still in his pajamas and he didn’t want everyone on his street seeing him like that.
Instead, as calmly as possible, he went back upstairs, splashed some water on his face, cleaned his teeth and changed into his suit. He also stuffed a baseball cap into his pocket.
“Okay,” he said to himself. “Let’s get going.”
He walked down the stairs, making sure not to go too fast or too slow. At the bottom, he stopped. The front door was just a few feet away now.
“Bye, then!” he shouted. “I’ll see you at the shul.”
He started walking toward the door. He was very nearly there when a voice from behind him said, “Wait.”
Ben froze. Had the aliens decided not to let him go? Was an alien about to take over his body, or did they have some other terrible fate for him?
He was so close to the door. He could make a run for it, but what if they caught him?
Slowly, he turned round to see Dad, Alien Dad, standing just outside the kitchen.
“Yes, Dad?” said Ben as calmly as he could, even though every fiber of his body was tingling with terror. “What is it?”
“Door,” said Alien Dad. “Do not hit the door. It must be opened.”
Ben blinked, his mind going like crazy. He looked at the front door. Why was Alien Dad saying that to him?
“Open the door,” Alien Dad said again. He was sounding more and more like Real Dad now. “So you do not hit and hurt yourself.”
Suddenly, Ben understood. Alien Dad was telling him something pretty obvious to humans: that if he didn’t open the door, he would walk right into it and hit himself. Ben guessed that the aliens probably didn’t have doors on their planet. They must have banged into the Earth doors quite a few times before working out that you had to open them.
Ben also thought that this was another example of how quickly the aliens were learning to act like humans. Alien Dad was behaving as if he was concerned that Ben would hurt himself, just as any father would do if they thought their son might be in some sort of danger. On one level it was quite touching. On another, it was terrifying.
“Oh yes, thank you,” said Ben, opening the door. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hit it. See you later.”
Ben walked out and shut the door behind him. Now he really, really wanted to run, but there was still the possibility that the aliens were watching him. He turned to look back at the house and sure enough, Carla was there in the window. He waved at her and she waved back at him with her sock-covered hand, but hit herself on the head while doing so. Clearly, Alien Carla hadn’t quite gotten the hang of waving.
Ben turned and casually headed out the front yard and into the street.
He kept going at a normal pace until he’d turned the first corner. Then, he set off like a rocket.