Ben ran past his school and all the way to Grandpa’s, arriving a very hot and sweaty mess, with his heart pounding.
“Benny, Benny, Benny. What is it? What’s going on?” said Grandpa when he saw Ben.
“It’s Mom, Dad, Ant, and Carla,” said Ben, breathing heavily. “They … they … they’re aliens. They’ve been taken over.”
“Oy, this is bad, Benny,” said Grandpa, shaking his head.
“Yes,” said Ben. “But I managed to get away without them suspecting that I know. At least I think I did.”
“Let’s hope so,” Grandpa said. “Let me fetch you a glass of water.”
As Grandpa went into the kitchen, Ben could feel himself calming down a little. He was pleased he wasn’t having to deal with this all on his own.
“Here you go, Benny,” said Grandpa, handing him a glass.
Ben gulped it down quickly. “Thanks. They’re getting better at pretending to be humans as well,” said Ben. “And if they have the power to take over bodies, they must have other powers as well. Maybe they’ll eventually put us into their old bodies and keep us as slaves. That could be their plan!”
“Maybe,” said Grandpa. “But we have a plan as well, don’t we, Benny?”
“Yes,” said Ben. “Did you do what I asked?”
“Come see,” said Grandpa.
Ben followed Grandpa into his bedroom. There on the bed were the two sacks, now painted, with the bits of rubber tubing attached to them.
“That looks great, Grandpa,” said Ben.
“Well, you know I used to be pretty good at arts and crafts when I was your age. Did I ever tell you about the time my teacher, Mrs. Wasserberg, asked me to make a model airplane out of just matchsticks?”
“I’d love to hear about that, Grandpa,” said Ben. “But we need to get going.”
“Of course, of course, maybe another time when we’re not so busy saving the world.”
“And don’t forget to bring one of your walking sticks,” said Ben.
Grandpa put the sacks and tubing into a plastic bag, grabbed a walking stick, and the two of them left the house.
A short while later they were in the street next to the shul.
“Okay, Grandpa,” said Ben. “You stay here. I’m going to take a look and see what’s happening.”
“Be very careful, Benny,” said Grandpa.
Ben took the baseball cap out of his pocket and put it on. He pulled it down tightly and walked round the corner. There was a house on the other side of the road, almost opposite the shul, with a large hedge in its front yard. Keeping his head down, Ben walked straight there and slipped into the yard.
If the people living in the house saw him, he could be in trouble, but the curtains weren’t open, so for the time being he was safe.
Ben squeezed into the hedge and parted the leaves in front of him. Through the gap he had a clear view of the shul.
He could see a lot of people arriving. He recognized some of his friends and relatives among them, but there seemed to be no sign of Mom, Dad, Ant, or Carla.
It was quite a big shul and, as more and more people turned up, Ben guessed that there were maybe three hundred people inside.
Then he saw them.
Mom was leading the way, with Dad, Ant, and Carla just behind her. The clothes they were now wearing—suits for Dad and Ant, a red dress for Carla, and a skirt, blouse, jacket, and hat for Mom—fitted perfectly. They had clearly mastered the art of getting dressed.
Ben squeezed his eyes and focused on them more closely. Dad was carrying something. A medium-sized metal suitcase. Whatever was inside must be of great importance to them and, quite possibly, terrifying to human beings.
The four of them stopped just outside the shul. Everyone else was inside now. Ben felt a desperate urge to charge straight in and warn all the people, but he knew he had to wait.
Mom was saying something to Dad, Ant, and Carla. The three of them then went inside, while Mom stayed where she was. What were they going to do in there?
A minute later, Dad came out again and said something to Mom. Mom nodded and looked up to the sky.
Ben couldn’t believe what happened next.
Two laser beams shot out of Mom’s eyes and parted the clouds above her. It was an incredible and disturbing sight. This was Ben’s mother. Only it wasn’t. It just looked like her. In reality, it was the leader of an invading army of aliens.
Ben continued to watch and, as the clouds moved further apart, another terrifying sight came into view.
There, hovering in the air, was an enormous spaceship, about a hundred times bigger than the ones Ben had seen in the woods behind his house. It was just like the image he had seen behind the shul when the aliens had been talking. It was orange and green, like the aliens themselves, and shaped like a giant avocado.
The laser beams travelled through the clouds and to the ship. For a second it looked as if Alien Mom was balancing the ship on the beams, but then three aliens appeared and slid down the beam coming out of Mom’s right eye. A second later, three more appeared and slid down the beam coming out of her left eye.
At first Ben thought sliding down the beams looked like great fun, but then he remembered what was really going on.
Now there were six green and orange aliens standing in front of the shul with their tentacles waggling around like excited eels.
They bowed to Mom—she was definitely the boss—and went into the shul. Thirty seconds later, six humans came out. Ben recognized one of them as his Auntie Nestor. The aliens must have taken over their bodies.
Mom said something to them, then three went to the courtyard at the back of the shul and the other three stayed at the front. Mom then went inside with Dad.
Ben knew that the six aliens who had come down from the spaceship were the guards. He also knew that he absolutely had to get into the shul.