Chapter 25

After arriving home from shul, Ben would have loved to relax in his room and do absolutely nothing, but there was no chance of that. Relatives from far and wide had come for his bar mitzvah and Mom and Dad had laid on a big luncheon for them at the house.

It was loud, the house was squashed full of people of all ages and there was loads more food, but eventually the last guest finally left.

“Bye, now,” said Mom to some people that Ben knew he was related to, but wasn’t exactly sure how. “See you soon.”

Mom closed the front door.

“Well,” she said. “That was great fun, wasn’t it Ben?”

“Mmm,” said Ben.

He had enjoyed it, but what with having saved the planet as well as his bar mitzvah, he was now about as tired as he’d even been in his life.

“I’ll bet you’re looking forward to tonight,” said Mom.

“Tonight? What’s happening tonight?” said Ben.

“Oh, Benjamin you are funny,” said Mom. “It’s your party. You’re going to love it.”

“Of course,” said Ben. “My party. Yes.”

He couldn’t quite believe it. Perhaps the aliens had done something to his memory as well, and that was why he’d forgotten about it. Or maybe he was just exhausted. Either way, he decided the best thing to do was to go upstairs and have a couple of hours’ sleep. That way, he would feel refreshed and really ready to party … as long as he wasn’t interrupted again by a red glow in the yard, but he thought that was pretty unlikely now.

Ben trudged upstairs to his room and lay down. The next thing he knew, it was three hours later and someone was shaking him.

“Come on, sleepyhead, wake up.”

Ben slowly opened a bleary eye and saw someone he thought he knew standing by his bed. He opened the other eye and the person came completely into focus. It was Ant.

“Hi, Ant,” said Ben, his voice still heavy with sleep. “What’s happening?”

“What’s happening is that you need to get ready for your party,” said Ant. “Everyone else has left already, but I volunteered to stay here and wake you up so you didn’t sleep through it. Aren’t I an amazing brother?”

Ben was feeling less sleepy now. He could tell that the snooze had done him the world of good. He did feel much, much better. In no time at all he was up and dressed.

“Okay!” said Ben. “Let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” said Ant. “We might run into some of those aliens on the way. Maybe it would be better to give it a miss and stay here.”

For the tiniest moment Ben thought that somehow Ant had remembered what had happened, but then he saw the huge grin on his brother’s face and knew he was joking.

“Do you know what?” said Ben. “Even if we did run into some aliens, I think the two of us could defeat them and save the world, especially if we had your shrink ray.”

“Hey, I told you never to mention that again,” said Ant, opening the door. “Come on.”

The party was in a hall about a fifteen-minute walk away, but Ben and Ant were so excited they practically ran there and made it in ten minutes.

“It seems very quiet here,” said Ben as they approached the building.

“Yes, it does,” said Ant.

Ben cautiously pushed open the door. It was pitch black inside. He couldn’t see a thing.

“Are you sure this is the right place, Ant?” asked Ben. “I don’t think there’s anyone here.”

“I’m pretty certain this is it, yes,” said Ant. “I think there are a few different rooms here. It must be in one at the back. Come on.”

Ben wasn’t too sure, but Ant had gone through the door, so he followed his brother inside.

SURPRISE!

Suddenly the lights burst on and Ben could see that the place was packed full of people.

But there was something else.

Everyone was dressed in space costumes. Some people were aliens, some were planets, some were stars, some were astronauts, some were spaceships, and Ben’s twin cousins, Ruby and Art, and Carla were even floating as if there was no gravity in the hall. (They had wires attached to them, which were making it seem as if they were off the ground.)

And right in the middle of it all was a huge green alien cake with the words “You’re Out of This World” written on it in icing.

Ben couldn’t quite believe his eyes. Even Grandpa had dressed up, though he was in a costume Ben knew only too well, the one made of orange and green sacks. (Grandpa had found it left on the ground near the shul.)

“What do you think, Ben?” said Dad, who was wearing a blue and yellow alien outfit and had four springs with ping-pong balls attached to his head. “It was you who gave us the idea, going on about all that alien business.”

Ben looked around at everyone, his family and friends. They really had gone to a lot of effort.

“I love it!” shouted Ben.

“Then let’s party!” yelled Dad.

The music started and before long the place was really buzzing. Everyone was dancing, eating, singing, shouting, and having fun, just like a normal bar mitzvah party, apart from the strange costumes.

Ben was told about a million times how well he’d done in shul again. Ant didn’t annoy or embarrass him. Carla went round telling everyone that her bat mitzvah party would be fairy-themed and would be bigger and better, and people even laughed at some of the jokes in Dad’s speech, which was a first.

When it was all over Ben stood outside the hall and looked up. For a second he thought that he could just see something red moving across the night sky, but he might have been mistaken.

“Hey,” said Grandpa, walking up to Ben. He was holding a plate with a huge slice of green cake on it.

“Hey,” said Ben.

“I know I’ve said this before,” said Grandpa. “But you really did very well today, and you know what?”

“What?”

“I think you have proved yourself more than ready to become a man.”

Ben smiled and nodded.

“I think you might be right, Grandpa,” he said. “Perhaps it isn’t going to be too bad being a grown-up after all.”

THE END