Once outside, they all ran for the spaceship. “Are you sure you know how to fly that thing?” Melvin asked Lester Vanderpeeb.
“Have I ever lied to you?”
Melvin didn’t know how to answer that question. He’d only met Lester a few seconds ago. Still he seemed decent enough, for a guy with three eyeballs. Melvin wondered if he had more than one brain and if—
He stopped and sniffed. What was that nasty smell?
Stinky alien feet!
“They’re coming back!” Candace yelled. “Look!”
“What kind of breakfast was that?” Melvin said.
Aliens from planet Dork were known for their speed eating. And now they were coming up fast, stun guns aimed and ready.
Melvin knew it was their last chance. If the aliens caught them this time, they’d never get away. “Split up, everybody. Scatter.”
Melvin and James sprinted across the school yard. After all, they were as fast as a speeding bullet. Maybe faster. They leaped a fence and headed down Laser Beam Way, which ran into Beam-Me-Up Boulevard. It was lined with odd-shaped buildings.
“Where are we heading, Melvin?” James asked.
“Beats me. I’m making this up as I go along.”
Actually, it was the narrator who was making it up … but let’s get back to our story.
“We have to get out of sight,” Melvin said. “We need a place to hide.” They stopped and looked around. “What I wouldn’t give for an abandoned warehouse right now.”
“I’d settle for an abandoned anything,” James added.
Fortunately, Beam-Me-Up Boulevard was pretty deserted. There was not an alien in sight. Maybe the whole area was abandoned. Melvin decided to check and see. He reached for the nearest door. It was locked, of course, but that didn’t stop Melvin Beederman, the kid who kicked down doors in his spare time. Actually, Candace was the door kicker, but Melvin did it too every now and then to keep up his skills.
Melvin kicked in the door. “Follow me, James.”
Sure enough, the place did seem abandoned. Or if not abandoned, at least no one was around at the moment. Melvin and James located a stairway and headed upstairs. They found themselves in some kind of alien office. Pictures of alien rock stars hung on the wall. An alien computer sat on an alien desk.
James went to a window and looked out. “I wonder where the girls are?”
Melvin wondered too. Hopefully Candace and Margaret had stayed together. If they—
“James, get away from that window,” Melvin whispered. He pointed to the floor.
“Someone’s downstairs.”
James sniffed. “I don’t smell stinky feet.”
They stood motionless, listening. Something was moving around down there, all right. Maybe it was an alien rat or mouse, or some other alien rodent.
They heard footsteps on the stairs. No, it wasn’t a rat. It was a somebody. Melvin motioned James over to the doorway at the top of the stairs. “Get ready,” Melvin whispered. “We’ll jump whoever it is.”
A few moments later something appeared at the top of the stairs. Melvin and James pounced, knocking it to the floor. “Get the gun,” Melvin said.
There was no gun—and no stinky feet.
“I just love a good dog pile, don’t you?” the creature said.
It was Lester Vanderpeeb.
“Where are the girls?” Melvin asked him, standing up and helping the alien to his feet.
Lester shook his head. He didn’t know.