All that week, Mrs. Lynx and Gloria patrolled the hallways looking for aliens. Our school has three main hallways with the school office in the middle. The Kindergarten hallway is short and just has kindergarten classrooms, plus the computer lab, music room and art room. The Lower Grades Hallway has 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade classrooms. The Upper Grades Hallway has 4th, 5th and 6th grade classrooms. Starting at the office, Mrs. Lynx and Gloria walked up and down the three hallways.

After each trip down a hallway, Mrs. Lynx stopped to study the U.S. map that hung outside the Principal’s Office. Green alien stickers marked all the places where someone had seen an alien. Our city didn’t have a sticker.

Gloria always walked with held her head high. Her eyes were bright, and her tail often wagged. I kept wondering, did aliens really smell different from humans? Because what scared me was Gloria’s black, shiny nose.

After I told Mom about Gloria, she decided I needed to smell better. On Monday, I wore my Dad’s cologne. On Tuesday, I smelled like the lemon juice that Mom used to wash my hair. And on Wednesday, my skin started peeling. It does that once a month at least, and I smell different when I am about to shed my skin.

“P-yew! What is that smell?” Freddy asked at lunch on Thursday.

Bree jerked her thumb at me. “He keeps trying different smells.”

“This one is bad!” Aja said. “What is it?”

“It’s a bug repellent,” I said. “Mom has beehives now, and I am keeping the honeybees away.”

“Everyone will stay away from that smell. It is a people repellent, too,” Edgar said.

I just wanted a dog repellent to keep Gloria away. Meanwhile, my skin was itching and itching. It would be a day or two before it all peeled away.

I had to do something about Gloria because I didn’t want to wear new smells every day. Then I thought about how much Aja loved French fries. After school, Bree and I stopped at a pet store and bought doggie treats and zip-lock bags. I filled up bags with doggie treats and gave them to my friends. Now, whenever we could, we snuck treats to Gloria. Once Mrs. Lynx was talking to another teacher. Edgar rolled his wheelchair close and stopped next to the dog. He let his hand hang out over the wheel, and Gloria nudged his hand for the treat.

Another time we were lined up and waiting outside the computer lab. Mrs. Lynx and Gloria came down the hall, and Aja dropped his pencil right in front of them. Mrs. Lynx stopped to pick it up and hand it to Aja. Behind her back, Bree fed Gloria a treat.

Now, when she saw third graders coming, Gloria’s tail wagged.

With the Gloria problem under control, it was time to work on the Giant party. On Thursday after school, Mom drove Bree and me to the party store for ideas on the Giant . We just had one week and one day before the Roman’s party.

Mom, Bree and I walked in, and the party store was still dark and cluttered. Clothes racks held shiny costumes while masks covered every wall. A man was behind a counter with his back to us.

Mom said, “Excuse me, sir.”

The man turned and—a freak! The man only had one eye. It was a giant eye in the middle of his forehead.

I yelped and rushed for the door.

Behind me, Bree laughed. “You can’t fool me again,” she said.

Surprised, I turned back, and the man pulled up a one-eyed mask. It was Mr. Jasper. He said, “Smart girl.”

Bree is a smart girl, but I am a dumb alien because that mask scared me.

Mom said, “Mr. Jasper, we need ideas for a game for a Giant party.”

He said, “I have just the thing.”

Mr. Jasper led us to the back of the store and stopped in front of a tall post. At the top was a metal circle, and at the bottom was a red circle. “This is the giant striker game,” Mr. Jasper said. He handed me a long-handled hammer, waved at the red circle, and said, “Hit it.”

I hefted the hammer and brought it down hard. CRASH!

On the post, a red arrow soared upward.

“Not hard enough,” Mr. Jasper said. “You didn’t ring the bell at the top. Only the strongest people can make the bell ring.”

Mom said, “Let me try.” She pushed up her shirtsleeves and picked up the hammer. “Stand back,” she told Bree and me. Was this my Mom? Her arms had muscles!

Mom swung the hammer down hard. BANG! The red arrow shot upward. But not as high as mine.

Really? Mom couldn’t ring the bell? This was odd.

The store man whistled. “Good try.”

Mom frowned and pulled down her shirtsleeves. “That was harder than I thought.”

Bree said, “May I try?”

Mr. Jasper handed the hammer to her and stepped back out of her way.

It was a giant hammer, and Bree is small. She struggled to get the hammer to her shoulder. Then, she shoved it off her shoulder and let it fall onto the red circle. “Bang!”

The red arrow shot up. And up and up and—DING! The bell at the top rang!

Odd, odd, odd, I thought.

Mom glared at the man. “How did you do that?”

“You are making it easier or harder to make the bell ring,” Mom accused.

 

“Do what?” The man was grinning.

“Of course,” he said. “I wanted you to understand how the tall striker works.” He showed how to adjust the striker by stepping on a lever at the bottom of the game. It was easy to work without people seeing you do it.

“You cheated,” Mom said.

Now Mr. Jasper frowned. “Oh no, Ma’am. If adults rent the game, they want it hard to ring the bell. When you rent the game for a kid’s birthday party, you want it easy to ring the bell.”

Bree said, “Oh.” She bounced on her toes and told Mom, “We don’t have to tell everyone that we can make it hard or easy.”

“What do you mean?” Mom asked.

Bounce, bounce. Bree said, “Well, maybe my Dad doesn't have to know.” Bounce, bounce.

I understood what Bree was thinking. The game would be easy for the kids. But we could trick our fathers and make it really hard for them to ring the bell. They would try harder and harder.

Mom grinned and said, “Kids, this is our secret.”

And we grinned back.

That Bree. Earthling girls sure know how to plan a joke on Dads.