Lizard people
"Dad, the lizard people are
staring at Timmy again." Elle pointed outside. Timmy was
playing under the azaleas. Across the street the lizard family stood
in their living room, pressed up against the window.
"Lassie! Is Timmy in trouble?"
"Dad. Don't do that."
"They're not staring at Timmy.
They are just looking out at the world with wild surmise, or
something. They are to be wondered at, not feared."
"If you really feel that way,"
Elle said, "invite them over for dinner."
Her father took out his phone. "Good
idea! I'm glad you're feeling so open-minded."
Elle face palmed. "Dad, no! I
was joking. Sarcasm, you know? Don't invite them over! They'll eat
Timmy, or ... have bad table manners." She hated it when Dad
rolled his eyes.
--
Elle was on Facebook when she heard the
doorbell. She looked out the window: the lizard people were at the
front door! She started typing furiously.
"Elle! Dinner!" The lizard
people were already at the dining room table when she came
downstairs. Elle sat across from the older lizard kid. She said her
name was Mary Sue.
"Pleased to meet you," Elle
gritted out.
"Would you like some broccoli?"
Elle's mother offered a bowl of broccoli and cheese sauce to the
lizard woman.
"Of course she doesn't, Mom,"
Elle hissed. "Lizards are purely carnivorous."
"Excuse me," the lizard woman
said, "that's not strictly true. Many of our relatives subsist
exclusively on fruits or vegetables. But broccoli gives me gas."
And so it went. Elle's father prattled
on about harmony between human and lizard kind and how we would have
so much to learn from each other. Timmy and the lizard boy both
played with their food. Elle asked to be excused as soon as she
dared. Her mother "invited" Mary Sue to go with her to her
room. It was better than staying.
Elle didn't usually have anyone in her
room. Most of her friends, even the ones who lived in town, only saw
each other on social media. So her room was a little... messy, even
for a teenage girl.
"Sorry about the mess," she
mumbled.
"No problem," Mary Sue said.
"Sorry your mom made you bring me up here." Elle shrugged.
Then Mary Sue's eyes went wide. "Green Day! A poster? Is it
signed!?" She clasped her hands over her heart.
"My cousin snuck me in. She works
security at the Civic Center. It was awesome!." Maybe this was
going to be all right. "You guys don't... eat people or
anything, do you?"
"Never anyone we know personally."
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