Confusing Earth - Chapter 3: Value

Chapter 3: Value

Thud! The spaceship landed on the Earth’s surface. The captain of the spaceship came out of his control area in the front of the ship and addressed Jack.
“Commanding Officer Jack” said the captain.
“Yes Captain Speck” said Jack.
“You are now on Earth” said the captain, “The spaceship is parked in the back yard of a house we arranged for you all to live in.”
“Rings of Pariah Nullidad 7! We’re in the backyard now. Won’t people see our ship and realise we are aliens and try to destroy us” panicked Jack.
“No, the ship is invisible” said Captain Speck, “No one can see us”.
“Well that’s a relief” said Liam, “I look like a complete fool like this.”
“They will see you when you get out the ship” said Captain Speck, “Now, once you get off the ship, I will be going back to Banbazoia and leaving you here. Have you still got your baby monitor, Bella?”
“Yes Captain Speck” said Bella.
“Okay good. Parrot wants you to keep it on you at all times in case he needs to communicate with you. Now, all of you, you will live in this house and you have been left some stuff called money on the table in there. You can use it to exchange for nutrition at places nearby. If you want more of that stuff called money, you will need to find work, but I think Parrot is going to talk more to you about that later. That is all” said Captain Speck.
“Okay, we will get on with it then” said Jack.
“Okay, oh and one more thing” said Captain Speck.
“What’s that?” said Jack.
“All of you be careful” said Captain Speck.

“WE will” said Jack, “Now come on guys, let’s go into our new house”. Jack stepped out of the spaceship and took his first step on to the fertile, grass filled lawn of his yard on the mysterious planet of Earth which was so different to home. Everyone else came out of the spaceship, Liam in Bella’s arms. The spaceship took off. They looked at their house, the tree in their yard, the weird green stuff on the ground which they later found out was grass. They all looked at each other and realised they were all thinking the same thing… What the hell have we got ourselves into? Maree nervously chewed at her hair. Jack started to breathe heavily. Max just stared in awe. Liam started to cry. Bella hugged him and sung to him a little bit. Liam calmed down. Then they both looked at each other. “Why did I just start crying?” thought Liam out loud.
“Why did I just hug you and sing to you?” thought Bella out loud.
“IT’s obvious” said Max, “WE are starting to become like a family already. No wonder, this is quite amazing and kind of daunting. This world is nothing like our planet. There is blue up above us with white things floating in it. There are green things on brown fat things that branch off into other smaller brown things”. Max looked away from the tree he was looking at and looked at the ground.
“There is green stuff” said Max. He started to bend down to touch it.
“No don’t” yelled Jack, grabbing him on the arm and trying to pull him up away from it.
“It could be dangerous” said Bella.
“It might bite” said Liam.
“I’m sure it’s harmless” said Max, pulling away from Jack, “I’m going to touch it.”
“No you aren’t young man” said Jack.
“Yes I am” said Max, “Don’t stop me. Just because you are scared of this world doesn’t mean I have to be.”
“I am your commanding officer and I say don’t touch the green stuff” demanded Jack.
“Look Jack, this is our yard. We are going to live here. We need to know if stuff is dangerous or not. I am going to touch it” said Max.
“He does make a good point there” piped up Maree, who had been silent all this time, still being nervous.
“Okay fine” spat Jack, “Bloody teenagers. No respect for authority. Think they can do whatever they want.”
Max leaned over and touched the grass. Bella looked away, Liam found himself nearly crying again, Maree bit her lip and Jack frowned, half with annoyance at Max and half with worry. Max rubbed his hand over the grass.
“It’s great guys. It’s harmless. It’s nice and soft” said Max. Max laid down on the green stuff and rolled around on it.
“You guys have to try this” said Max, “It’s great”.
Maree nervously touched it and was delighted in its softness and lack of danger. She flopped down next to Max and moved her arms along it.
“This is such a sensual experience” said Maree, “Nothing like what we have at home.”
“Let’s try it” said Bella to Liam.
“No” said Liam, “I am a respectful business man. I am not going to roll around in green stuff.”
“Oh act your age” said Bella, laying down on the green stuff and laying Liam next to her. Soon Liam was giggling and pulling little bits of green stuff out of the ground. He put some on his face, under his nose.
“Hey look Bella” said Liam, “I have a moustache”. Liam and Bella giggled.
“Come down Jack” said Bella, “It’s fun”
“No” said Jack, “Max was irresponsible and disobeyed orders. I’m not going to join in his game.” Jack turned away so his back was to his new family.
“Suit yourself” said Bella. The family kept playing on the green stuff, giggling away. Jack started to get annoyed. He started to regret things he said. He started to feel a need to play in the green stuff too, whatever it was. He got down with them too.
“Yay” said Liam, “Jack is going to play too”. Jack laid down with them.
“This is great fun” said Jack.
“Told you so” said Max.

They were all rolling around when Jack accidentally rolled into Bella. He was shocked. He found himself face to face with her with his hands on her tumours. He blushed.
“Oh gee Bella” said Jack, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch your tumours”.
“What tumours?” asked Bella.
“Those things on the front of you, that I have just realised I still have my hands on and should probably take my hands off of” said Jack. Jack still didn’t move his hands.
“Those aren’t tumours” said Bella, “I was a perfectly healthy Babazoidian. I don’t know what they are. They came with the human body.” Jack was breathing funny.
“Umm well they are very nice” said Jack. He paused for a moment.
“Not that I have seen any others” he said, “I just think they are very nice”. Jack did not understand why this made him nervous.
“Hey Guys” said Liam, “Can we stop talking about Bella’s tumours now? I want to get on with the green stuff business”.
There was a delay with neither Bella nor Jack talking then Jack said, “Well yes of course. Let’s talk about Earth rather than body parts.” He took his hands off of those things on Bella and looked at everyone else.
“Okay, well what do you think of Earth so far privates?” asked Jack.
“It’s fun” said Maree.
“It’s interesting” said Bella, pronouncing each syllable separately and looking at Jack funnily. Jack blushed, though he still was not sure why.
“I like the green stuff” said Liam.
“It is beautiful” said Max, “All the colours on this planet have penetrated my soul. It is so captivating, so amazing, so unlike home. There is beautiful fun green stuff and a captivating blue and white thing up above us. Then there is the brown thing with things sticking off it with green on top. It is such a penetrating experience.”
“Well we know somebody is going to be a nerd on this planet” said Jack. Everyone ignored him.
“That was beautiful Max” said Bella.
“I wonder if the inhabitants of this planet value all that we see as much as they should?” asked Liam.
“I highly doubt it” said Bella, “We are seeing it with the eyes of an infantile being. These people see it all the time so they probably don’t value it as much as they should. They are probably too busily distracted by other stuff.”
“That is true” said Liam. You see these tiny things, the beautiful aspects of life on Earth that we overlook every day was being admired by these foreign beings from another planet much more than many people even admire the bigger things in life.