Aliens for Dinner Read Free Page B

make when you accidentally sit on something wet.
    Bob just smiled back. His smile widened when Mrs. Bickerstaff came in carrying a huge bowl of spaghetti with tomato sauce.
    Bet you’d like spaghetti with sludge sauce even better
; thought Richard. Then he had a brilliant idea. If Bob was really a Dwilb, he could get boredomitis. All Richard had to do was bore him! Richard tried to keep a grin off his face.
How can I bore him silly?
he wondered.
    “Try talking like Mr. Felshin,” suggested Aric, from Richard’s pocket. “That might work.”
    Great idea!
thought Richard. He cleared his throat. “A really interesting thing … happened to me at school today,” he began. “I thought I might … tell you about it.” He spoke very slowly, just the way Mr. Felshin did.
    “Sure, sweetie,” said his mother. “What?”
    “I was on my way to … homeroom,” said Richard, dragging out every word. “And Igot … really thirsty. So I decided to get a drink … of water. At the water fountain … in the hallway. But … when I got to the fountain … the bell rang …” Richard let his voice trail off. He twirled some spaghetti around on his fork.
    “Well, so?” asked his mother.
    Richard took a bite of spaghetti. “Well … there was hardly any water … coming out of the fountain,” he said slowly.“Just a tiny … drop. A … weeny… little … dribble. It went drip … drip … drip …”

    Richard stole a glance at Bob. Bob just smiled at him and kept on eating. But his mother was looking at him really oddly. Her eyelids were drooping a little.
    “Richard!” she said, yawning. “Get to the point!”
    “Well …” Richard sucked a few strands of spaghetti off his fork as slowly as hecould. “I guess the point is … that I didn’t get a drink of water … before homeroom. So I was … really thirsty … all during homeroom. And after homeroom …” Richard looked at Bob again. He was still busy eating.
    Then he looked up. “Excuse me,” he said to Richard. “But could you pass the spaghetti?” He turned to Richard’s mother. She was yawning again. “This is delicious, Harriet,” he said, beaming. “Delicious.”
    Look at them
! Richard sent the thought to Aric.
My mom’s falling asleep, and he’s not bored at all
!
    “Try something else,” came the little alien’s voice. “Ask for money. On Ganoob we consider that very boring.”
    I’ll give it a shot
, thought Richard. He cleared his throat again. “Mom,” he said, in an extra-whiny voice. “Remember that sale I told you about at Mutant Splendor?” Mutant Splendor was a store in the mall that sold sci-fi stuff. Richard spent most of his allowance there. “It’s a really greatsale,” Richard went on. “Three comics for the price of two.”
    “Richard! You have every comic book ever published!” said his mother. “Don’t tell me you want more.” His mother let Richard buy comics, but only one a week. He had a huge collection.
    “Back issues of Space Lords of Gygrax!” said Richard. “I’ve got to have them, Mom. They’re collector’s items.” Richard forgot about being boring. There really was a sale at Mutant Splendor, and he really wanted those comics. “And they’ll be really valuable someday. I know they will.”
    His mother gave him a sharp look. She seemed wide awake now. “Why are you telling me this?” she asked.
    “I just need a little of my allowance in advance,” said Richard. “Only a few dollars, Mom. Please. Please?” His mother frowned, but for some reason Bob was smiling.
    “Sorry,” said his mother. “You’re going to have to live without them. Now eat some more of your dinner, please.”
    “I used to love those Space Lordscomics,” Bob said to Richard. “They were really fun. Really fun. I collected them, too.”
    “You did?” asked Richard.
On Dwilb?
he almost added, but he stopped himself.
    “I did,” said Bob. “As a matter of fact, I still have a few.” He grinned. “The first