There was no way he could do it. For starters he’s a small weak little mass compared to the other boys, anyway. And this river was HUGE; Like, long as half a football field long. (I’m surprised only Charlie and I knew about it.) So yea for him this task is virtually impossible.
I voiced my opinion to him by whispering in his ear, “I hypothesize that you cannot skip a stone even a quarter of the way.” He tapped his toe on the bank thinking of a comeback. Charlie couldn’t, as expected so he only scowled.

Crossing my arms I gave him my best I’m waiting face. Scowl still plastered on his usually warm face he plucked a rock from the shore. Weighted it in his hand (the weight wouldn’t particularly affect his failure). And – finally! – tossed the rock with surprising grace. The launch was gorgeous, much as it pains me to admit it.

So one can imagine how startled I was just by the throw. But my jaw dropped lower because, the stone started hopping ever so perfectly across the still, blue water, each bounce precisely as long as the last. If I didn’t know any better I’d have thought someone was actually controlling the piece of earth. Even more befuddling we watched it skip all the way to the other side. Not just a quarter, or half; ALL.THE.WAY!!!!!

I only turned my neck to look at Charlie. He pointed to his chest and had a very perplexed look on his face. “Did, I just do that?” he asked silently. I nodded my head.

We then simultaneously looked back at the river. Only to be completely and irrevocably flabbergasted, for at the opposite bank was the pebble, hovering still as a corpse, in mid-air. At this point I was too overwhelmed. My legs could no longer hold me up and my eyes didn’t want to harness the light from the fading sun anymore. That last thing I remember is collapsing.

“Phoebe? PLESE don’t be dead” My eyes flutter open. He’d bought me home, somehow. I must have been out a long time if he managed that.

“Charlie did what happened…really happen? I’m not going mad am I? Please tell me you saw the floating rock that you managed to launch all the way across the river!” I clutched his shirt collar desperate for the reply…Okay maybe I was a trifle off my rocker.

He gently removed my hands and placed them in his lap. “Yes, I saw it too. You’re not insane…not completely anyway.” His voice was reassuring but he wasn’t telling me something.

I squinted at him and inquired, “Charles Ray Whit, what aren’t you telling me?” He always spilled the beans whenever I whipped out his full name.

“Alright fine…but you ‘re gonna want to sit down.” I glared at him. We were both already sitting. “Oh right. Well. Uh after you passed out the rock..well..I raised my eyebrows.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the smooth gray stone. (Note: I said, “the stone not a stone”). “Is that?” But I already knew. He only shook his head in the affirmative. “So you mean to tell me that object came back?! Magically?!” Another nod.

This was too crazy. There was no way on God’s green Earth that stone defied the laws of physics. Nothing like this had ever happened to me. There was no such thing as magic and science defying. It simply did not happen.

Until this fateful evening….

“Let me see it,” I demanded. I had to investigate this thing or my life would no longer make sense.

“Why?”
“Because, I said so, Charles Ray!”

“Fine…” he plunked the cold object into my palm. For a good two minutes I looked the rock over and over in my hand putting it close to my face looking at every detail.

The thing is there weren’t any details. Just a smooth gray perfectly ovular rock….Then I just got the idea to squeeze it. “What are you doing?”
I look up suddenly remembering h was still here. “Experimen-“

“Aaaaah! Please stop!” A tiny plea. Almost inaudible but I still had it close to my face. I stopped applying pressure to…whatever it was, cause it sure wasn’t a rock. “You hear that?” I asked gazing at my best mate.

“Yea…I thought I was bat-“

“Shut up. Let me see if I can do it again” He pursed his lips but got quiet.
I only squeezed it gently this time….nothing…a little harder and…

“PLEASE! Stop doing that!”
“Who’s in there?”
“Just hold on a second,” the voice said slightly aggravated. “Can you, can you open your fist? Can’t exactly show myself whilst I am trapped.”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” I opened my hand. Almost as soon as I did little puffs of white smoke emitted from the rim of the trinket.
Charlie had utter shock written all over his face.
I refocused my attention on the thing in my hand and notice it open. It resembled a convertible pulling it’s hood back. And from that vessel stepped a small human like creature; two legs, two arms, upright standing, two eyes, and mouth. That’s where the human characteristics end.
For its eyes were large and white with black shadowing around them almost like too much eye make-up. It had no nose and dots in a line above each eye (eyebrows I guess). It had a pale gray skin with scale-esque texture running up the arms to the elbow, up the legs to the knee and on its forehead. The creature was four fingered and had a fang clad mouth. The alien had a build mimicking a supermodel’s. I couldn’t help but feel a tiny ounce of jealously.
“Where’d you come from?” Charlie piped in.
“Before I answer any questions can I please get comfortable? You giants can at least grant me that after bumrushing my starship,” she requested. She was a snarky little thing but I’d be cranky too given the circumstances of course.
Anyway, I granted her request and placed her delicately on the closest ottoman in my room. She rolled her head around and shook out each limb. After overly deep breath she closed her eyes and began to shimmer. A confused Charlie looked at me. My only possible response was a shrug.
“Okay now, you may thrust you inquires upon me,” she breathed. She’d grown to about seven inches tall now.
Charlie reading my thoughts asked, “How’d you do that?”
A chuckle escaped her lips. “This is my true height, though I wouldn’t fit into that horrid contraption if I stayed this height. So I channel my abilities into shrinking myself.”
“What’s your name? How do you know English?” Those questions had been nagging me since I saw her.
“The people of Ceres call me Ynka. And I am wearing a translator in my throat. If I wasn’t wearing this we couldn’t communicate.”
For the next thirty minutes Charlie and I got to know Ynka. She’s from Ceres the smallest of our solar system’s dwarf planets. She is a she because, she has the equivalent to a human girl’s reproductive system. Ynka also lived wth her big brother figure because her parents died when she was born. Evidently Ceres is a miniature Earth. Everything’s just colder and slightly more advanced. She came her because she broke some sacred law (wouldn’t tell us all the details, though).
“So can you ever go-?”

“Phoebe?” Fiddlesticks! My father had come home early tonight. He usually isn’t home until closer to midnight.

“Who is that?” Ynka asked innocently. Oh man, I hadn’t thought about what to do with her, had I?
My pulse quickened to seventy beats per second. I started stammering like a maniac. I don’t do well under pressure, especially when that pressure is my drill sergeant of a father.

Each breathe was more laborious that the last, so many thoughts swimming in my head, so little time to thoroughly process. Ynka was my new friend. But I didn’t want to hide anything from my dad either. He’s my Dad!

But one can assume what would happen if society found out about an alien in our own backyard, so to speak.

I couldn’t think straight. My palms grew moist and my face went cold. I couldn’t help but rock back and forth with anxiety. Mere seconds separated me from an unknown fate that was sure to end in disaster.

Then the sound of feet going up stairs began ringing in my ears. Oh no! It’s too late, it’s over, my life is do-.

“Phoebe! Get a hold of yourself. Do you or don’t you want to hide Ynka?” chared had his hands firmly on my shoulders.

WHY DID MY FATHER ASCEND THE STAIRS SO SLOWLY?

“Phoebe? Focus! We’re running out of time here!!!”
“Hide her,” my voice firmer than I’d expected. Charlie only nodded and gingerly transported Ynka to my box of miscellaneous thinks.

My door creaked open and in popped my tall lean Daddy. “Is everything alright?” My Dad always seemed to be nervous when asking about my welfare.

“We’re fine, sir. No need to worry about us,” I assured. I flashed a grin to signify it was okay for him to go now. He nodded and left but left the door still slightly open.

As soon as I knew he was downstairs going through his daily routine I retrieved Ynka from the box. “Thank you for staying so calm.”

“Actually, I was frozen stiff trying to analyze the situation. I’m guessing people wouldn’t react well to my presence? Starting with your father?”

“Right,” I informed, And no one expect Charlie and I know you’re here. Got it!
“Affirmative,” she whispered.

Though I still have the gnawing feeling that I can’t keep her hidden for long!