My Friend is an Alien - Edlund Niklas - Страница 36
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"Just remember, this party isn't in YOUR honor." said Davy. Between Keith's wisecracks and Arion's attitude level obviously being set on «high» tonight, he was starting to get a little worried. "And don't expect to be announced when you walk in, either."
Arion snorted. "Barbaric primitives. No sense of ceremony."
The group headed out of the hiding place and towards the gym. "Anybody know what the rest of the gang was going to show up as?" asked Martin.
"Jonathan said something about showing up as an accident victim." remarked Niklas.
"That's hardly fair." said Keith. "You're supposed to come in costume, not as yourself."
"You sit on something sharp before you came here tonight, Keith?" asked Davy. "Tone down the attitude a bit."
"Yes, Hunk." said Keith.
"Fabian and Jason said something about coming as rock stars." added Niklas. "I don't know what Sniv or Randy had in mind."
The group entered the gym. Despite the presence of several hundred children and teenagers of varying ages, all the way from preschoolers to high schoolers, it didn't take long to spot the others. Jonathan had wrapped a bandage around his head and spattered red paint on it. He was also wearing a torn T-shirt that he'd drawn a tire tread across (or possibly rolled an actual tire across given how authentic it looked), and had smeared a bit of fake dirt and blood on his arms and legs. He was being given a generally wide berth.
Fabian and Jason were wearing phony, frizzed out wigs — Fabian's was green, Jason's was purple. They were dressed in tie-dyed T-shirts and blue jeans, and were carrying guitars. Keith muttered under his breath that they should call themselves the "Eyesore Twins". Randy was wearing a silver snow suit, which he'd attached NASA logos to, claiming he was an astronaut. Sniv had dressed as Spider-Man, apparently buying a commercially-produced costume, to which he'd added red rubber boots on which he'd drawn the web pattern, but instead of a mask, he'd painted his face with the Spider-Man mask pattern — entirely red, with black webbing lines, and the large, slanted black outlines around the eyes, with white centers.
Throughout the room was a miasma of costumes. Clowns, robots, monsters, animals, other superheroes, and several things defying description. At least three kids had gotten together and made a massive costume of some sort of nondescript but horrific-looking six-legged monster. Arion had to be restrained from attacking it. Niklas wondered how any of the inhabitants of the costume were able to get refreshments. Or even see where they were going. And milling through the crowd and watching over the refreshment tables were several dozen adults — in varying degrees of nervousness.
Music was playing, but only a few high schoolers were dancing. It was early in the evening, so everyone was still comparing costumes, and some of the younger kids were playing games.
"Uh-huh — and this race thinks of itself as an intelligent species." remarked Arion. "Riiiight…"
"Could be worse." said Niklas. "My sister could be here." Tina had managed to catch a nasty cold, and her parents refused to let her attend. It had taken all of Niklas' strength not to tease the daylights out of her over that one, but he realized doing so would likely get him barred from the party, as well. He'd let her have it later.
"Hey, amigo!" called a voice, and Sniv turned. It was his friend Ricky, whom he had first met when Keith and Martin had run away. He didn't see the boy all that often. Ricky was dressed — sort of — as a soldier. But nothing like Morik. He'd smeared green and brown paint on his face and arms, and was wearing a camouflage T-shirt and trousers. "Nice outfits!" said Ricky, then looking at Morik. "Wish mine looked that good." Ricky came from a poor family. The shirt and trousers were probably actual clothes of his.
"You look fine." said Sniv. "I think you've met some of the others?" Niklas and the rest of the group had wandered over.
"Yeah, but not those guys!" said Ricky, seeing Jahv, Keyro, Morik and Arion for the first time. "Those gotta be the best costumes I've ever seen!"
Sniv gulped. Ricky had never been introduced to the aliens. It just hadn't worked out. "Uh, yeah. This is Jeff, Kevin, Morris, and — Arion." Jahv and Keyro had been willing to assume names that were a little more normal-sounding for the night. Morik had simply taken up his usual «Morris» identity. Arion had categorically and obstinately refused any alteration to his name.
Ricky scowled. "That's a weird name. You not from around here, amigo?"
"Hardly." said Arion with an icy tone to his voice.
Sniv and Ricky wandered off. Niklas walked up to Arion. "What's ruffled your feathers — pun intended?"
Arion glared. "Do you have the slightest idea what 'ameegoh' means in my language?"
"Well, in his language, it means friend — so make nice." said Niklas. Arion just shrugged. "Are there refreshments around here?"
Niklas pointed at towards the long refreshment table. It was actually a bit of a buffet. Somebody had reasoned that there was no reason to just have candy at the party. Besides, who wanted to deal with several hundred sugar-whacked kids in costumes? The high school wanted their gymnasium left relatively intact, thank you. Arion nodded and walked off.
"I hate to say this, but he's royalty, all right. A royal pain." remarked Niklas.
"I suppose he's used to higher living than this," said Davy, "his ability to fly notwithstanding."
"Well, if he's going to hang around for any length of time, he'd better get over it." affirmed Niklas.
"He's not that bad," said Jahv. "But I'll admit he takes getting used to. I think he tends to act arrogant to mask his nervousness sometimes."
"I just thought of something," said Davy. "You guys had to scan all the food when you first showed up here. What about him? Does he know what's safe to eat?"
Jahv nodded. "We put both him and Morik through that as soon as we arrived after the shuttle trip. The only thing Arion really can't tolerate is milk. And anything with garlic."
"And all I need to avoid is some orange vegetation called 'carrots' and I'm okay." said Morik. "So if you'll excuse me, as well, I'd like to try some of the local food."
"I saw some sliced meat for sandwiches up there," said Jason, joining in the conversation. "I doubt any of it has garlic in it, but you'd better check."
Jahv pulled a small analyzer out of his backpack and headed off.
The evening progressed largely without incident. Arion, after being assured that the food was all safe for him to eat, parked himself at one of a small number of tables set off to one side, and made himself so stand-offish between trips to the buffet that no one came anywhere near him, which was apparently how he wanted it. Niklas reasoned that Arion was more interested in observing than participating. His large eyes tended to dart everywhere, watching everything.
Jahv and Keyro were just the opposite. They wanted to see and do just about everything. The only risky moment came during an old-fashioned round of "bobbing for apples". A huge water-filled tub with apples was the centerpiece of this game. Keyro had decided to attempt the game, but his antennae instinctively perked back on his head to stay out of the water, which startled a few people. It also startled a few people that none of the «paint» on his face "washed off" when he came up. On top of that, the little imp had also eaten most of the apple while still underwater.
Morik, for his part, was talking his head off to anyone interested in conversation. Niklas considered that this was the largest group of people Morik had probably ever been in since his planet was destroyed. He wandered past within earshot a few times to make sure the boy wasn't saying anything he shouldn't. Fortunately, any slips he did make were being attributed to his being "in character" as a "soldier from a future planet" or some such. Niklas didn't want to look like he was eavesdropping, and Morik seemed to be keeping a number of people well entertained — even if they thankfully weren't believing everything he said.
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