“You mix this with certain ingredients, and no alien can resist this for miles.
Bobby stared at John in disbelief. “Your world is different.
“We have compounds for most everything,” John added proudly.
Although Bobby found his planet different, John found the earthlings and their culture weird. What purpose did Elmer get from listening to that loud music all day, plus the fact that the music hurt his inner ear? John looked at Bobby and wondered why someone with his mentality pretended to be an airhead. John had been in Bobby’s room and looked at the books he read, and the persona of him wasn’t what was inside him. It bothered John that Bobby wasn’t using his ability to his full potential.
Bobby broke the long silence. “What about something to make you happy and in a less hostile mood?”
John turned to Bobby. “As in what you were inhaling in the desert?” John asked.
Bobby looked sheepishly at John, not realizing John had put two-and-two together.
“Not for me,” Bobby said and then thought a moment while looking around before continuing, “You see, I’m in a little trouble at school. If certain people do not chill out about me, I’m history.”
John rubbed his cheek and then grabbed the two containers out of the console and set them down in front of Bobby.
“This should do it,” he said.
“Good. You’re coming with me tonight. Right now we have to get through dinner,” Bobby added quickly and then motioned to the containers. “Don’t say a word to Jenny about this.
John nodded as if to agree but did not see why they had to be secretive about it. Things are so complicated in this world. Nothing is as it seemed.
Jenny set the food on the table. Mario Lanza was piped through the speakers in every room. John rubbed his ears, but it was useless. He just glanced at Jane nervously. He had a hard time not looking at her heaving breasts through the thin house dress that Bobby found for her.
He and Jane had been together for a long time, and in that time he couldn’t recall ever experiencing the things he was feeling for her now. It bothered him, yet it was most pleasing.
Elmer broke a piece off his roll and fed Spot, who gobbled up the morsel with expectations of getting more. John could not get over the devilish look in Elmer’s eyes.
Bobby kept nervously glancing up at the clock, which did not go unnoticed by Jenny.
“Do you have someplace to go?” Jenny asked.
Bobby looked up with all the wide-eyed innocence he could muster. “Yeah,” he said and then cleared his throat. “John and I are going downtown this evening.”
“What for?”
Jane glanced over at John. It had bothered her that ever since they crash-landed on this planet, John seemed to be becoming insubordinate. Granted, he never disobeyed any order she gave him. It was just he seemed to be taking liberties and exerting a form of independence that was not conducive to their training. Plus, the fact their craft was still in disrepair. Until it was in operating order, they were stuck on this planet, no matter how primitive it was.
Bobby startled Jane back to the here and now when he said, “Homework.”
“Homework,” she snapped as she turned to John. “Why do you have to go downtown when the home is here?”
John turned to Bobby. He knew this was not going to be an easy question for Bobby to answer. Jenny, on the other hand, was taken aback by Jane’s question. Bobby just rolled his eyes and tried not to look guilty.
“Jane has such a sense of humor,” Bobby mocked.
John turned to Bobby for the longest time. He then turned to Jane to see her reaction, which wasn’t good and then he looked back to Bobby.
Bobby turned to Elmer. “So, Gramps, what are your plans for this evening. I hope you give Mario a rest. Otherwise, you’re going to wear out that tape.
“The mail came earlier,” Elmer said with a confused expression on his face.
“No, you have to give Mario a rest,” Bobby shouted.
Elmer just gave Spot a piece of meat, ignoring Bobby’s remark.
Jenny turned to Bobby with a stern look. “You didn’t answer me. Why do you have to go into town?”
“I have work to do. You know graduation is coming up soon.”
“So then you plan on graduating.”
“Ah! Ah! Why wouldn’t I?” Bobby answered a question with a question, keeping the merry-go-round going.
Elmer looked up with the innocence of a child. “We should get a dog,” he said.
Jenny turned to him with a haggard look, frustration visible on her face.
“That’s all I need,” she snapped and then quickly added, “You can’t even take care of yourself, much less a dog.”
“I saw some Chocolate Lab pups for sale in the paper.”
“Dad, don’t you understand English?”
“I’ll call to see if they got their shots.”
Jenny just shook her head. She looked at everyone at the table and then put her head in her hands. Jane and John followed suit and did the same. John turned to Bobby and shrugged for guidance. Bobby just shook his head.
CHAPTER 20
Elmer was in the bathroom washing up. He ran the electric shaver quickly over his face and then put on a splash of Old Spice. He glanced down at Spot sitting at his feet. Ever since the visitors came to live with them, Spot had become inseparable with Elmer. Elmer bent down and dabbed a little aftershave on Spot’s head.
“The ladies go wild over this stuff.”
Spot just covered his head with his front paws and whimpered. They were interrupted by the knock on the door.
“Gramps, you’re not the only one living here.”
Elmer opened the door and leaned out. “Someone on the phone.”
Bobby looked at Elmer. He got a whiff of the aftershave lotion and was apparently startled by what he saw. In the six months he’d lived there, he never saw his grandfather do more than shave three times a week, whether he needed it or not.
“You’re not the only—oh, never mind,” Bobby said and then quickly added, “You got a date?”
Elmer walked past Bobby, ignoring his question. He walked over to the desk with the phone and then turned back to Bobby.
“Did someone call me?”
Bobby just shrugged. The door at the end of the hall opened. Jenny walked out of her bedroom in time to see Elmer. A puzzled look crossed her face as she frowned and turned to Bobby, who in turn just shrugged, walked into the bathroom, and shut the door.
Elmer picked up the receiver and, hearing the dial tone, hung up the receiver and then walked into his bedroom and shut the door.
Once in the confines of his little sanctuary, Elmer took the package he received earlier off the dresser. He studied the envelope for a moment, quickly opened it, and wet his lips looking at the tiny bottle of Viagra. Elmer tossed the bottle in the air like a little kid with his first hardball. He quickly put the bottle in his pocket and then walked out of his room, followed by Spot.
Bobby was anxious about what he was about to do but fearful of explaining it all to Jenny. She had such high hopes for him, and he didn’t want to disappoint her once more. Bobby promised himself if he got out of this mess, he would stay on the straight and narrow until graduation.
It was hard getting out of the house that evening. Jenny sensed something was up with Bobby and John and it had nothing to do with homework. It took some doing before Bobby was finally able to leave for the evening. He drove while John nervously glanced out the passenger window while holding the bottle from the spacecraft.
“Is it right, what we are doing? John asked.
“It’s not right to expel me for something I didn’t do.”
There was a concern in John’s voice. “Maybe if you explain.”