Twisting by the Pool, Chapter Two

Hot, thought Flashsatsumas to himself as he neared the newsagents. A little too hot for his comfort. He didn’t know very much Earth-vernacular so what he meant was that on a corporeal planet which conformed to standard meteorological laws you’d expect a heatwave like this to end around midweek, but that wasn’t to say the weather was the only subject on his mind.

In the mercifully air-conditioned shop was a rack of colourful comics which Flashsatsumas guessed were what he was after, and a boy and girl already surveying them.

Flashsatsumas was about to do likewise, only the customers caught his eye first.

Facial cues didn’t mean anything to Mini-Flashes, and Juniper had told him it had been too dark on the way to the theatre to get a good luck at anyone. But she’d said the brother was older and the sister had been wearing five red and green lights on a band across her forehead, which was precisely what Flashsatsumas was looking at now.

“Is it Pat and Maureen?” he put to the Earthlings.

“Yeah, mate,” said Pat, surprised, although some of this was probably due to the inflatable orange short-skirted suit on the boy addressing him.

“I’m friends with Mini-Flash Juniper,” Flashsatsumas introduced himself.

Maureen for her part looked as if these words in combination with the outfit were about to compel her to call for the shopkeeper. It wasn’t until then Flashsatsumas remembered.

“Jenny,” he corrected himself.

Pat at once exhaled loudly in a sort of delighted groan. “Cracking girl! She about?” was his first question, but as she evidently wasn’t, he continued: “So what you up to, mate?”

“Getting her a comic,” replied Flashsatsumas importantly.

This was enough to make a male Mini-Flash light-headed. He couldn’t wait to tell Flashbee he’d bridged what had seemed impossible divides and befriended this kind of Earth-boy.

“Well under the thumb,” concluded Maureen in utter disdain. “Here’s the one for Miss Legs,” and she selected a comic which she thrust at Flashsatsumas.

Even the pictures on the cover looked to him nasty enough to be a calling-card. He glanced over at the counter where sure enough, candy-sticks and multicoloured pods of the kind he’d heard about were on sale. It wasn’t any stretch to conclude that what he held in his hands came likewise directly of the enemy. Nor had Flashsatsumas any desire to bring a girl who was already frightened something that would scare her more, but Mini-Flash Juniper had been clear on why she wanted a comic, and if there was indeed some connection with the creatures then they both needed to know about it. He made up his mind and accepted the offering.

“Aye-aye,” chuckled Pat. “Someone’s hoping for a cuddle later! Nicely played, mate. You having one yourself while you’re at it?”

That was a good question, for Flashsatsumas had noticed that alongside the sticks and pods were those chocolate eggs with something inside which Mini-Flash Juniper had told him were safe, as they didn’t originate here. Possibly the same applied to some of the comics too, and it seemed worth finding out, so Flashsatsumas asked Pat for his recommendation.

“This one,” the other boy said right away, showing him.

It was nothing like the comic Flashsatsumas was already holding. In place of the sinister and the grotesque were exciting adventures replete with brave humans, and Flashsatsumas could tell at once his theory was borne out, for malevolent monsters would never have undertaken to publish such tales of heroics. It was however the technology that caught Flashsatsumas’s interest above all as he perused the pages. As well as stories there were glossy photos depicting toys of the transforming vehicles driven by the Earth-men, and at length Flashsatsumas paused on a double-page spread of these, studying them closely.

“That’s some hardware, mate,” Pat grinned.

“Boys and their,” muttered Maureen.

Flashsatsumas granted her that, and happily too. She’d hit upon exactly what he and Mini-Flash Juniper needed most just then. A whole new theory was starting to formulate itself.

He closed the comic and beamed back at Pat, to tell him he’d take that one too.

Purchases complete, the three friends pushed out of the newsagents and onto the baking-hot plaza, Flashsatsumas carrying both his comics under his arm.

“Got a couple of good ones there, mate,” Pat affirmed. “Now, where’d you say our Jen was? Over at the outdoor baths?”

“That’s right,” said Flashsatsumas. “Come on, I’ll take you to her now – ”

Suddenly there sounded out a booming watery explosion, followed by the thunderous din of what seemed a very brief and very heavy downpour hammering the ground.

“Didn’t that come from…?” Maureen began.

“Over at the outdoor baths,” Flashsatsumas finished for her grimly, whereupon all three of them started to run.

END OF CHAPTER TWO