نقشه

CHAPTER FIVE

The Plan

When I arrived at school the next day I went to the gym to look for my watch. I could not find it near the showers so I went to ask the janitor.

“Hello, Mr Phillips,” I said, “did you find a watch near the showers yesterday?”

“Yes, I did,” said Mr Phillips. “Here it is!” He took my watch out of a box on his desk and smiled.

“Oh, that’s great! Thanks a lot,” I said happily and ran to class.

At lunch Barbara, Walter and I sat together in the cafeteria. I had a lot of things to tell them.

“Well, guys, guess who’s an alien” I said.

“Oh no” said Walter. “Not another alien, first it was Mr Wilkinson.”

“Is this a joke” asked Barbara.

“No, listen to me, please” I whispered excitedly. “Mr Kent is an alien!”

“WHAT” cried Walter.

“No, he’s not” cried Barbara, who thought I was joking.

“Shh! Be quiet” I said. Some of the other students turned around and looked at us.

“Let me tell you what happened last night.”

I told them everything about last night. My friends were shocked but they believed me. They stopped eating their lunches.

“Do you remember the alien alert in August” asked Walter. “All the newspapers were talking about it.”

“Yeah,” said Barbara, “some people saw a UFO near the Cascade Mountains!”

“Then Mr Kent is one of the aliens from the UFO” said Walter. “Do you remember how he looked at the sun the first day of school? And how the mice in the cages were afraid of him? Wow!”

“Aliens scare me,” said Barbara. “A teacher who’s an alien at our school.”

“I don’t think aliens are bad,” said Walter. “They’re just different.”

“Now listen,” I said, “other aliens are coming to the old airfield Friday night in their spaceship. They want to take Mr Kent and a student to their planet, Mitrax. They want to study humans.”

“A student” cried Barbara. “That’s one of us!”

“We have to stop him” said Walter.

“Are the aliens coming this Friday” asked Barbara.

“Yes, on the day of the PTA meeting,” I said. “And today is Thursday. We only have one day to do something.”

“I have an idea,” said Walter.

“What is it” Barbara and I asked.

“We have to find the special X-5 spray and take it away from Mr Kent,” Walter said. “Without it he can’t take the student.”

“Great idea” said Barbara. “The spray is probably in the science lab or in his house.”

“This afternoon when he goes home we can look for the spray in the science lab,” said Walter. “But all the sprays and bottles are in locked cupboards, and we don’t have the key.”

“Maybe my brother Matt can help us,” said Barbara. “He’s a policeman and he has a special key that opens all doors.”

“Can we use it” asked Walter.

“Well, I can’t tell him our story because he’ll never believe it,” said Barbara. “But sometimes he goes to work and leaves the special key in his room. I’ll look for it and take it. Then I’ll put it back.”

“Be careful, Barbara,” I said. “We don’t want trouble with the police!”

We started laughing. It was time to go back to our afternoon classes: math and American history.

I was happy when school ended at half past three. Barbara and I went to her house and Walter stayed at the school library.

When we got to Barbara’s house no one was home. We went to Matt’s room and looked for the special key.

“I hope Matt didn’t take the key with him,” said Barbara. She opened all the drawers and cupboards in his room and looked for it.

“Here it is” she cried happily. “It was at the back of his desk drawer.”

“Oh, great! Now let’s go back to school,” I said.

We went back to school quickly and called Walter, who was still studying in the library. It was almost five o’clock and there was no one in school. We went upstairs to the science lab. The door of the lab was open and someone was inside.

“Oh, no! It’s Mr Philips, the janitor,” Walter whispered.

“Let’s hide in the bathroom” said Barbara. We hid in the bathroom for a few minutes. Then we heard Mr Phillips go downstairs.

“OK, now we can go to the lab,” said Walter.

We went inside the lab and looked around. There was a big sign on each cupboard that said, DANGER! TOXIC CHEMICALS INSIDE!

We opened the two big ones and looked at every bottle. There weren’t any spray cans. Then we looked inside the smallest one and found a small black spray can. It didn’t have a name.

“All the other bottles and cans have a name,” said Walter. “This must be Mr Kent’s spray!” He took it out of the small cupboard and said, “It’s very heavy.”

“Who wants to take it home” I asked.

“Not me” said Barbara. “My mother always looks around in my room.”

“Mine does too,” I said.

“Oh, I’ll take it home,” said Walter. “A spray can from another planet. I can study it!”

“Don’t spray yourself with it” Barbara said laughing.

Walter, Barbara and I went home because we had a lot of homework to do. After dinner the phone rang and I answered it.

“Hi, Karen,” said Walter. “Can you come to my house? I have to talk to you.”

“It’s eight o’clock and I’m doing my homework,” I said.

“Karen, please, this is important,” Walter said.

“Are you alright, Walter” I asked. “You sound strange.”

“Please come, Karen. It’s important.”

“OK, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” I said. I quickly put on my jacket and ran downstairs to the living room. My mom was reading the newspaper and my dad was watching TV. Tex was sitting next to them.

“Mom, I’m taking Tex out for a walk.”

“At eight o’clock at night” my mom asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I’m tired of studying,” I said. “I really need to take a walk and get some fresh air. I’ll be back by nine o’clock.”

“Some fresh air is good for you, Karen,” said my dad. “It’s a nice evening.”

“See you later” I said.

Tex and I walked down the street and crossed the park quickly. What did Walter want at this time? I wanted to find out. It was a warm evening and there was a full moon in the sky.