CULTURE
The Intergalactic
Space Chronicle
Cookies for Aliens
By M.B. Alexander
Some kids leave nuts for squirrels, others leave fruits for crows, but Lizzie Wexler would leave cookies for aliens. Lizzie believed that even aliens would like chocolate, and that no extraterrestrial would deny themselves the pleasure of a cinnamon raisin cookie.
Of course, at the time Lizzie’s intent was mostly pure; she wanted to befriend an alien or two so that they would take her up to space. You see, Lizzie came from a very modest home where love was in abundance, but money was not. They would never be able to afford a spacecraft living on a teacher and drogon (dog dragon) sitter salary. Even seats on a space train would cost all of Lizzie’s prospective college tuition.
Lizzie’s family enjoyed a simpler life and most of the time she did not mind it at all. She loved their old beat-up aircar and she didn’t mind sharing her virtual reality pod with her siblings. But when aliens began to visit Earth regularly, Lizzie desperately wanted to meet them.
She was curious about the galaxy beyond our solar system. What lives did they have? The kind of rituals do they keep? What did they eat? And if they dreamt as she did?
So she decided to be proactive. If you want someone to share their world with you, then you must first open your doors to them. What would be greater to share than her love of cookies?
Every night when everyone was sleeping deeply, Lizzie would tiptoe into the kitchen and bake cookies the old fashion way, with real flour, butter, and something that looked like sugar. Every night she’d set the cookies out on the porch and every morning she would find an empty plate.
Little did she know it was her little brothers who were eating them, at first . . . It took two weeks for the first alien to arrive. The only reason she knew it was an alien was because her brothers saw one reach for the tasty baked sugar lumps, while they were trying to snag the cookies for themselves.
But soon, one alien turned into five aliens, then ten aliens, suddenly there were dozens and dozens of extraterrestrials waiting in a line at the Wexler’s porch for cookies. They were not as quiet as old movies would have you think. In fact, they were a very rowdy bunch, which made it impossible to keep her secret cookie project from her parents.
Soon Lizzie’s cookie endeavor became the family’s endeavor. The Wexler backyard became a very popular alien hangout spot. Lizzie’s curiosity was replaced with a lot of work, but also cookies and friendship.
Her new friends were very generous and showered her with weird tech gifts like cardigan buttons that doubled as music speakers. But they also bought her a spacecraft in the shape of a chocolate chip cookie. So if you see a cookie floating in the ether, remember Lizzie and the power of some ingenuity with extra sugar.