Flash fiction: Did you read the directions? |
A man showed up at the front door. In fact, I didn’t even see him at first. The knock was more a scraping and I waited to make sure I hadn’t imagined it. I opened the door to see a person a few centimeters tall. He didn’t seem scared or awed. “Hello there!” he exclaimed. I could barely hear him despite the megaphone he was using. I went down on my knees. “Er…hello…who are you?” I asked, trying not to be rude with all my other questions. “I live here and wanted to talk to you” he said. I looked behind him and saw a few thousands soldiers behind him all with guns pointed at me. I stood up in a hurry and almost fell backwards. “Don’t worry, we mean no harm” he said, his magnified voice putting me at ease. He was definitely someone with authority. He turned around and all the soldiers put their weapons down. “Can I come in?” he enquired and walked right in not waiting for an answer. He found a tin can and sat himself down. “Alright, let’s figure things out” he said and his tone meant business. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” I was still trying to get my bearings. “Hmm…I was heading home and I was pretty sure that’s where this was”. He gave me an understanding look and asked to see my control panel. He climbed aboard the palm of my hand and I put him near the navigation system. He knew what he was doing and jumped around pressing a few screens. He finally turned around and gave me a beam. “Your spaceship is on the Earth. You are not even in the right galaxy. Did you read the directions?” |