First Interspecies Marriage

First Interspecies Marriage
988 words

Reed Salmon had an existential dilemma. He ran a bar in Berkeley, called the “UFO Club” which was a local hangout for the Bay Area UFO community. The club had signs up everywhere saying, "Space Aliens Drink for Free "

But truth be told, Reed Salmon did not believe in aliens, as he had spent decades as a USG paranormal researcher before opening his bar.

Getting to know the UFO crowd made him more skeptical. So, he did not know what to do when he encountered a woman who may have been from another planet. Does he tell her he did not believe her claims and ask her to do a DNA test? And what if she was telling the truth? How would an interplanetary romance work, anyway? Was he up to such a challenge?

He did not know the answer to these questions. Sam also felt it was important in interpersonal relations to disclose one’s true intentions upon meeting a future potential romantic partner. There were just too many fake people out there, and he knew that as an elderly man, recently widowed and running a successful business, he would be a target for potential gold diggers.

That is why he always did a thorough background check on any potential dates. He did not like the whole internet dating scene, much preferred things the old-fashioned way, just meeting people through completely unexpected encounters. Although he would be open to another relationship, he just did not have the emotional energy anymore after losing his wife and business partner because of COVID, which almost killed him and his business. But the bar had survived, he had somehow survived and re-opened the business. The regulars came back.

Then one day while walking the dog in the early morning hours down Vine Street to get his cup of fresh Peets coffee from the original Peets on Walnut and Vine Street, around the corner he met a mysterious woman. They looked at each and as his Korean-born first wife had told him once when they had first met, there was a Korean expression, “ Sparks flew from hearts to hearts (Ishimchongshim 이심 충심”.

She came up to him and smiled and asked for directions to his club, in a strange accent that was hard to place. She also had a “pan-ethnic look” which could be almost any ethnic group in the world, vaguely mixed racial features, long dark hair, and wore seriously unfashionable clothes from decades ago.

He laughed and said,

“Well, you are not from around here, are you?”

“Yes, I come from a place far away from here. But I have been looking for someone like you for some time. “

“Well, look Ms?”

“You need my name, perhaps so you can search for me”

“Well, can’t be too careful, if you know what I mean?”

“I do. So, let’s do this, let’s meet tomorrow at Peet’s Coffee at about 9 a.m. Regarding my name, best to use my American name,

Sandra Jackson. But you won’t find anything about me, as I am not the Sandra Jackson that you will find through your internet searches. But I will answer your questions tomorrow. Ciao, as Italians say, or as Koreans might say, naeil manapsida!”

He went back to his house and did a Google search and a deep data dive using software from various black sites he learned to use in the decades of investigating paranormal activities. He found that there was no one on the internet or the web using the name Sandra Jackson that remotely looked like her. Intrigued. He was determined to find out who she was, and what she wanted.

The next day during their coffee date, Reed directly asked her if she claimed to be a space alien, explaining that although he hung out with the UFO types and ran a UFO-themed bar, he remained skeptical. She smiled that strange smile of hers,

“Well, I can prove it to you, but you must do something for me first.”

“ Okay, but I do nothing illegal anymore”.

“Okay, here’s what I want. I want you to prove to the world that aliens exist and that we have been visiting your planet for decades.

There is more than one group of aliens, though. We were on the lam, hanging out on your planet assuming various false identities because we are shapeshifters, but everything is now okay, and we can reveal ourselves."

“That’s it?”

“There is more. Come outside, and we will go to my spaceship, and you can meet my crew, and we will talk about future business contracts and more, including your free drinks. You guys make the best coffee and booze in the galaxy.“.

They agreed. He reached out to his extensive contacts among the UFO crowd and scheduled a press conference at his club the next night, saying that he had finally found a space alien who could qualify for his “Drink for Free” promotion. They would then answer questions and representatives and the UN and the USG were also going to be there

They showed up at noon the next day. The spaceship materialized in front of the club, and the five aliens and Reed walked through the door. Reed introduced them as new best friends from the planet Sirius and said that they would be willing to license their space travel technology to the United Nations in return for signing contracts to produce coffee for export to their home world.

Reed added,

“We are going to have the first interspecies marriage.”

She smiled; the aliens did their shape-shifting thing and answered questions as they drank their free drinks. They entered negotiations with the UN refusing to only deal with the G-20 countries, much to the dismay of the great powers.

Their marriage was the marriage of the century in both worlds. Social conservatives denounced it but most people applauded it.