I Saw your photo in the paper

I like Pasta

"Hey, I saw your photo in the paper. You never told me that you knew about UFO's. I knew you were army but you never told me exactly what you did. Anyway, please call me when you get home". The answering machine chimed.

Jim rubbed his face. Not Helen to! One article in the paper and he was a laughing stock. He'd always liked her at school and she had just moved in right next door. They'd been getting along well. Now she was probably thinking he was a nut job. Bah! He headed to the cafeteria.

"It's not that bad Jim" the department head said. "It'll blow over. Just give it some time." Jim looked up from his coffee and glared at Tim.

"You weren't called the current 'info center for local extraterrestrial activity'. He made me sound like a gossip columnist."

"You called him a cheap hack" Tim replied. "Look. It'll blow over. Besides, you don't know what Helen wanted. You said yourself that she's very level headed."

It was six when Jim got home. He was looking forward to a run and a hot tub. When he was mellow he'd call Helen. Suddenly a wonderful aroma hit him. The scent of garlic, oregano and olive oil drifted from Helen's house. Wonderful. He range the bell was overcome by the aroma when she opened the door. His stomach clench with hunger.

"Hi. I dropped over instead of calling. Wow, what's cooking?"

"Great, Jim, please come in, come on in. Glad you're here". She gave him a shaky hug and drew him into the kitchen. "Here, sit down. Can I get you coffee, wine. I could use a glass of wine, boy could I ever." She placed a glass of wine in front of him. Then she collapsed into a chair, drained her glass and poured another.

He looked around. Unwashed containers and piles of dishes lay everywhere. A massive pot of fragrant sauce simmered on the stove and the counter was covered with chopped onions, peppers and mushrooms.

"Uh, Helen, what's going on? You expecting company? Like lots of company? Uh, what's that sound?"

" Oh, Jim" she sniffed. "It's awful. Then I saw your picture in the paper with that story. I knew right away that you could help me."

"What kind of help Helen? What's happened? Hey, what is that sound? Is there something in your basement?" A burbling sound seemed to drift up from the basement. This time it was louder. He looked at Helen and she looked back at him, her face strained and white.
"Oh God, they're getting hungry again" she whimpered.

Jim pulled his revolver and moved towards the basement. She grabbed his arm.

"They're friendly Jim. They won't hurt anything. Please. They're just hungry."

She's just a civilian he reminded himself. She doesn't understand. I have to deal with her first, get her safe, then I'll call for backup. He lead her down the hall away from the door.

"OK. Talk to me."

"I was hiking up on the bluffs last week and it started to follow me. At first I was scared. But once I saw it, I could see right away that it was starving. Don't look at me like that! I couldn't help it. It would have died. So I wrapped it up and brought it home."

"What did you bring home Helen?" Helen rambled on, clearly in some kind of a shock.

"It's not very big. I tried to feed it but it couldn't keep anything down. Then it started eating the onion and garlic bulbs in the basement. That helped but it was wasn't enough. The poor thing was fading away. I stayed home from work and sat with it all day and night. Well that night I warmed up some left over pasta. You know the stuff that Angelina makes? I was sitting down there and trying to eat and the poor thing dove right into the plate face first. It ate everything and fell asleep. It loves pasta."

"What? You brought home a dog or something that'll only eat pasta so your cooking pasta all day? That's ridiculous. It's an animal. Just train it for goodness sake!" Jim looked at the massive pot on the stove, the cases of peppers, onions and tomatoes. "How much can one dog eat Helen?"

"It's not a dog or an animal Jim" Helen quavered. "I'll show you. They're cute and friendly. They purr. Harmless really." She grabbed his arm. "I'll show you but don't frighten them. They cry and get really loud if you frighten them. Or if they're hungry."

Jim followed Helen down the stairs. She pulled away from him and peaked over the top of the couch.

"It's ok. You can come out she whispered."

A long slim hairless arm topped with six long tensile fingers came into view. Helen grasped the delicate hand and drew the creature onto the couch. Too large almond eyes gazed at Jim from a oval face atop a slim, pale body covered with soft blue down. The creature thin lips formed what appeared to be a smile. It leaned it's slim almost boneless body against Helen and began to purr. A scent like warm honey filled the air. It smelled like honey. Helen's eyes began to droop and glaze over.

"Friend" it said. Pasta please, me hungry. "

"Helen, this is what followed you home" Jim asked. She nodded. "But a minute ago, upstairs, you said 'they'."

"Yeah. I did. I thought I could handle one. But this morning the other one was at the back door. I think it's a she and I think she's pregnant." Helen began to cry.