{"id":2164,"date":"2025-06-09T01:37:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T01:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/?p=2164"},"modified":"2026-09-02T00:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T00:14:18","slug":"when-aliens-came-to-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/when-aliens-came-to-tea\/","title":{"rendered":"When Aliens Came to Tea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-2 wp-block-paragraph\">It was 11:30 am on the day the spaceship landed in Carol\u2019s back yard. She didn\u2019t know it was a spaceship at first; she thought the noise she heard was from the street sweeper going by as it did every Wednesday morning. Except today, the noise came from her backyard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-3 wp-block-paragraph\">She peeked through the back door window and saw a silvery metallic saucer that looked exactly as she thought a spacecraft would.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-4 wp-block-paragraph\">A hatch opened, and two shadowy figures emerged. Her heart pounded, her hands trembled. Her worst fears were coming true. The alien invasion had begun, starting right here in her backyard!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-5 wp-block-paragraph\">Carol remembered all the nightmares she had as a little girl about visitors from outer space. Aliens coming to subjugate humans and rule the world.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-6 wp-block-paragraph\">She saw the movies. She read the books. She knew what would happen. She wondered what she could do to save herself from what would surely be a miserable and terrifying fate at the hands of the aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-7 wp-block-paragraph\">The figures walked towards the back door, towards the very place where she watched through the curtained window. As they came closer, Carol could see their features more clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-8 wp-block-paragraph\">She gasped. The figures didn\u2019t look like alien reptilian creatures at all! They looked like human beings, wearing human clothes. A male and a female!&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-9 wp-block-paragraph\">She heard a knock. Carol shivered with fear, separated by mere inches of wood door.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-10 wp-block-paragraph\">She wondered if she should answer the door to these strangers from space. Were they really human? Or were they hideous creatures disguised as humans to trick her into letting them in?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-11 wp-block-paragraph\">Another knock. Her fingers trembled as she cracked the door slightly, keeping the chain lock fastened just in case. \u201cHello?\u201d Carol squeaked.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-12 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHi, we\u2019re so sorry to trouble you, ma\u2019am,\u201d the female said in perfect English. \u201cI\u2019m Susan, and this is my husband, David. We are from the planet Xenith on the far side of the galaxy. We are traveling to Makron, on the opposite side of the galaxy. We have run out of fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-13 wp-block-paragraph\">She held up a clear, empty water bottle.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-14 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur craft uses water for fuel to power our fusion engine. We had a malfunction and used more fuel than we expected. Can we bother you for a refuel to continue our trip?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-15 wp-block-paragraph\">Carol breathed a sigh of relief, unlatched the chain, and opened the door. \u201cYes, of course. Please come in.\u201d She led them to the kitchen and motioned them to sit down at the table. Susan handed her the bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-16 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cCan I get you something to drink or eat?\u201d Carol asked. \u201cYou must be tired and hungry traveling so far. Tea, coffee, water, muffins? Cereal? Buttered toast?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-17 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTea!\u201d David and Susan exclaimed together.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-18 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd toast,\u201d David added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-19 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cComing up, fresh tea and hot buttery toast,\u201d Carol replied. \u201cPerfect for weary galactic travelers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-20 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThanks for your hospitality,\u201d said David. \u201cAnd thanks for not turning us away or trying to shoot us. Our past visits to earth have not always been so\u2026 welcoming.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-21 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe travel light and usually leave our death ray guns behind,\u201d Susan chuckled. \u201cNot that we really have any. We\u2019re just normal space travelers, like everyone else.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-22 wp-block-paragraph\">Carol grinned. \u201cWell, I\u2019m sure glad I didn\u2019t shoot you then. And I\u2019m glad I could help.\u201d She turned on the tea kettle, popped some bread into the toaster, and walked to the sink to refill the bottle\u2013relieved and amazed by what had just happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-23 wp-block-paragraph\">She smiled as she realized her lifelong fears were unfounded. All those years of needless worry and bad dreams about something that proved untrue. It was almost like all that scary Sci-Fi stuff was made up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-24 wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou know, aliens aren\u2019t so bad after all,\u201d she declared to her guests. \u201cI\u2019m so glad to finally meet you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was 11:30 am on the day the spaceship landed in Carol\u2019s back yard. She didn\u2019t know it was a spaceship at first; she thought the noise she heard was from the street sweeper going by as it did every Wednesday morning. Except today, the noise came from her backyard.&nbsp; She peeked through the back [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-2164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","category-science-fiction","tag-flash-fiction"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/When-Aliens-Came-to-Tea.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2164"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4183,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2164\/revisions\/4183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twistytales.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}