Boofus is a blue alien. He looks a lot like humans, except for the antennas on his head
and the suction cups at the ends of his fingers and the fact that he has no hair. He lives on a big green planet called Snarlack
with his mom, a purple alien, and his dad, a blue alien. The years on Snarlack are pretty much the same as Earth. Boofus is
8 years old. He has two best friends.
Snorkel is a gold blob alien. He looks like apple jelly with arms. Snorkel lives with
his mom, dad and twin baby sister and brother. They are all gold blobs too. Gold blobs are allergic to water, so they have
glipix that they drink and bathe in. Glipix looks like orange jell-o that hasn’t jelled all the way.
Snivel is a purple squid alien. He has 13 tentacles. The 14th was removed in
an accident. He lives with his mom, step dad and older brother. They don’t eat the same food we do. Their food looks
like colorful globs of whipped cream. Snivel also has a cat named Precious, although she doesn’t look like cats we’ve
seen. She looks like a snail with crab claws and a lobster tail.
Boofus and Snorkel have been friends all their lives. They live a block away from each
other. Their parents have been friends even longer. Snivel moved next door to Boofus last year. He became friends with the
other two almost instantly. They play together, usually in Boofus’ back yard. They go swimming in Snorkel’s glipix
pool. They also like visiting Snivel’s step dad’s lab to see his new inventions.
One day while playing in in the back yard with Snorkel‘s whizzer disk, Boofus threw
it too hard. It landed on the roof of the house next door. This house was rumored to be haunted. It was run down and had strange
noises coming from it at night. The worst thing about the house was the old man who lived there. All the older kids said he
was mean and would chase them when they went into his yard. The boys let out a groan.
“Man, how are we going to get my whizzer back now? If I loose another one, my dad’s
gonna kill me!”
“Too bad it didn’t go the other way. If it had landed on my house, my brother
would’ve gotten it for us,” said Snivel.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to throw it so hard. Maybe we can ask my
dad to get it.”
They ran into the house to find Boofus’ dad. They told him what happened and asked
for his help. “I’m sorry boys, but you’ll just have to go next door and tell Mr. Dinkum what happened. I’m
sure he’ll help you get the whizzer back.”
“But Dad, he’s mean! What if he eats us?”
“Don’t be silly. Mr. Dinkum is just a nice old man. He doesn’t eat children.
Now you boys run along. I have to work on this recipe for the restaurant.”
The boys went outside, disappointed. “Parents don’t understand anything!”
Boofus said.
“I heard that the last boy to ring his doorbell was Zack Hinkle, and no one ever
saw him again,” said Snivel.
“Zack Hinkle moved to another town. That’s why no one has seen him,”
Snorkel said.
Excerpt from "Boofus, the Little Blue Alien"
