Posts
It is that time of the year when people want to hear scary Halloween stories. So, here is one that has been told and re-told since 1950 ...
Nobody knew when they arrived. But little Tommy Green sensed something was amiss when the new visitors took over all the service stations in town and even opened this fancy new restaurant right in the middle of nowhere. Tommy's hometown was not exactly what you would call a big town by any stretch of the imagination. If you counted all the dogs and cats and chicken and added them to the total human population, you might come up with about three hundred detected life forms, max (Tommy learnt this from watching Star-Trek reruns on the only available TV channel in town, when it was not broadcasting Gospel Hours).
The town folks, including Tommy's parents, were all happy with the service they were receiving from the new arrivals. Sure, the military had always warned the residents not to have close encounters with strangers from outer space, especially those who had landed on nearby Roswell. But wasn't it the same military who had always denied the existence of UFOs and little green men until the latter arrived en mass one Halloween night? Besides, who wouldn't like to be pampered and served left right and centre, as if you were indeed the master of the universe!! Rumour had it that the visitors had even written a special manual on how to serve human and were inviting people to visit their out-of-this-world class resort at Roswell.
Anxious to find out what was going on, Tommy decided to talk to his big buddy Johnny Stout. You would recall from a previous episode that Johnny was the one who had saved the cat from the well and bailed out Tommy as well. When Johnny heard Tommy's idea of sneaking into the fancy restaurant to take a look-see, he was not amused. However, his curiosity got the better of him and he agreed to go along, but just this once.
In the dark of the Halloween night, after all the trick-or-treaters were off the street and the restaurant was closed, the two of them entered the kitchen through the back door. It was dark inside and they could hardly see anything. Luckily, Johnny had brought along a glow-in-the-dark head band from last Halloween and they were able to find their way into the office. Under the dim green glow, Johnny was flipping through the special manual on how to serve human when all of a sudden the light in the office came on and the place was swamped with hissing little green men. Horrified, Tommy instinctively started running toward the back door exit. Johnny was right behind him and would have been able to make it if not for the manual he was carrying.
As Tommy dashed through the backdoor and headed into the forest, he turned back and saw Johnny's green-lit face poking through the half-opened door. Just as he was being pulled back into the building by his captors, Johnny yelled to his little buddy: "The manual, it's a cook book!!!"
(Note 1: My 2007 Halloween Story is adopted from the original "To Serve Man" written by Damon Knight in 1950)
Nobody knew when they arrived. But little Tommy Green sensed something was amiss when the new visitors took over all the service stations in town and even opened this fancy new restaurant right in the middle of nowhere. Tommy's hometown was not exactly what you would call a big town by any stretch of the imagination. If you counted all the dogs and cats and chicken and added them to the total human population, you might come up with about three hundred detected life forms, max (Tommy learnt this from watching Star-Trek reruns on the only available TV channel in town, when it was not broadcasting Gospel Hours).
The town folks, including Tommy's parents, were all happy with the service they were receiving from the new arrivals. Sure, the military had always warned the residents not to have close encounters with strangers from outer space, especially those who had landed on nearby Roswell. But wasn't it the same military who had always denied the existence of UFOs and little green men until the latter arrived en mass one Halloween night? Besides, who wouldn't like to be pampered and served left right and centre, as if you were indeed the master of the universe!! Rumour had it that the visitors had even written a special manual on how to serve human and were inviting people to visit their out-of-this-world class resort at Roswell.
Anxious to find out what was going on, Tommy decided to talk to his big buddy Johnny Stout. You would recall from a previous episode that Johnny was the one who had saved the cat from the well and bailed out Tommy as well. When Johnny heard Tommy's idea of sneaking into the fancy restaurant to take a look-see, he was not amused. However, his curiosity got the better of him and he agreed to go along, but just this once.
In the dark of the Halloween night, after all the trick-or-treaters were off the street and the restaurant was closed, the two of them entered the kitchen through the back door. It was dark inside and they could hardly see anything. Luckily, Johnny had brought along a glow-in-the-dark head band from last Halloween and they were able to find their way into the office. Under the dim green glow, Johnny was flipping through the special manual on how to serve human when all of a sudden the light in the office came on and the place was swamped with hissing little green men. Horrified, Tommy instinctively started running toward the back door exit. Johnny was right behind him and would have been able to make it if not for the manual he was carrying.
As Tommy dashed through the backdoor and headed into the forest, he turned back and saw Johnny's green-lit face poking through the half-opened door. Just as he was being pulled back into the building by his captors, Johnny yelled to his little buddy: "The manual, it's a cook book!!!"
(Note 1: My 2007 Halloween Story is adopted from the original "To Serve Man" written by Damon Knight in 1950)
References:
2 comments:
Like the way you add humor to a Hallowee sci-fi story. LOL.
Keith: I enjoy having fun in writing - the universe is the limit !!
Post a Comment