Maddie wasn't an ordinary kid. When all the other third grade girls were walking around the playground talking, Maddie was zooming around making spaceship sounds and pretending to be an alien.

One night at dinner Maddie was unusually quiet. Then she said to herself, "Wouldn't it be nice if I could be an alien for just one day?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by her mother. "Maddie! Are you going to eat your dinner or not?"

"Uh-huh," she mumbled. She tried to eat but it was hard; she kept poking her fork into her eye.

"Ouch!" she yelped.

"If you had been paying attention that wouldn't have happened," her dad said.

"Okay," Maddie replied, her face turning red.

After dinner when she was lying on the floor thinking about visitors from other planets, her cat, Sprite climbed onto her lap, which gave her an idea. She had gotten Sprite by hoping and wishing, so why couldn't she meet an alien the same way?

"Bedtime," her mom announced.

"Five more minutes, Mom, please?" Maddie begged.

"Two more." Her mom was firm.

Maddie finally got the idea that she would find a creature from a different planet even if it involved going into outer space. Then she retired to her bed to read, "The Complete Encyclopedia of Aliens".

Once in bed, she remembered she had forgotten to brush her teeth. "Drat," she thought. "I'll bet when you're from another planet, you'd never have to brush teeth."

After she had brushed her teeth she thought, "They probably don't even have teeth to brush." And with a contented sigh, she fell asleep.

When Maddie woke up the next day, something felt strange. "Where am I?" she wondered. Looking around, she realized she was in a room filled with lots of machinery, computers, and lots of color. "What on earth is going on?" was the next thing that ran through her head. Suddenly she noticed a green blob with tentacles over in the corner. What was it? Maddie looked again. "No!" she gasped, "It couldn't be!"

But yes! it could, and it was! It was a real, live... ALIEN! She gasped again. All her life she wanted to meet one and now it was happening when she least expected it.

"W..w....what's your name?" she asked.

"Glib," the stranger answered.

"M..mine's M...M...Maddie," she said.

"You are here for a great adventure, and I hope you never forget it," Glib told her.

"Oh, I'm sure I won't," Maddie said.

"Prepare for landing," Glib said.

"This is a plane?" Maddie asked.

"A UFO," he said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh," she said, feeling rather foolish.

"Fasten your seatbelt," Glib ordered.

"Okay."

BAM! Maddie felt all her bones rattle. Then she checked to make sure everything was still connected. It was. Their spaceship had landed on a planet that Maddie had never seen before.

"Kpf, chug blb blb."

Maddie giggled, it sounded so funny. Glib was the only one who could speak her language. She wondered what the other ones were saying. Then she giggled again at the thought of the other creatures saying "What on earth is this strange human being saying?"

"Do you want to walk around?" Glib said.

"Sure," Maddie said. First she had a question. "Why is this all happening to me?"

"Oh, we have our ways," he said.

"What?" she asked eagerly.

"Some things," said Glib, "are meant to be kept secret."

"Wow!" said Maddie as they walked around looking at all the strange things. "This is a pretty cool planet."

"Thanks," Glib said. Then he picked up a stone and handed it to Maddie. "This is to remember this place and me."

"Maddie!" somebody called. "Time for school!"

She rubbed her eyes sleepily. "So it was only a dream. Darn." It had been so fun.

Then she noticed something on her desk. It was the rock with a note beside it. "Dear Maddie," she read, "I hope you had fun last night. I sure did. Love, Glib."

The End