I. Aliens, the Turn of the Century, and You

Another late night spent awake by the light of the stars alone listening for the so-called aliens that showed up at the farm around three thirty in the morning. They were undoubtedly a myth created by the exhausted girl's mind, but that didn't stop the two boys from believing in them.

It was a game that played out whenever the moon was full. The youngest boy would pass out first, prompting her and the remaining brother to shine the pocket mirror into his sleeping face to make him think they actually visited. It was bright enough for him to stir in his sleep, but not enough to get him up and moving. Something small would always be out of place when he woke up. It was a long con with no signs of stopping, Orville caught in the middle of it.

Still, she had one major advantage over both of them. She could stay up well into the night. Orville was tired from his work on the farm, Daniel was frail enough that he didn't have it in him to make it past two.

"I'm going to hunt them down." The younger one said, white shirt unbuttoned as he jumped up and down on the porch outside. "I'll be the first to taste alien meat."

"The first thing you're thinking about is eating them?" The slender boy said, his bangs pinned out of the way of his face. "I wouldn't eat an alien if you paid me."

"Five dollars." He looked up at Daniel. "That's all I have."

"No. No gray food." The boy sat with the book in his lap, a glass of water covered in condensation wriggling back and forth as the younger boy paced up and down the stairs. "No amount of money could make me eat one."

"A wife."

He rolled his eyes. "No."

"The entire farm."

"What would I even do with that?"

"Raise the aliens and sell them. We'd be as well off as the brothers in town with their horses and fanclub. Daniel, don't you want to be the world's first alien hunter?"

The boy looked up at him with piercing blue eyes, almost making him fall back over the last step separating him from the warm dirt. "The only one eating aliens here is you."

Something about the look in Orville's eyes made the girl almost giggle. He was usually the boy that thought her stories were stupid, but something about the thought of creatures that only appeared when he slept piqued his curiosity. "How'd you know the aliens have gray skin?"

"We saw them, duh." The girl said, her sundress billowing in the breeze. "Isn't that right, Danny?"

The older brother nodded, sitting next to her and stretching before the two stared at the younger boy wandering into the fields to do his daily work.

"He's going alien hunting," She laughed. "We really need to get into the second phase of our plan now."

"If we manage to sneak our way into town, we can get my fake article printed." Daniel smiled at the girl next, twirling a piece of her hair as she looked up at him. "How's that sound?"

"I drew the picture too." She nodded. "I think I can get it printed for free. See, you don't have to worry about eating them now to pay for it."

They looked at each other before Daniel grabbed the girl's hand, pulling her inside. "So, that's what you've been doing with your free time?"

It was a look that sent chills down her spine. She fantasized about him looking down at her with a hand on her collarbone, her back up against the wall. Maybe she should milk it just to see how far he would go, but she knew they better get going before it got too hot out.

"I like hanging out with the kids down there," She looked at him, the door shutting behind the two. "Though I do wish you'd join me sometime. It gets tiring talking about you so much without you even showing your face."

It was enough to put his thoughts at ease. The look left his face, he was a gentle boy once again in black slacks and a button up shirt soft enough to make her want one of her own.

"Looks like I'm joining you today." He said, grabbing the notebook and tucking it in his jacket pocket.

"Really?" Her eyes lit up. "You mean it?"

It was the same look that spread across Orville's face, this time hounded by innocent curiosity of the book-holding boy in front of her.

"Maybe aliens are out there working their magic just for me today."

II. Mannequins, Flowers, and You Back