Mel blinked. The Ohio farm was so unexpectedly beautiful. She was visiting her friend Randall and his cousin Sandy.

Before she saw them, however, she was met by a stampede consisting of 3 sheep, a bloodhound, a Border collie, a rooster, a male and female Mallard, and 10 chicks. Then Mel heard laughter, which could mean only one thing. “All right, you guys, come on out.”

Sandy and Randall came out from behind a tree. After they hugged Mel, they were still laughing so hard Randall’s red baseball cap was about to fall off his head and Sandy’s blonde, brown-streaked ponytail was bobbing up and down. They shook and leaned against each other.

“Did you send those animals out to scare me?” demanded Mel.

“No, we were just playing our favorite game” said Sandy.

“Which is?”

“It’s a roundup! A little game I like to call Charge!” said Randall. “You let a whole bunch of animals loose and then chase them back. Do you want to play?”

“Sure.”

They started with the sheep. Randall carried the smaller ones into the pen. Then Sandy chased the ducks in their pond enclosure and took care of the rooster. Mel returned the dogs Magpie the collie and Sinatra the bloodhound, to the kennels. She also took the 10 chicks back to the coop.

After the game, the kids had a dinner of huge steaks, corn on the cob, salad greens, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and tall glasses of ice-cold lemonade. They were pretty full when the pie came around.

The next morning, Randall heard a scream. It was Sandy. She and Mel were staring in horror at the cornfield. There were unusual circles, shapes, and patterns written in the corn.

“Crop circles” breathed the girls.

“No way” said Randall. “It’s p-probably j-just a hoax.”
“Uh, Randall, who would do it out here? No offense, but this farm is in the middle of nowhere” said Mel.
“Either there are aliens or this was don e by one of us” said Sandy.
“Maybe we should stay up late and see what happens” her cousin suggested. The girls agreed. They tried but failed.
There were more crop circles in the morning. The kids tried again. The girls were successful, but Randall said he was sick and stayed in bed.
“Do you hear something?” asked Sandy.
“Yeah” said Mel. “But I’m not sure what it is.” Something was behind her, she sensed. The two looked behind them. There was a wrinkled green face with big, shiny black eyes.
“Aaarrrrr!!!” it hollered. The girls screamed. Then the alien lifted its face to reveal . . .
“Randall?!” shrieked Mel in disbelief.
Randall looked like he was about to laugh his head off. “Yep, it’s me. I’m behind the crop circles. And I wasn’t really sick. I can’t believe you fell for that!” He continued laughing.
“I don’t believe it” said an enraged Sandy. She grabbed Randall and shook him. “Creep! Jerk! Liar! I ought to wrench your arm off!”
“T-take it easy, c-cousin. I-I only wanted some f-f-fun” Randall choked out.
Then there was a light in the sky. A spaceship! Mel and Randall were wide-eyed. Sandy, however, was cool, calm, and collected. “Good. It’s my ride.”
Randall and Mel watched in shock as Sandy went through a bizarre transformation as the light hit her. She looked like a tall, red and green ant with silver antennae and claws like a crab.
“No wonder she was so perfect” Mel muttered. Then she realized something. “Randall? “Randall, where’d you go?” Then she looked up.
As the ship was beaming up the alien that was Sandy up, she had Randall in one of her claws. A gurgling sound which must have been laughter came from the alien’s mouth. Screaming, Mel fled.