Mngpog

Finally Mngpog was going to be apart of the trip. This is what he had hoped for, for years but the list was long and Mngpog young. Fifteen years have come and gone before his name was pulled and he was called to the station. He could barely contain his eagerness. His three ploppy feet made giant suction sounds as he jumped in the air over and over in an odd skip. He carried three giant suitcases, one in each hand. His wide blocky head bobbed back and forth like a bobble head doll as he bounded into the air again and again. 1

“Mngpog, please report to station six for boarding. Take off is in six minutes.” A suction riddled voice called over the intercom. Mngpog’s heart nearly stopped. He thought he’d have time to get settled on the ship before it took off. Oh well the sooner the better. He had to meet one of those he idolized and this was finally his chance. After boarding, Mngpog went immediately to his room to change into new clothes. 2

~~~3

After a three hour trip they had arrived at their destination and it wasn’t long before they had picked up their first visitor. Mngpog wasn’t able to see him though, he was fourth on the list, meaning he would have to wait till they picked up their fourth visitor. That didn’t take long; the ship was adept at tracking down visitors and beaming them up.4

“Mngpog, please head to visitor room four for your meeting.” 5

Mngpog let out a suction-like squeak of excitement and trepidation as he ran as fast as his three legs would carry him to the room. He entered to find the exact opposite of what he was looking for. A man in his twenties stood before him wearing a ugly rag on his head, pants that hung down to his knees and a long white t shirt that looked more like a dress. 6

Mngpog was in shock. He had dressed according to what he had seen humans wear; cowboy boots and hat, really tight blue denim pants and a button up shirt...7

(Flashback)8

Mngpog was a young Spantlarn of only thirteen. When you lived to be three hundred, thirteen did not seem very old at all. That was when he got his first taste of humans. CMT (Country Music Station) beamed up on his monitor showing humans riding bulls and singing country and western music tapping their boots to the rhythm. Mngpog was in love. He immediately set out to make clothing of the same kind and sought a way to meet humans to learn more of this culture. He put his name on the list to go visit Earth and meet a human but with the six hundred names above his the outlook wasn’t good. It would be at least ten years before he got to go, maybe even twenty. The next fifteen years would be spent watching CMT and working hard to imitate their dance moves and music.9

(End Flashback)10

~~~11

Mngpog didn’t know how to react to this surprise. He had prepared a special square dance he was going to perform with the human and even made his own country and western song about eating noodles in space. He dropped down and began to cry big green tears from all three eyes. The human just looked at him curiously before saying “Where am I?” 12

Mngpog didn’t respond. His fifteen minute visit passed and the human’s memory of the visit was wiped before he was dropped back upon Earth where the Spantlarn’s had found him. Mngpog went immediately to his room and didn’t come out for the rest of the trip.13