Seeing the World As We Desire It To Be
Image by Engin Akyurt

It's been over 24 hours, but I know it was true. I just know. Still, Momma will not believe me. It happened yesterday, when Meritz, Tina, Snuffy and I were playing dodge ball on the edge of The Big Field. The field's edge is the only place in our apartments where we can play safely. All the other areas are full of gangs.

Once, The Big Field was a playground for kids. It was full of slides and swings. Then, the adults broke them by using the slides as dice tables and the swings as beds. So the maintenance men tore them all down. Now, there is not even any grass left. Still, we always play on the field after school.

Yesterday, while in the middle of our game, we saw a ball of light coming from the clouds. The light was so bright it covered the field's entire edge. I thought we were going blind from all the brightness. Suddenly, the ball came closer and closer. We could not move. All four of us stared at the light. Then, we saw that the light was not really a ball. It was a ship. As it landed, we saw two things come out.

Snuffy was afraid. He was always afraid. No matter what game we played, he was always afraid of getting hurt. Snuffy cried even if he got a tiny scratch. Since Snuffy was only six, we overlooked his crying. Besides, we needed a fourth person to play ball. Unfortunately, I always got stuck with him on my side.

As the things came closer to us, Snuffy pointed at them yelling, "Them, them alieyyns!" Then, while grabbing my hand, he whispered, "Sherita, I'm scared. " Although I did not let Snuffy know, I was scared too.


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The Visitors

The two aliens were unlike anything we had ever seen. They were yellow all over and had large eyes that were like mirrors. They looked old, yet neither had any wrinkles. Their hands were long and thin. The only way I could tell them apart was by the tone of their voices. One had a voice that was as mighty as my father. The other alien had a soft voice. It spoke the way Momma talks to me when I am sick.

Tina quickly said, "Ooowee. Look at 'em. They ain't got any hair. Plus, they got big eyes and they yellow." Tina was short and skinny, but she had a fully-grown mouth. She always spoke the truth, no matter whose feelings it hurt.

Meritz got mad at Tina. "Be quiet girl, you know they can hear you. You keep talking, they might make us disappear. They could get mad and eat us or somethun. So be quiet," he said. Although they were cousins, Tina and Meritz acted more like brother and sister. Meritz was the wisest person in our group. Like Tina and me, Meritz was only ten. Yet, he knew everything. Even though I was the smartest person in our fifth grade class, anytime I had a problem, I always talked to Meritz.

Meritz's words made Snuffy feel even more afraid. As a result, Snuffy began crying. Then, he fell to the ground. With his hands stretched forward, Snuffy shouted, "I give up. Take me! Take me! Take me! If you don't want me, take them! Take them! I... I want my Momma. "

"We come to bring peace," said the soft voice alien. Next, the alien placed his small hand on Snuffy's head. "Rise young man. We bring you no harm." Snuffy quickly rose. He stood as stiff as a statue.

"If you ain't gonna hurt us, then watcha want?," asked Tina.

"Yeah, things like you just don't appear in this neighborhood for nothing. Are you all some kind of high powered gang," I asked.

"No, we came to take away all the violence, confusion, and destruction," said the soft voice alien.

Tina, with her right hand on her hip, said, "Well, we got the pooolice to do all that. We don't need any yellow men from space."

"Young one, I am sorry but your police have already done everything they can. They interminably arrest people, but crime still continues. We possess the ultimate solution to eradicate this problem," said the soft voice alien.

"We came, not only to take away the violence, but also to replace the chaos with order, wisdom, consciousness, and love. We came to teach earth beings in your neighborhood the lessons all four of you already know," said the soft voice alien.

Snuffy yelled, "What's that? What we know? We'en know nothing. We kids. Don't take us! Don't take us!"

"Snuffy, would you please be quiet," I said. "See, I mean, Mr. Alien, would you please tell us what we know," said Meritz.

The Lesson

The mighty voice alien walked toward Meritz. Meritz began blinking his eyes quickly. Then, the alien bent down and touched his face. The mighty voice alien said, "We watched you earth beings for the past two Klinkas, which in your world means two hundred million years. During this time, we saw earth beings continue to destroy in the name of progress and conquest. For instance, the dinosaurs were once the most powerful creatures on earth. Remember the Diploducus and the Apatosaurus? They terrorized the earth. Still, their ability to conquer did not prevent their extinction. Rome, once the most powerful kingdom on earth, conquered many lands. It, like the dinosaurs, could not prevent extinction. Even the Mwene Mutapa Empire, once a powerful gold trading force in Zimbabwe, still disintegrated after the fifteenth century."

We all stood with our mouths wide open listening to the alien. He knew more about earth's history than I learned the whole year in Ms. Jackson's fifth grade class. I think he knew more history than even Ms. Jackson.

Our fear slowly went away. Somehow, we felt at ease when the aliens spoke. Even Snuffy stopped whimpering. Although they remained yellow, the aliens' faces became more human-like. Then, both aliens said, "Stare into our eyes. See the world as you want it to be. You, along with us, have the power to make the earth better."

For the first few minutes, none of us could picture anything. The only thing Snuffy, Tina, Meritz, and I had ever seen were our apartments. We knew nothing about the rest of the world. We only knew the torn up buildings, gangs on the street corners, and being afraid. No one had ever told us to think about anything else. The only thing we knew was how to survive. Then, if we had any room left, we thought about how to just be kids.

We all kept staring. Then, out of nowhere, Snuffy said, "I see our neighborhood all cleaned up. There are no more broken bottles on the ground." We all nodded our heads. We could actually see the buildings clean. They were white. There was no graffiti anywhere. Also, there were no broken windows or torn screens. On the inside, there were no bugs, broken toilets, or clogged sinks. Everything was perfect.

Tina smiled and said, "Yeah, I see greeeeen grass on The Big Field. And... there are yellow flowers in front of every apartment building. Oh, it's beautiful."

Meritz held Tina's hand. Then he said, "I see everybody coming together. No more gangs. Everybody just gettin' along with everybody else. Nobody's hurt just because they said or did somethun. I see lots of playground toys too! And... we get to play without being scared."

"I see it, too! We don't have to worry about anybody hurting our Mommas or Daddies when they have to work late. We don't have to worry about a stranger trying to hurt us on our way home from school," I said.

All four of us began laughing. We just laughed until our stomach's felt like rocks were inside. Meritz and Tina began dancing. Snuffy and I kept laughing.

We turned around to talk to the aliens, but they were gone. "Stop! Tina and Meritz will you all stop! The aliens are gone," I said. Tina and Meritz slowly turned around. Then, we all began searching for the aliens. They were gone. We looked at the sky, but all we could see was one bright star.

The After Effects

After staring into the sky for almost an hour, we heard three loud squeals. Then, there were three familiar footsteps.

"Tina and Meritz, if you don't come in this house..." yelled their Grandmomma. Tina and Meritz ran toward their apartment. "Timothy `Snuffy' Brown get in this house now! You know better than to be outside after dark. I been searching for you all evening," said Ms. Brown. Snuffy smiled at his Momma. Then, he winked at me and ran home.

"Sherita, girl you gonna get it! You were supposed to be in the house over an hour ago," shouted Momma. "But Momma, we saw aliens! They were here," I said.

Momma just smiled at me and began clicking her tongue. "You know... tck, tck, tck... the things you children think of just to get out of trouble," she said. I tried to explain, but Momma just would not listen. She thinks the aliens were something I made up just to play longer. But, I know the truth. I know they were real.

Now, when Meritz, Tina, Snuffy, and I play, we do not fear any violence. Instead of just playing in the corner of The Big Field, we play everywhere. Also, Momma said that Mr. Vernon, a great leader, was coming down to talk to the gangs in our neighborhood. Today, I saw the maintenance men painting the apartments. See, I know they were real. I know the truth. All we had to do is see the world as we wanted it to be.

About The Author

Sherjuana Davis has submitted to InnerSelf her first article. At the time of this writing, she was a law student at Georgia State University with a positive outlook on life.