Kell and the Horse Apple Parade Read online

  I pulled so hard that my arms were tired and shaky. Roman’s arms were shaking, too.

  And then, Roman dropped me!

  “No!” I cried. Plop! I was back in the wet paint.

  Roman swung his arms around to make them feel better. But the rest of the class just pointed and laughed. I dropped my face to my knees and groaned.

  Roman bent down and this time grabbed my right hand with both of his hands. He jerked hard and I tumbled onto the basketball court. I pushed myself up and tried to stand.

  “

  Look at his pants!”

  “His butt is red!”

  Across the giant map of the United States, kids laughed. I was so upset. To hide the red paint, I sat down on a blue bench.

  Freddy Rubin yelled at me, “NO!”

  What? Quick, I stood up and looked around.

  Oh, no. The bench was splotched with red paint from where I sat. It was times like this that I longed for my home planet of Bix. On Bix, red is the color of the sky. That red splotch on the blue bench left an ache, a longing to see the skies of Bix.

  Mrs. Crux smiled at me, “Again, Mate?”

  Sadly, I nodded. It was my 14th Accidental Art.

  Mrs. Crux handed me a small paintbrush. “Why don’t you just sign your name? Then I’ll take a picture of it for the Accidental Art bulletin board. You can go to the office and call your mom to bring you new pants.”

  With a sigh, I took the brush and took some black paint from Aja. I painted my name on the bench beside my butt-print: Kell Smith. I may be an alien, but I’m not dumb. I made sure the name was smeared so badly that no one could read it.

  Meanwhile, Mrs. Crux bent to pet Mrs. Lynx’s dog. “When did you get her?”

  Mrs. Lynx’s eyes lit up. “My brother, Ernest, brought her yesterday. She’s a German shorthaired pointer. He trained Gloria and she’s the best alien pointer dog in the world.”

  “What does a pointer do?”

  “When she smells an alien,” Mrs. Lynx said, “she points and holds that point until I find the right person.”

  Oh, no! I thought. It was never safe with Mrs. Lynx around. She and the S.A.C. kept trying to catch an alien. Someday, she would catch my family and me.

  Roman walked over to look at the dog. “May I pet her?”

  “Yes,” Mrs. Lynx said.

  Roman squatted down and starting scratching the dog behind her ears.

  Mrs. Lynx said, “Roman, I hear you’re going to have a Giant birthday party. Aliens, Inc. does a great job with parties.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Roman said. “I hope we have stilts And maybe Big Foot can come.”

  I needed a Look-Up later list for a Giant party:

  GIANT LOOK UP LATER LIST

  1. What are stilts?

  2. Who are Cyclops, Paul Bunyan, Goliath and Big Foot?

  Just then, the bell rang and it was time to go inside. I would go by the office and call Mom to bring me a change of clothes. Bree and I walked way around the other side of the basketball court to stay far away from the alien pointer dog named Gloria. But she was watching me. Gloria didn’t fool me. She smelled me and sooner or later, she would point me out.

  “Hey, I have a riddle for you,” Bree said.

  “OK.”

  “What is the best tasting throw-up?”

  “Yuk,” I said. “No throw up tastes good.”

  “Wrong,” Bree said. “Honeybees eat nectar and then throw up honey.”

  That Bree. Earth girls are full of odd facts.

  READ MORE ADVENTURES WITH KELL, BREE AND THE ALIENS, INC. GANG IN BOOK 3:

  KELL AND THE GIANTS

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  Other Books in

  The Aliens, Inc. Series

  Book 1: Kell, the Alien

  Book 2: Kell and the Horse Apple Parade

  Book 3: Kell and the Giants

  Book 4: Kell and the Detectives (2015)

  Other Books by Darcy Pattison

  Saucy and Bubba: A Hansel and Gretel Tale

  The Girl, the Gypsy and the Gargyole

  Vagabonds

  Abayomi, the Brazilian Puma:

  Wisdom, the Midway Albatross:

  The Scary Slopes

  Prairie Storms

  Desert Baths

  19 Girls and Me

  Searching for Oliver K. Woodman

  The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman

  The River Dragon

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR

  Translated into eight languages, children’s book author DARCY PATTISON writes picture books, middle grade novels, and children’s nonfiction. Previous titles include The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman (Harcourt), Searching for Oliver K. Woodman (Harcourt), The Wayfinder (Greenwillow), 19 Girls and Me (Philomel), Prairie Storms (Sylvan Dell), Desert Baths (Desert Baths), and Wisdom, the Midway Albatross (Mims House.) Her work has been recognized by **starred reviews** in Kirkus, BCCB, and PW. Desert Baths was named a 2013 Outstanding Science Trade Book and the Library Media Connection, Editor’s Choice. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Bookwriters and Illustrators and the Author’s Guild. For more information, see darcypattison.com.

  RICH DAVIS, illustrator for the Aliens, Inc series has wondered, "What could be better than getting to do black and white cartoon work for a sci-fi easy reader?" Working on this book has been one big fun-making experience. Rich has also illustrated 12 other children's books, including beginning reader series, Tiny the Big Dog (Penguin). His joy is to help kids develop creatively and he has invented a simple drawing game (Pick and Draw.com) and an activities book as a fun tool that now have a following around the world. He frequently does programs at schools and libraries in order to draw with thousands of kids yearly. For him, it is a dream come true and he recognizes that the source is from God alone.