Abducted to Oz | Page 7

presence of mind to suggest
the half-hour lead time he would need in order to escape from the castle.
When everything was ready, Graham followed the spell to the letter.
And since he was the only little fellow around, he was the obvious
choice to provide the spittle for the concoction--which he did with great
delight.
As soon as he got to the part where he had to pull the Witch's hat down
over her head, he said, "I'll keep my eye on the clock and let you know
when the half hour is up." With that, he jammed the hat down over her
eyes and down to her shoulders and then made a beeline for the
window.
CHAPTER SEVEN
:
AN ALIEN PRESENCE
After Graham had escaped from the castle, he thought about the Witch
standing there for a full half-hour and thinking how beautiful she was
going to be when she took the hat off and looked at herself in her
mirror. He laughed out loud as he imagined how she would really look
with that gooey mess all over her hair and face and clothes. But he

knew that once the reality dawned on her that the spell was a fake, that
she was just as ugly as ever, and that he had escaped, she would be
absolutely beside herself with rage. The boy's elation began to change
to fear as he considered the possible repercussions of his actions. Here
he was in a strange yellow land with no idea of where he was going or
where to hide.
He had been traveling through a wooded area which, for now, offered
some measure of security, since he would be hidden from aerial
surveillance, when he came upon a clearing. Actually, it was more than
just a clearing; it was a perfectly round grassy clearing about fifty feet
in diameter, and dome-shaped. As he studied the dome, it began to
slowly rise, exposing a round house with windows and doors and a
grass-covered roof. Graham stood perfectly still, waiting to see if
anyone came out. When it was obvious that no one was coming, he
cautiously walked toward the house to see if he could see through the
window. Suddenly, a loud, mechanical-sounding voice filled the air.
"WARNING! YOU ARE APPROACHING TOO CLOSE TO THE
VEHICLE. PLEASE STEP BACK."
At this point, Graham was more than a little confused. He knew that
this sort of proximity alarm system was favored by some motor vehicle
owners back home. But the device seemed very out of place in Oz. Not
to mention the fact that the sound was emanating from a house, not a
car. At that moment, the round roof slowly started to spin and rose
about four feet above the house and hovered there. The outside walls
receded back into the ground to reveal a bright, shiny spaceship
shimmering in the sunlight. A ramp unfolded to reveal two equally
shimmering space beings. They descended (or rather, floated) down the
ramp and stopped less than three feet from the boy. They were not very
tall--about four feet in height--and they were dressed in
metallic-looking one-piece spacesuits that closely followed the contour
of their slender bodies. They had quite large heads, which were
somewhat out of proportion to their overall physique. Their eyes were
large and doe-shaped and were the blackest of black with no pupils
visible. He sensed an intelligence emanating from their eyes that was
far in excess of ordinary people. Their skin was of a dull grayish hue;

no color at all.
[Illustration]
Graham waited for them to speak (for some reason he was totally
unafraid). One of them raised his right hand in greeting. He spoke
without moving his lips. At least, Graham heard the words clearly
inside his head but could sense no outside sound.
"Greetings, young friend. You stumbled upon our location, but it is of
no consequence. We know that you bear us no ill will."
"Indeed not," replied Graham. "In fact, I am honored to make your
acquaintance. I've always wanted to meet a space person."
"Well," replied the other being, "you are a space person, too."
"I am?" said Graham incredulously. "I'm afraid you're mistaken ... I am
from earth."
"And where, my little friend, do you think earth is? Is it not suspended
in space like all of the other planets? And does it not make a complete
rotation upon its axis every twenty-three hours, fifty-six minutes and
four point zero-nine seconds, and at a speed of a thousand miles per
hour? And does it not orbit your sun every three hundred and sixty-five
days and six hours and nine minutes and nine point five seconds, and at
a speed of about twenty miles per second? And does it not revolve
along