Strange Happenings by Avi

season. If Jeff didn't find out about the Alien soon, he would have to wait until next year.
    So he went to the game very early—but not in his usual way. Instead of taking a seat in the stands, he crept
under
the bleachers, which was hard to do. It took a while for Jeff's eyes to adjust to the murkiness of the area with its forest of metal stanchions holding up the seats. The place was littered with old paper cups, bottles—some broken—and discarded food. It stank, too.
It's like a rubbish dump,
Jeff thought. A part of Rolerton one did not see often.
    Jeff looked through the bleacher seats onto the field. He was so early he could see a few of the players doing stretches. A groundskeeper was moving around the bases, anchoring bags to their proper places. Jeff read the sign on the low wooden fence that ringed the outfield: ***TO VISIT AMERICA—VISIT ROLERTON ! The Alien wasn't in sight.
    Because he was sure he could not be seen, Jeff decided his spot was perfect. The Alien would not know he was there, watching. Jeff kept scanning the field in hopes he would see the mascot emerge from his place—wherever it was.
    As Jeff stood there, staring out to the bright field, he heard a soft scraping sound. At first he ignored it, but when it persisted, Jeff looked about, puzzled. With a start, he realized the sound was coming from a pile of discarded hot dog boxes. Or rather, from
under
the boxes.
    Jeff watched. The boxes were moving, rising and falling as if something was pushing up from
below.
Then the top box slid to one side, revealing a dark spot beneath. Jeff—his heart beating fast—realized the spot was a
hole
in the ground.
    The boxes continued to shift, revealing more of the hole.
    In the gloom, Jeff began to see something pink move
within
the hole. He could not tell what it was, though it reminded him of cotton candy—soft, without any particular shape, a blob.
    Jeff, realizing he was holding his breath, sucked in some air and stepped back. He told himself he should get out of there.
This is not right.
Even as he had the thought, the upper part of the pink blob began to shape itself into a thin tendril.
    Jeff watched, transfixed. The tendril elongated and began to creep—still connected to the main blob—snakelike, over the ground, coiling itself around one of the bleacher stanchions. Having established a grip, the tendril began to ripple until the pink shape began to emerge from the hole—as if it were being pulled. It was only moments before an entire pink mass had emerged—looking, Jeff thought, like a compact, throbbing brain.
    Too amazed to move, hardly daring to breathe, a mesmerized Jeff stared at the
thing,
as still another tendril emerged from the mass. That tendril crept down into the hole. Within moments it pulled up a lumpish green mass with red spots. It was, Jeff realized, the Alien
costume.
    Once the oufit was completely out of the ground, the pink tendril pulled down a zipper on the back. The costume fell open, exposing a dark interior. The next moment the whole pink mass slid inside.
    Jeff watched as the zipper closed from within. After a moment's pause, the costume trembled, heaved, shook, stood up, and turned around.
    "So you finally found me," the Alien said, looking right at Jeff. The voice was thick, clotted.
    "Wh—what are you?"Jeff managed to ask.
    "A student."
    "A
student
? From ... where?"
    "Very far away. What you people call outer space." The Alien's nose and horns lit up.
    "What are you ... doing in that suit?" asked Jeff.
    "I use it to study your world."
    "
Study?
"
    "To observe humans."
    "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "I'm here to learn about your natural habitat, your way of life. What you consume for food. Your social activities. That sort of thing."
    "Why?"
    "Curious."
    "Are you the only ... student?"
    "The only one in Rolerton," said the Alien. "But in other—what do you call them? ... sport parks—there are lots of us."
    "You