Jimmy Jack and the Smartman

  Chapter 10 - No Need for Grudges

  "Is that all you have to ask me, Jimmy Jack?"

  "That's it, Yogi. Remember, it's not your job to criticize any of the questions I have for you. We still take care of you and your friends, and in return, you give us the best advice you can, no matter what we ask of you, no matter how you feel about our questions."

  Yogi's skin has turned several shades more pale in the month since our party chased the zipping, flying saucers out of the sky. His skin almost looks yellow, and his eyes have dulled. He doesn't know it was my idea to throw that party, that I was the one who worked at those details that chased the little, gray men away. Everyone in town thought it didn't seem too smart to let Yogi aim any grudge he might be holding at any single citizen. We all agreed it seemed to make a lot more sense to let Yogi think all of us came up with the idea for that party together, to just tell Yogi we all thought a wild party would be the perfect way to let those hovering aliens understand how happy we were to greet them.

  What's important is that the smartmen remain in their plastic bubbles, dependent upon our care, committed to listen to our worries, to answer our problems to the best of their ability, to give us the best advice they can. What's important is to remind the smartmen of how they owe us.

  "It breaks my heart to think of what we've lost, Jimmy Jack."

  "I know, Yogi, but brooding about it isn't going to help."

  "Nano-technology. Clean Energy. Telepathy. Stellar Travel. My imagination can't think of everything."

  "I know, Yogi, but you're just hurting yourself the more you dream about it."

  "Did none of you stop to think how all those flames, how all those naked, howling people, might give the aliens the wrong impression?"

  "We had no idea. Seemed like a good time to us."

  At that, Yogi nearly gives me a pitying smile, telling me that everything is back to the way it should be.

  "I suppose it's not fair that I fault any of you," speaks Yogi. "How could any of you think that far ahead?"

  "Well, it's you smartmen in the bubbles who are gifted with all the brains."

  Yogi arches an eyebrow. "So you really just want some new numbers for the lottery again?"

  "No one's won it yet. The jackpot is enormous."

  Yogi sighs.

  "Eight. Sixteen. Nineteen. Twenty-five. Twenty-eight. Thirty-one. Powerball, forty-seven."