Quicksand for Humans
I should’ve known, Imo thought to himself as he settled back into bed. Things just hadn’t gone right since the day began.
It all started with Lilith. She’d dropped by unexpectedly. Imo being the earliest riser in the house had been the only one dressed and able to answer the door. He left the others to get dressed after their rude wake up call.
Lilith had tried to pry her way in after a fight with her sister Angela. When that didn’t work, she’d wanted to go out to take her mind off it. Bowling, seemed like fun, but not something he wanted to try with a human for the first time.
Instead, he’d politely turned her down and went to find the others.
“I don’t know about this,” Gus said staring at the front of the building.
“It could be fun.” Leslie said studying the building.
“Look. It’s a way to fit into Human Culture. I just learned about it, and I think we should give it a try.” Imo said.
“Sounds good, we can’t study them if we don’t join them.” Leslie said walking towards the door.
“It’s called observing from a distance.” Gus said as he hurried to catch up.
Maybe they should have come with Lilith. From getting the shoes, to paying for a lane, it became more apparent than ever they needed to study and practice their humanity more.
Finally set up to play, they began to bowl. For a human game it was oddly hard and very satisfying. But it required skill. No games they had back home were quite like it.
Being very competitive they’d stayed for only a short time, but long enough that truly understood the game. Plus they’d all gotten all strikes on one game.
The crowd that had gathered eventually had been enthusiastic in their applause.
Finally exhausted they’d decided that it was a night well spent, and decided to go home.
When they walked outside prepared to go home, they found the sun shining instead.
“Did we stay there all night?” Leslie asked incredulously.
“Two days.” Gus said, looking at his phone. This was unbelievable.
“Maybe they have a time freezing machine.” Imo suggested.
“At this point who cares? I just want to go home and sleep.” Gus complained. Nodding their agreement, all three men started heading back to their house.