Bohemia Village Voice

Once upon a time, about 200 years ago, three aliens all with unpronounceable names and all from the planet XJQVY made a soft landing on planet Earth, about 4 miles from Droitwich in England. They hit the industrial revolution in full flow.
After looking round Droitwich and lots of other places for a bit, they decided that life here was pretty boring and that they should leave.
The joker among them said they should leave a calling card – a ‘Kilroy was here’ sort of thing – their names in some public place which everyone could see, but which no-one would realise the significance of.
These were clever aliens and had soon worked out a scheme for achieving their goal. Just a couple of crucial ideas needed to be planted in a few minds for the thing to work. They agreed to return to Earth in a couple of hundred years to see how successful their scheme would turn out.
Time flies when you’re touring the galaxy, and our three space travelers were soon back on planet Earth. They dressed themselves up in native garb and strolled around a few towns and villages of England. Sliding through walls was child’s play.
The audacious plan had been a great success. Their names were in every home and workplace in the land. As they took off once more on their travels, commander Qwertyuiop, navigator Asdfghjkl and cosmologist Zxcvbnm slapped each other on the back and congratulated themselves on a job well done.

Al Capone Short Stories

Reprinted, with permission, from local author Andrew Jackson’s collection of fantasy and sci-fi ultra short stories, Al Capone. Copies of the book are available, price £1.95, from the offices of the Bohemia Village Voice at 79, Bohemia Road, St Leonards. Tel: 430460.