Alfred P. Prescott and the Boy From Beyond

By D.C. Malloy

Due to an unexplained power outage, Alfred and his friends find themselves with the day off from school. Little do they know that it will become the most incredible day of their lives. While working on their new clubhouse, Alfred and his friends discover a crashed escape pod with an alien boy inside. Unable at first to communicate with the boy, they give him the name Neil Jemison. Join Alfred and his friends on an amazing adventure as they try to avoid evil rogue aliens, elude the men wearing black suits, confront bullies, and help Neil find his parents. Alfred P. Prescott and the Boy From Beyond is an exciting story of adventure, danger, and friendship. But, it is top secret, so shh…. And welcome abroad! 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elliott's Attic Publications
• Release date: Dec 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393276838

Book preview

To all those who wonder...

And for the little one who hates to read.

You know who are are

Think and wonder,

Wonder and think

-Dr. Seuss

CHAPTER ONE

Any Other Day

The alarm on my cell phone woke me from one of the best dreams I ever had. I was literally in my Minecraft world. The strange thing is that in my dream I was also sitting in my gaming chair watching myself walking around in the game. Weird huh? I was going to have to ask Conner about this. Conner is one of my best friends, he is the game and tech guy in our group of friends.  He is the only person I know that might be able to explain how I could possibly be in the game but also watching the game. He was going to love this one.

My alarm continued the most annoying sound in the world, that’s what the sound is actually called, and they aren’t lying. I reached over and turned it off. My mom had bought me the phone so that we could communicate often through the day and for emergencies. I know it was a major expense for her so I try to take very good care of it. My screen saver even says: Property of Alfred P. Prescott and lists my mom’s phone number to call if found.

I was going to put App, that’s what everyone calls me, but my mom said if I used my full name then someone might be more likely to think it was important and try to return it. App is short for Alfred P. Prescott. Alfred was chosen by my Grandpa Mike, he is a huge classic movie fan, obsessed, I might say! Anyway, Alfred comes from Alfred Hitchcock, his all-time favorite director.  The P stands for Peyton, this came from my mom who is probably the biggest Peyton Manning fan that ever lived. And Prescott, well, that’s my last name. Thankfully, my friends all call me App.

The little green light in the corner of the phone blinked at me, someone must have left me a late-night message. Probably Kaydence, she is always reminding me to take my allergy medicine or making sure I set my alarm.

The text was from Kaydence, but not about my medicine. She wanted to know if my mom had told me about the alert from the school. There was a power outage in a large section of the city, most importantly, a power outage at the school! No school! Woot Woot! She also wanted to know what everyone wanted to do with our free Friday.

I texted her back and said that I was up for whatever everyone else wanted to do. Everyone else, besides Kaydence and me, is Conner and his older sister Maria. Karisma, Kaydences’s little sister, and Madison.

We are all friends and like to call our little group The Smash. Karisma says if we were all one person smooshed together, we would be the most amazing person ever. That’s how we decided on The Smash. Kaydence and Karisma moved here to Chapman with their mom. Their mom is in the Air Force and was assigned to the base in our city last year. Their Dad still lives in California, but he comes to visit them as much as he can. They are lucky for that.

Kaydence is the guardian in The Smash, she has what my mom’s Grandpa Mike calls an old soul.  Karisma is an athlete, loves music, and is the funniest person I have ever met. Conner and Maria have always lived here, like me. As I said, Conner is our game and tech guy. He’s a real whiz.

Conner and I are in the same grade and Maria is in a grade above us. She’s also the oldest of us all. Maria is an artist and has the incredible ability to find beauty in most everything. Except for Conner!

Madison used to be homeschooled but when her family farm started having trouble her mom had to get a job in the city so Madison came to our school. Her family runs one of the only farms left around Chapman. She says no way are they going to sell their land so it can be turned into a huge neighborhood full of houses that all look alike. Madison is hardworking, resourceful, and a real problem solver. And she can drive a tractor which is beyond awesome.

Me, well, I don’t know how the others would describe me, I inherited Grandpa Mike’s love of old movies, and I like to wonder about things.  There is so much to wonder about.

That’s us, The Smash. I feel a sense of excitement, a day off from school. Besides snow days, I can’t remember a time when we unexpectedly had no school.

CHAPTER TWO

Are You Serious?

The Smash gathered at Madison’s barn, Kaydence and Karisma were a little late because they needed a ride from their mom. The rest of us live close enough to ride our bikes. We have to be a lot more careful now though, there are construction trucks always whizzing by. It’s kinda weird really, where there was once nothing but farmland, mostly corn or soybeans, there are now neighborhoods with tons of the houses like the ones Madison described.   Kaydence and Karisma live in one, but Madison doesn’t hold it against them. She dislikes the cookie-cutter neighborhoods but also realizes that development was inevitable.

The weird thing is that right down the road from all this new construction, if you turn left at the only gravel driveway, you will find a large old beautiful farmhouse and a red weather-beaten barn. The house is so big but seems oddly  small surrounded by the acres behind it. I envy Madison, her farm is like an oasis from the busy city that lays just miles away.

So, what does everyone want to do? Maria asked.

Conner shrugged, Anyone hear what caused the power outage? I’m sure glad it wasn’t at our house; I had some strategic moves to make this morning.

Mom said a transformer blew, one of the main ones, Kaydence answered, And yes Conner, it would have been terrible if you wouldn’t have been able to check in on your world this morning.

Everyone giggled, Conner had a few games going on levels that none of us would ever reach. He cared deeply for the characters that lived in a reality he could only design and manipulate but never actually be a part of. The line was blurred for him now and then. He called his reality Twenty One. I don’t know why but he literally has Twenty One written on just about everything he owns. Conner likes to keep some things private.

Suddenly I remembered my dream and thought about sharing it. Everyone seemed super excited though and ready for something fun. My dream analysis with Conner would have to wait. How about we go down to the creek and look for arrowheads, I suggested, Or work on the clubhouse.

Karisma dribbled her soccer ball back and forth with Madison’s dog Bailey. Anyone up for some badminton? Bailey wagged her tail.

Actually, that sounded like fun. Madison’s dad had a whole area in the backyard devoted to games that The Smash could play. We had badminton, corn hole, horseshoes, and a smaller than normal baseball field where we played softball and dodgeball.

That sounds good to me, how about a couple of rounds of badminton, and then we head down to work on the clubhouse? I suggested.

We all agreed that it seemed like an okay way to start our free day off from school. Work on the clubhouse was slow, we had chosen a spot down by the creek so we could fish and wade in the creek and pretend that we were miles and miles away from civilization.

The Smash had always just met in the barn but this year they were going to grow their hay for the animals and Madison’s dad told us we needed to come up with a new place. Her dad has helped us gather materials and other things but he is leaving the actual construction up to us. He even gave us some solar panels leftover from their new greenhouse. Being a huge Greta Thunberg fan, Maria loved the idea of using solar power. There is no doubt that when we are finished, it will be the greatest clubhouse ever.

Badminton was great, Karisma’s team won both games, I knew they would, but we all had a lot of fun. Madison got her dad’s permission to load everyone up on the wagon attached to her John Deer tractor and head on down to the clubhouse. I told you Madison is amazing, she has her very own tractor, a small bright green John Deer that she calls Sadie. We loaded up some wood that we are using to finish framing the floor, some nails, a sack of sandwiches and chips.

The spot we had chosen was perfect, a flat piece of land only a few yards from the creek. There were large towering trees around it but enough of a clearing that we would get plenty of afternoon sunshine too. We would need this for the solar panels. We had to finish framing in the floor before we could do anything else, Madison’s