Episode #4: Weird Visitors #4: Food

Jun,03 2025

On the walk, I spotted a few peaches on a tree, and grabbed three of them.

Kukey looked at me with attention.

"Food", I said.

"Food?"

I bite in the peach, and show Kukey that I am eating it, swallowing it.

"Ah, Kla. Food. from Kekro"

"From a tree?"

But they point to grass, trees, flowers.

"Ah, from plants"

"Plants. Kekro"

I offer them two peaches.

Kukey takes a device from the bag on Uke's side, and sticks it in the peach. There are beeps, and they say.

"Kla, Kreig"

"Sad food? You can't eat this?"

"Can. No Kla", they say.

"Careful, pit inside", I eat as fast as I can, showing the pit.

"Not food", they said.

"No, not food. Around"

They take a bit of the peach.

"Good.", they say.

"But you can't get nutrients from it", you say.

"Yes, food, not food"

"I get that. Sorry"

"Sorry?"

"saying I am sad for you"

"Oh, Sorry. Kukey sorry not understand faster"

Wow, that was amazing.

"Exactly"

We kept walking, with Uke also eating a peach, but you hear the pit being crushed by their mouth and notice that they ate ie too. That's some strong jaw!

You soon make it to the village, where a few of the kids get close, but their adults keep their away.

"They are not dangerous"

"I am happy to meet you all", says Kukey, in a surprising good English.

I welcomed them to my home, which was a much tighter fit for them. My wife is shocked to see them.

"Kukey, this is Annie, my wife"

"Hi Annie"

"Hi Kukey"

"And this is Uke", I said, presenting the other one.

"Hi Uke", said Annie

"Female", says Kukey

"Yes, Kukey. My wife is female. We call female humans, Women"

"Woman. Female human."

I talk to Annie.

"Kukey's race do not have genders, and Kukey has eideitic memory."

"Oh, interesting. I was about to cook breakfast, do you want something, do they want something?"

"I don't know. Kukey, we will eat. Want more food?"

"I will try"

I smile. That was perfect English.

"Uke?"

"Will not"

Again, perfect English, which they picked up, from me talking to them. That's spectacular.

I go help my wife, as she puts bacon in the microwave, and starts to cook eggs and small potatoes, so I handle the toast.

Kukey looks in silence, and soon enough, there were 4 plates on the table, and I removed two of the chairs so they won't be in the way.

As I start with a toast, and Annie with some potatoes, it's what Kukey scans first in their plate.

"Same, food not food", says Kukey, eating some potatoes, and a bite of toast.

"Annie, they don't have the same biology as us, so they don't get nutrients from our food"

"Oh, that's sad"

"This is sad", said Kukey, pointing at the toast.

"Oh, you don't like it?"

"This is less sad"

"Toast, and this is potatoes"

I cut a piece of my egg, and they scan it, but then, recoil in terror.

"Not Kekro. Krik", Kukey says, panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"Not food. "

"Ah, you only eat plants?"

"Not you?"

"We are omnivorous. Eat plants and animals"

"No, no, no...", says Kukey.

"Sorry"

"No, go"

Kukey being to leave but is stuck in front of the door, and doesn't know how to open it.

"Kukey, wait"

"No. KlakKra."

"Klakkra?"

"Klak", they say, pointing to the food". and then, "Kra", pointing up, and then all around.

"Kra is world?"

"Go"

"No. Talk"

"Luke. Can't. KlakKra"

"More English. Then, can go"

They look at me.

"Krik", they say, pointing at them, and then, to me, and then, to the eggs.

"Krik is animals?"

"Kirk Move", Kukey says.

"So, yes, Krik is animals. But Kukey, you not animal, human not animal"

"Not Kekro"

"No, come with me"

I open the door.

"Go", they say

"no, come with me", I say,using my finger.

Kukey seams to hesitate, but follows me, until we make it to the chicken coop.

"Chicken", I say.

I enter, and pick an egg under a chicken, and show to them. "Egg"

"Krik"

"No talk. No intelligence"

"Krik"

"I understand, you don't eat animals. We do"

"Luke no understand. "

"Then let's talk more so I can understand. Your English gets better every minute"

They say a few things, but you don't understand anything, but Krik is there a few times.

My wife came to the rescue. She had stayed in the house, but soon arrived with a book. A children's illustrated dictionary. One that we picked because it doesn't actually talk about clothing, mostly about the natural world outside.

Most of us grew up in a textile world, but our kids, they don't know clothes.

To be honest, the dictionary is in two parts, with the other covering the human body, jobs, technology and clothing.

"This is a kid's dictionary, it will help you get more English", says Annie.

Kukai looks at lit.

"How?"

I show them how to open it, and flip the pages.

"Oooh. I see"

They go page to page. Rather quickly. I know that they absorb everything. They ask a few pronunciations at the start, but

"De-ath", they say, pointing to a page. I check. "Death"

They keep going.

"Forbidden", all pronounced badly, but I correct them.

"Hunt", they later say.

"Yes, Hunt"

"Hunter", they say, pointing to me.

"No, not hunger. Farmer"

"Ah,", they say, going back a few pages. Only a few jobs are in this volume, including those two.

They read, and read.

Protein, was another, and they commented on animal versus plant proteins.

Finally, at the end, they says.

"We leave, this is a deathworld, forbidden"

"Wait. Let's talk more"

"No. This is deathworld."

And like that, they both start to walk toward their ship, but I signal our police officer, who was, of course, nearby, and on a golf cart he uses to get around, to come around.

I climb, and follow Kukey and Uke.