Teaching the Aliens

Flash Fiction.

I certainly didn’t teach the aliens everything they knew.

That’d be a ridiculous statement to make.

They had me beat on technology. That’s for sure.

But I did teach them a lot once they got here.

All kinds of things.

I’m unsure, of course, why they chose me, specifically.

Seems like some sort of laziness on their part, to be honest.

Like, maybe I was just in the wrong place at the right time or whatever combination of that saying you want to use.

Or they didn’t really do their due diligence.

Both, probably.

It just doesn’t seem like it was much of a calculated decision at all — even if they would almost definitely deny this.

They were many things and one of them was arrogant.

Maybe lazy.

Both, probably.

And either is usually not a great thing to be.

When they’re combined, it’s even worse.

Believe me.

It takes one to know one.

But they drove a decent bargain — not one I want to get into the specifics of, really, because the things I wish for and want aren’t things I’m comfortable talking about in a public forum or saying out loud to myself even in the dead of night when I’m as alone as I could ever possibly be.

(I mean, it’s not weird stuff. Just kind of embarrassing.)

So I did my best to show them how I went about my life.

Show them the ropes, as it were, of how things go down here, around here, whatever.

What to do and what not to do, I suppose.

(Though it was much more nuanced than that.)

What I valued.

How I went about attempting to find some sort of modicum of what I defined as success — something I could be proud of.

A legacy of some sorts, I guess.

They trusted me completely.

It led to their downfall.

They should have gotten a second opinion.

Just goes to show that being capable of certain amazing things doesn’t mean you’re unable to do other things that many if not most take for granted.

And that just because you’re a piece of shit sometimes doesn’t mean you can’t also be some sort of hero.

Anyone could one day have a chance to help save the world.

You never know.

Until you do.