Years ago, this takes place.

It was just a regular summer day on Hilltop. Hilltop schoolteacher, Mrs. Edwina Jenkins and her husband, Mr. Edward Jenkins, were both preparing themselves for bed. They brushed their teeth, took off their slippers, climbed into bed and closed their eyes, expecting another day as equally sunny.

BOOM!

They both sat bolt upright, climbed out of bed and looked out their window to investigate the abnormal disturbance.

"Mother of all critters!" Mrs. Jenkins reacted.

"I'll go investigate, dear," volunteered her husband.

"We'll go together," she decided. She would never go anywhere without her husband, especially if there was something dangerous on the loose around Hilltop.

The two foxes bundled up into their dressing gowns, slipped on their slippers, and ventured towards the smoke. The forest was very spooky with all its noises and owls hooting (Mr. Jenkins was often superstitious of wolves at a young age) but with this event on, it seemed to better any of the chills of Mother Nature in the dark.

Eventually, they arrived at the location of the crash and came face to face with a marble-white spaceship, green smoke evaporating into the air from its vents.

"I think I am dreaming, "Mrs. Jenkins, responded.

The door of the spaceship glowed green opened and there stood two otters, both in white, futuristic clothing and round space helmets.

"A-aliens? "stammered Mr. Jenkins.

His wife hugged him for protection.

The otters removed their helmets.

"We come in peace, "bowed the otters.

The foxes looked at each other in confusion. Two otters in futuristic outfits, appearing out of nowhere, crash-landing onto Earth, in a spaceship, saying they come in peace?

"I'm Alistair," introduced the male.

"I'm Gemma," introduced the female.

"Where are we?" They both asked.

"Err, Earth," replied Mr. Jenkins.

"Are you lost?" asked Mrs. Jenkins.

"Yes," said Gemma. "Our ship is broken."

"Do you need a place to stay?" asked Mrs. Jenkins.

Her husband looked at her earnestly, as if he thought the idea of inviting two strangers to their home was too negative a time.

"People in need, Edward. People in need."

He nodded, knowing he was beaten.

They led them home, the two otters gazing around the world like as if they were new-borns babies viewing the world for the first time.

They sat on the couch in the living room, viewing the ornaments, portraits (including what looked like the female as a cub) and the furniture.

After five minutes, the female fox came in with a tray, with four cups containing light, brown beverage.

"What's this stuff?" Allistair asked, taking his own cup.

"Tea," informed the fox. "Do they not have tea where you two come from?"

They both shook their heads.

They both looked at the tea and sniffed it. It smelled strong and nice. They took a sip.

"Be careful," warned Mrs. Jenkins. "It's hot."

Though hot as he said, it tasted very warm and comfortable.

Mrs. Jenkins sat down and took her own cup, but not before hiding her husband's grand wine bottle underneath the chair. He told her secretly he would need to wash this whole thing off. she had never seen him do such a thing but she would not tolerate stupid behaviour from him - especially with guest from outer space.

At that moment, he came and ascended to that very spot. He looked at his wife reproachfully, but firmly eyed him to to take his tea and sit down like a gentleman.

"So who are you both?" she asked the two otters. "and what brings you both to Earth."

Though rather shaky, she was hopeful her tone sounded like otters from outerspace was as normal as a British visiting Hilltop.

"So who are you both?" she asked the two otters. "and what brings you both to Earth."

Though rather shake, she was hopeful her tone sounded like otters from outerspace was as normal as a British visiting Hilltop.

The male otter was the first to speak.

"Okay... introductions. Very important," he told himself. Clearing his throat, he began: My name is Alistar Astrowski.

"And I'm his wife, Gemma Astrowski."

"Lovely names," commented Mrs. Jenkins smiling.

We came from a very far off planet called Kongor," explained Alistair, "which is located within what you call the Andromeda Galaxy.

Gemma split her share of the story.

"And what brought us to Terra, you ask? Well…"

"Hold on there," interrupted Mr. Jenkins. "Terra?"

"Of course," replied Alistair as normalcy as if he said he and Gemma were from Australia. "You wouldn't know. You see, we, the Kongorians, may be aware of your planet being called Earth, however, we insist on calling it Terra, as that name sounds more comfortable with us. That, and it's what many alien races called it before your race started calling it Earth."

"I see, responded Mr. Jenkins. History and Geography was never his best subject as a cub. "So be it. Proceed, if you please.

"Thank you, Edward," said Gemma. "Anyway... we came to Terra for examination.

"We always wondered what made your planet special, so we had some probes send to take pictures of your world," said Alistair.

"Unfortunately," said Gemma, "it's those probes that never returned even once, so the committee had no choice but to send two of us to this planet to finish that mission successfully.

"We were hoping to return to Kongor after a certain amount of time after we were done with our examination," said Alistair.

"Unfortunately," said Gemma, "considering that our ship got damaged while entering your atmosphere, I'm afraid that we'll be stuck here for a while."

"Oh dear," marked Mrs. Jenkins in a concerned tone.

"That's awful!" agreed her husband.

Alistair smiled rather hopelessly. "Well, on the bright side... we get to examine your planet a bit longer, meaning we'll be able to bring back better results."

"Well, that's a good thing, right?" said Mr. Jenkins who had now gained the confidence and adaptation of two otters from outer space in his abode.

"Indeed it is," smiled Gemma. "Especially since... we were thinking of adding your star system... the Solaris System... to the list of star system under the protection of the Kongorian Alliance."

"Oh, my," said Mrs. Jenkins. "That sounds very interesting.

"Anything else we need to know about you and your antics?"

"Edward!" said Mrs. Jenkins shortly. "That was rather rude don't you think?"

"Well…" began Alistair uneasily, "if you must know…"

And so, Alistar and Gemma told Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins everything else that they can think of about their race, their arts, their science, their culture... everything. They were very lucky, that they have found each other, and they were also lucky to have made friends with each other, forming a friendship that would last for probably years to come.

Five happy months passed for the otters and the Jenkins'. It took some time for them to understand Earth ways, such as food, systems, television, gardening, jobs and learning of Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins' jobs. Mr. Jenkins was a principal of secondary school Hilltop Senior High. The children there were so well behaved - except for a certain racoon who felt he was the best of everything. He even puzzled as to how the floor didn't give way to his enormous head, but to be fair he worked hard for his grades.

But other students included two other lovely racoons, nicest people you could never find, a fox who was rather forgetful and clumsy but sweet and gentle to make up for it as well as her brilliant marks. Then there was a bulldog who loved to mend things and unsurprisingly passed with his results from his Workshop exams. He on the other hand had a brother who was an utter delinquent - all he did was break things for the sheer fun of it, so that was a possible wonder as to how he wanted to mend things - he even heard him say, should he have a child, he could rely on him to fix things. And another one of Mr. Jenkins' favourite pupils was a Chinese cat who played a beautiful violin. She had a good future ahead.

Mrs. Jenkins on the other hand taught Hilltop Junior School. The children were easy to teach and wonderful friends to her. She almost viewed them like her own children than students. She would often be in tears when their time came to leave her to go further and more mentions came to her as they are into their twenties. Whenever she would flourish new students, she would play them this song that would make them feel at home. Her sister was a professional pianist and a true inspiration:

Gather 'round and sit right down

Doesn't matter who you're next to

We're a lot the same, but with different names

And there's so many things that we're gonna do

You might feel a little bit shy

But we all feel that way sometimes

It's a new adventure

It's a brand new day

Anything can happen when we laugh and we play

Welcome to this brand new day

It's a new adventure

It's a brand new day

Anything can happen, when we laugh and we play

Welcome to this brand new day.

One sunny evening, they were enjoying a lovely time in the sun. Mr. Jenkins was reading a book, Allistair and Gemma were watching the sun set together while Mrs. Jenkins was reading a book.

Soon they asked the couple what they were reading.

"I'm reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding," explained Mr. Jenkins. "A story about a group of boys who are washed up onto an island but they become -"

"Edwin!" Mrs. Jenkins caught on. "I don't think they would be ready for that sort of book yet. It's too nasty and dark."

"What are you reading?" the otters asked her.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," said Mrs. Jenkins. "By the magnificent Roald Dahl. A story about a man called Willy Wonka who invites a little boy called Charlie Bucket into his magical chocolate factory along with four, very naughty children. Augustus Gloop; a very piggish boy that will eat anything in site, Veruca Salt; a little girl who is disgustingly spoiled to a fault; Violet Beaurgarde; a rude little girl who has been chewing the same piece of gum for three months and Mike Teavee; a boy who is unhealthily addicted to television."

The otters learned to love the books Mrs. Jenkins introduced them to and they read many wonderful stories ever since:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Mrs. Jenkins read to them for some time. Just as she put on her brilliant Veruca Salt impression ("I WANT A SQUIRREL!"), they saw a car coming up the road, a black Rolls Royce. Inside the car looked like bears in black suits. Mrs. Jenkins had a bad feeling about this scenario. she ordered the two otters inside and she and her husband when outside the house gate waiting for it to pull up.

"Good Evening, Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins," greeted the first agent.

"How do you know who we are, sir?" asked Mr. Jenkins in a rather concerned tone.

"Let's just say... we're from the government," replied the second agent shortly.

The first agent, though standing up straight and looking serious, gave an earnest smile.

"You don't need to worry, Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins. We're just here to ask you some questions, and then we'll be on our way."

The two foxes looked at each other and then to the house where the two otters were concealed.

"Is there any reasons why?" asked Mrs. Jenkins, nervously. She had never been interrogated by members of the government before and being inexperienced, she wondered what was to happen if she were to say something wrong or say something untrue.

"You see," began the first agent, "about five months ago, our satellites have picked up signals of... let's say... an alien spaceship, crash-landing on our planet.

Mr. Jenkins gave an uneasy look.

"Cherry wine, dear?"

"No," said Mrs. Jenkins sternly, for this was not the time to have a house party with the owners of the world at their door.

"From what we calculated," resumed the second agent, "we believe its impact point to be somewhere here in Hilltop."

After five minutes of Mrs. Jenkins, stood conceded about what to explain. She didn't want these sweet little otters taken away from her. They had caused no harm these past five months. What could they possibly do to be so dangerous?

"We need to know following," said the first agent after no reply. "Where exactly were you at the moment that specific spaceship crash-landed?

"Simple," Mr. Jenkins informed. "My wife and I were getting ready for bed. That's when we heard a strange noise."

Mrs. Jenkins quickly improvised saying, "We then saw smoke coming from Hilltop Forest, so Edward and I went to see what was going on, but by the time we got there, there was nothing at all."

"It must've been a couple of campers who were packing up and forgot to put out a fire."

They rather comfortable about this know. It's wasn't like they were lying to her majesty the Queen.

The two agents looked at them unconvinced, but in the end they had nothing to say.

"Okay, Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins," responded the first agent. "That's all we need to know."

The two agents retuned to their car but the second agent turned his head to the foxes and accounted;

"However, if you see any alien activity anywhere around Hilltop, please let us know, okay?"

"You have our word, kind sirs, we will," said Mrs. Jenkins smiling as plainly as she could.

"That's all we need to know," said the first agent as they both got in the car and strapped themselves in. "Have a nice evening."

"You too, sirs."

And the engine started, followed by the car reversing from the road and driving off the other direction opposite form their entrance.

"Who exactly were those people?" asked Alisatair, a concerned edge to his voice.

Both foxes looked at each other and gave a nod.

"I'm afraid," Mrs. Jenkins sighed "it's no longer safe for you here."

"What now?" asked Gemma. "Who were those bears?"

"Two agents from our planet's government," explained Mr. Jenkins rather sadly.

"From what they told us," Mrs. Jenkins shared, "their satellites picked up information about your ship crashlanding within Hilltop."

"Oh, no!" Gemma gasped looking at the male otter.

Mr. Jenkins looked very grave. "We are supposed to inform them, in case we see any alien activity going on here in Hilltop."

Alistar looked worried. "In other words..."

"I'm afraid so, Alistar," responded Mrs. Jenkins, inhaling deeply. "You and Gemma have no choice but to get off Mother Earth while you still before they find you."

This was very hard for her. These two otters were like those homeless orphans she would have taken in and loved them as her own.

"There's no telling what they'll do to you, or worse, us, when they find and capture you," said Mr. Jenkins earnestly.

There was a complete moment of silence, except the ticking clock on the mantelpiece and the fan in the corner of the parlour. Everyone had no idea what to say next. That was until Alistair broke the silence.

"I guess we have no choice then."

Gemma looked at him concerned. "Alistar?"

"You heard what Edward and Edwina just said," he replied seriously. "Gemma. It's no longer safe for us. We're gonna have to get this here planet ASAP, or else we'll be in grave danger."

Gemma felt so lost right now. It seemed like it was only yesterday that she and her partner made friends with Earthlings, or Terran, as she and Alistar would call them, and now they have to leave it all behind them, just like that.

Alistar grew soft. Please, Gemma. Don't just do it for us, and don't just do it for Edward & Edwina... but do it mostly…for our future". .

"I love you, Alistar. I'll do it."

Alistar hugged her back.

I love you too, Gemma as he kissed her nose. "I knew you'd make the right choice."

Then he turned to the Jenkins'.

"Should anything ever happen, may we entrust our valuable treasures to you?"

"Of course," said Mrs. Jenkins. What was the harm of having a space helmet or something in the house?

Five years passed. Mr. Jenkins' pupils had become parents while he grew new students who eventually left the school like leaves blown from a tree while Mrs. Jenkins' pupils grew like her favourite flowers. One of her past students, a jolly beaver that went by the name of Henry McBuckers got a job with taking the children to her school in his and being their janitor. He was only person who felt attached to his beloved preschool and could never part with his beloved Mrs. Abercrombie - though now Mrs. Jenkins, he would always be Mrs. Abbercrombie to him.

Later that night, making sure that no one following them, the Jenkins and the Astrowskis ventured into the same forest where they first met, until they came to the exact area where their spaceship crash-landed, the surrounding imprinted like a huge, thin, black doughnut. It was agony for Mrs. Jenkins as it felt for her when it was final day of school for her beloved students.

"Okay," said Gemma breaking the silence. "Now to remove the device.

"Right on it, honey!"

A rustle sounded behind them and looked swiftly about; just a squirrel running past.

Alistar struggled a little finding the device they placed on their ship to turn it invisible. At least ten minutes it took, perhaps longer. until...

"Found it!"

Alistar removed the device, making their ship appeared within a split second.

"I need some brandy after this," said Mr. Jenkins warily.

"No you do not, Edward!" said his wife firmly. They would only have some on their anniversary, Easter, Christmas, their Birthdays, but no to be foolish.

Gemma looked back at Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins, both staring together looking sad but understanding that it is all for the best.

Gemma, once again, broke the silence.

"Well... I guess this is it then."

"I must admit" it was admirable knowing you two. (NOTE: The previous sentenced seemed rather out of fashion for Mr. Jenkins' age. No offence)

The four of them exchanged a hug. For Mr. Jenkins, it was a feeling of loss. He was an evacuee himself of WWII and would soon leave his foster family for good in seven years time.

"We're gonna miss you," said Mrs. Jenkins, fighting her tears back.

"We're gonna miss you too," said Gemma feeling the female fox's warm embrace for the final time.

They all broke their hug, and looked at each other one last time.

"Goodbye... Mr. & Mrs. Astrowski."

"Goodbye... Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins."

Alistar and Gemma then mounted their ship, whereas the ramp lifted up before them, closing the ship altogether.

The ship burst into life and started lifting itself of the ground.

Mr. Jenkins took a few steps back, wanting to give the Astrowskis' spaceship enough room for takeoff.

"Get back, Edwina," warned Mr. Jenkins.

Mrs. Jenkins, getting Mr. Jenkins' idea, nodded, and did the same as her husband did.

The ship, having enough room now, started to fly out of the forest, into the night sky, and into space, never to be seen again.

Back on Earth, Mr. & Mrs. Jenkins looked up into the night sky.

"I'm sure gotta miss having them around," said Mrs. Jenkins.

"So will I, dear. So will I."

"I just hope we'll see Alistar and Gemma again."

"Never say never, honey, dear."

Once they finished looking at the night sky, they set off for home, with the decent hope of one day seeing Alistar and Gemma again... or so they thought. Future hold many surprises, many tragedies, but what was in store for them soon combined both.

FIVE YEARS LATER

One night, they were getting ready for bed. They were just getting ready to go up until they heard the doorbell go off.

Wondering if might be those two ages from five years ago, the foxes walked down the stairs and answered to the announcer.

The ringer was not the agents, but young otter - wearing the exact sort of clothing Alistair and Gemma wore.

"Hello, little child," greeted Mrs. Jenkins kindly. "Who are you?"

The child looked rather timid and handed her a letter. What she and her husband read did not guarantee any pleasance:

Greetings, Edward and Edwina Jenkins of Planet Earth...

if you're reading this, then we regret to imform you that two friends of yours, Alistair & Gemma, had died recently. Before their death, they requested us to have their son, his name is Tadashi, to this planet, where you two shall gain guardianship of him from now on. We're really sorry that you never got to see each other again, but in case it cheers you up, they always told fun stories about you guys. I hope you will take good care of Tadashi, because Alistair & Gemma know that you will.

Farewell for now, good people of Planet Earth.

Signed...

Commander Judith Darkmatter of Planet Kongor; Andromeda Galaxy

Mrs. Jenkins' heart melted from what she read. Alistair and Gemma dead. They were very good friends and now they were gone for good. Then, she thought back on when they trusted her and her husband to take care of their valuable treasures and there it was standing before them. Mrs. Jenkins got on her knees and embraced the little otter need Tadashi who began to sob into her shoulder.

"There there, child," she consoled. "You're safe now. My husband and I will take care of you. We were very good friends to your parents."

Tadashi calmed down quickly.

They brought him inside and took him into their guest bedroom. He got into bed as Mrs. Jenkins kissed him on the cheek.

"Goodnight, dear," she said to him. "I promise you will be okay."

She and her husband left the guest bedroom and switch the light off. Mrs. Jenkins cried herself softly to sleep thinking of what happened to those two lovely otters. But she knew that she and Edward would have to honour their names and bring their son up. Things were bound to happen to the child which would earn him acceptance, as the two foxes shall soon learn.