This was getting worse and worse. Nicola's pet fish before Goldie had died because she'd overfed it!
"It's an honor, Nicola," said Mr. Puck.
"It's a horror, Nicola!" squawked the parrot.
The parrot is right, thought Nicola despairingly.
"My wife and daughter are also on the Committee," said Georgio. "But my daughter had her soccer play-off tonight, so you'll be meeting them at my place for dinner."
"Don't forget your own question, Georgio!" called out the freckly woman, Molly. "That was the best one!"
"Ahem!" said Georgio, "Yes, well, moving right along."
"Don't be shy, Georgio," said the sergeant. "Your question was the one about whether the Earthling had ever convinced someone to change their mind when their mind was already made up."
Nicola looked up quickly at Georgio.That was the question he'd said was an error and now they were saying it was the most important one of all! Georgio gave her a barely perceptible shake of his head. He obviously didn't want her to mention it.What was going on?
"Let's not waste any more time with all that," said Georgio. "The Committee is dying to hear from you, Nicola.We have a ladder here, since you are somewhat . . . vertically challenged."
He indicated a small ladder leaning against the podium and looked at her expectantly. Nicola felt an overwhelming urge to turn around and run as fast as she could, but that would be embarrassing for Earth, and besides, they could easily catch her.
She lifted her skirt and carefully climbed the ladder. It wouldn't be a good look if the Earthling Ambassador fell flat on her face.
She tapped the microphone and cleared her throat. What could she say? She looked down at the eager, kind expressions on the faces below.These people might be a little loopy, but they'd all been working so hard to help save Earth.They deserved a nice speech.
She opened her arms wide like she'd seen politicians do on TV.
"Speaking on behalf of my planet," she began, "I would like to express our, ummm, most sincere and humble gratitude for all the fine work of the Save the Little Earthlings Committee. I am . . . overwhelmed."
That sounded pretty good, thought Nicola, feeling quite proud of the "overwhelmed" part. She could see the lady who liked purple actually wiping a tear from her eye with a purple-painted fingernail.
"So, ah, erm, thank you."
Not quite so good.
"I am ummm, honored to be chosen by you as the Earthling Ambassador and tomorrow morning I will do my . . . utmost to convince Princess Petronella not to go ahead with this, this most . . . preposterous and petrifying plan!"
The Save the Little Earthlings Committee erupted into rapturous applause. Oh dear, thought Nicola as she inclined her head graciously. If only she actually felt as confident as she sounded.
CHAPTER 10
"Don't stare!"
"But Mom, look at her! Why is she so short? What's wrong with her?"
"Shhhh!"
Nicola was walking with Georgio from the community hall to his house and she knew that people, especially children, were staring at her as they walked by, but it didn't matter because she was staring goggle-eyed up at the people herself. It had been strange enough seeing just one person of Georgio's height back on Earth. Here, everywhere she looked she could see giant-size people casually going about their business.There was a distracted-looking mother, as tall as a lamppost, hurrying down the street with a baby on her hip.Two men, as tall as small trees, had stopped to laugh heartily over something. A hunched-up old lady as tall as Nicola's wardrobe sat on a bench enjoying the sunset.
Actually, there wasn't just one sunset.There were two. Twin cherry-colored suns shone cherry-colored rays as they simultaneously sank on the horizon, giving everything a rosy glow.The houses were lofty dazzling buildings of gold, silver, or copper.Their front gardens were crammed with giant tropical flowers with heavy, fragrant scents.
"We live just around the corner," explained Georgio. "Obviously, there's no need to use the spaceship for such a short journey and I thought you might enjoy seeing our local neighborhood.What do you think?"
"It's very--" Nicola searched for the right word. "Impressive."
Globagaskar was so big, so colorful, and so confident. It made Nicola feel about as significant as a mosquito.
"Here we are." Georgio stopped in front of a silver house, slightly smaller than the ones on either side, with a profusion of pale pink roses as big as cauliflowers lining the footpath.