“OK. Ta love. Bye for now!” Mabel hung up the receiver on the telephone and walked back into the living room from the hallway. Ryan was still sat on the sofa looking through something on his mobile phone, and George was asleep in his chair, snoring. “George! Wake up!”

George yawned and stretched as his wife settled into her chair beside him.

“That was our Sheila. Where’s the remote? She’s telling me to turn the news on. It’s on! We’ve probably missed it now.”

George handed Mabel the remote control he found tucked down the side of his chair. Mabel pressed the button which powered up the TV in the corner of the room. Ryan looked up to see the end credits of the local news programme.

“Ooh!” Mabel fumed. “I knew I’d miss it!”

“No, Nan,” Ryan stood and walked over to her. “Remember, you can rewind the programme as you’ve not changed the channel.” He took the remote control off her, and pressed a button which caused the on screen image to move quickly in reverse.

“Oh, it would be her!” Mabel moaned, seeing who the daily newsreader was.

“I think it’s dead funny how you have the same name as her, Nan!” Ryan laughed.

“She has the same name as me, our Ryan, and don’t you forget it. Besides, she has that extra ‘E’ at the end of her name. We don’t need that George, do we?”

“There’s only one Mabel Green, love, and you’re it!” George smiled, glancing over to Ryan.

Ryan started to play the programme back just as a film of a factory in Leeds disappeared from view. Mabel Greene reappeared on screen. “And finally this morning,” the newsreader announced, “local authorities and the British Space Agency are investigating reports of a fireball over Rodderswych, West Yorkshire, in the early hours. The bright white light was seen by people from as far away as Kent in the south of England and the Highlands of Scotland. Air Traffic Control confirmed the trajectory of fragments of the fireball, which appeared as a sudden white flash, to three possible areas of the Rodderswych area. The BSA have advised there may be some meteorite fragments, and are advising residents not to touch them if they find them, and instead report their finding directly to the BSA. We will display their number on screen shortly. A spokeswoman for the BSA says the meteorites themselves will be harmless, but would like to study them without them being exposed to further contamination.” Mabel Greene’s smile filled the screen. “The BSA’s number is on screen now, so go out and check your gardens. You never know, you may find a little green man nearby!” She laughed and brought her hand up to her left ear. “Of course, I only joke!” she laughed. “There is no cause for concern. That’s it for this morning’s summary, and we’ll be back later with a full news roundup. Good bye for now.” The credits reappeared on screen, and Ryan switched the TV off.

“She really annoys me!” Mabel said. “She thinks she’s funny, and could’ve caused widespread panic then!”

“At least she’s deflected the attention from aliens!” George offered.

“Or brought attention to it. What if the meteorite bit was a cover? They’re actually looking for Dawn.” Mabel’s mind started to wander.

“Calm down, May!” George said. “She said they were looking for fragments. More than one.”

“Could be more than one alien, then!” Ryan suggested. “We don’t know.”

“Ooh, they’re looking for ‘er. They’re looking for ‘er. What are we goin’ to do now? Our Ryan’s murdered ‘er… she’s in our bedroom, on our bed.” Mabel stood. “They could knock on our door at any minute and barge themselves right up them stairs into our room. She said they tracked the trajectory. They know she’s ‘ere!”

“Nan, sit down again. Breathe.” Ryan said. “I’ll make us all another cup of tea. And I haven’t murdered her, I just shook her.”

George tapped Mabel’s arm again after she sat back down, and Ryan walked to the living room door. A loud knock came from the front door.

“Oh ‘eck!” Mabel cried. “They’re ‘ere! They’re ‘ere. They’ve found ‘er. Us. They’ve found all of us. They’ll arrest us all. We’ll end up in jail!” She bit her lip. “We’ll pretend we aren’t in. If we’re quick, we can sneak into the kitchen before they look through the window.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Come on, let’s go.”

Mabel, George and Ryan swiftly made their way to the kitchen, ignoring a second loud knock at the front door.

“We can’t ignore them forever.” George whispered. “Besides, don’t they have rights? Can’t they break in?”

“I don’t know about that, Grandad. Don’t forget, they’re the space agency, not the police.” Ryan sat his Nan in one of the chairs at the round kitchen table at the far side of the room. He pulled out another chair for George. “Here, Grandad, you sit down as well and calm Nan down.”

A third knock rapped on the door.

Ryan felt his mobile vibrate in his jeans pocket, so he retrieved it. He answered the call in a low voice, without checking who was calling. “Hello? Ah, Kate! Hi! Yes, where are you?” He looked at Mabel with a reassuring smile. “OK. We’re in, just a little busy. I’ll let you in now!” he ended the call and popped the phone back into his pocket. “It’s Kate at the door, Nan. No need to worry!” He flicked the switch on the kettle as he walked passed. He left the kitchen to open the door.

Nervously, Mabel looked at George, holding his arm. “What if it’s not Kate?”

“Mabel, it has to be Kate. We know she’s on her way. It’s more likely to be her than the space agency!”

A second later, Ryan returned to the kitchen following his old school friend.

“Hi Mr and Mrs Green!” Kate smiled warmly.

———-

This is the eighth instalment of my fan fiction tale based on the DC Comics character Dawnstar.

The first part can be found here, the second here, and the third here.

The fourth part is here, and the fifth here. The sixth part is here.

The seventh part is here.

Dawnstar was created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell. All other characters are of my own creation.