Little Green Thumbs

Chapter 1 - An unexpected visit

I opened the door, whilst wondering why the doorbell had even rung. The mailman and newspaper boy had already delivered everything and I definitely am not expecting anybody. Puzzled I looked outside with only my head peeking out the door. Nobody. Probably just a prank played on me by the neighbors children. I was just about to go back to working on my bills, when I noticed that something had been neatly placed on my welcome-mat. Someone had yanked a few flowers from my front yard to make a sloppy bouquet. I was not impressed. Rather bitter, I walked into my kitchen to put the flowers in a vase. It would be a shame to just let them die and stink up my front porch. I had just sat down again when it rang yet another time. Now, I practically ran to the door, just to catch the evil-doer who was ruining my garden. The door swung open, but yet again: No one. Only another bouquet from my own garden. I was growing to dislike this prankster. In the kitchen I filled the vase I had inherited from my grandmother with water. Weirdly enough, when I picked up the flowers a note fell out. Only two words were written on it in quite a scrabble: Look closely. At what? The vase? The flowers? I inspected the first bouquet. Nothing. I shook the second one a little just to see three little green creatures fall out.
They were very small, probably as big as half of my index finger, and wore detailed clothing made from leaves of some sort. Quickly I opened one of the kitchen drawers to get out a magnifying glass. With it I could notice that two of them had beards. Even though they were green their facial features looked quite human. The smallest one of the three took out a small device that it held up to it's mouth. "Hello", it said, grinning up at me. The other two spoke with each other in high-pitched voices and flailed their arms around, making gestures towards the other bouquet. Four other creatures climbed out from in-between the leaves. "So you're the ones taking apart my garden?", I asked as calm as I could manage my voice to be. It's not every day one finds tiny creatures destroying flowers. They looked down at the ground with guilty faces. The one holding the speaker passed it on to one of the new additions. This one wore it's dark green hair in a small bun that was practically as big as it's head. "I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience we have caused you", it said,"We are only travellers looking for a home for our people." "Like settlers?", I asked. It nodded. "We are the Mans. In our old language Mans means people and you, the humans, are big people." What a weird thing to call themselves. I was certain they weren't all female.
"And what are your names?", It seemed unsure of my question. "We humans are given words when we are born into this world that have certain meanings. Mine is Cara. It means Friend." I always laugh at my name. In my whole lifetime I've only had one friend and that friendship stopped in Fourth grade. It's a sad story that I just hate to think about. This time it seemed to have understood: "We don't really have names. Please assign ones to us if it would help you communicate." I looked sharply at them. One of the bearded Mans didn't seem to happy about it's comrade's suggestion and they started having a heated discussion. "How about Broetchen?", I asked the little Mans with the bun. "What does it mean?", it asked me. "Bun. I forget which language it was but I heard it at some point and somehow it just stuck with me", I answered. The little green Mans jumped up and down in delight. By now the other Mans had lined up and were excitedly talking to each other. One of the first three, the one with no beard and only a little stubble stepped up first. It seemed quite young and probably had a life full of adventure in store for it. "Abel. As in Abel Tasman the Dutch explorer." It too seemed happy. All had appearantly pushed the grumpy one as far to the front as possible and it did not look happy. "I apologise for my husband's behavior. He doesn't think well of the humans.", Broetchen said. Her husband mumbled something under his breath and got a stern look from his wife. "Alright, Groucher", he had a look of shock on his face as if he thought I would completely pardon his rudeness. The others laughed, but all I heard was little squeaks.