My name is Danny and I am in charge of this letter because I can spell better. Lily is helping but she is only six and she keeps drawing stars in the margins. She says to tell you the stars are presents. You can keep them.
We have questions.
Question One: Do you have mosquitoes where you live? Because if you don't, can we come there? Mom says mosquitoes are “just part of the ecosystem” but I don't see why the ecosystem needs something that bites you at night when you're trying to read under the covers with a flashlight. Lily says maybe aliens have giant mosquitoes and that's why you're coming here, to escape them.
Question Two: What do you eat? Lily thinks you eat moon rocks. I think you probably eat something we don't have a name for yet, like “space soup” or “quantum noodles.” If you eat people, please skip our house. We have a cat named Mr. Whiskers who is very fat and probably tastes better anyway. Lily is crying now because I mentioned Mr. Whiskers getting eaten. She says to tell you we don't actually want you to eat our cat. She is drawing a picture of Mr. Whiskers with a crown.
Question Three: Do you have school? Because if you don't, how do you learn things? And if you do, do you also have a kid named Tyler who sits behind you and kicks your chair all day? Lily says maybe you learn by touching brains together. That sounds gross but also faster than fractions.
Question Four: Do you know what happens when you die? Because nobody here will tell me. Grandma went to “a better place” last year but when I asked if I could visit, everyone got quiet. Lily thinks you probably know because you have spaceships and spaceships are almost as good as heaven.
Question Five: Why are you coming? Lily thinks you're coming for pizza. I told her that's stupid because you can make pizza anywhere if you have cheese and an oven. But then I thought maybe you don't have cheese. If you need a recipe, I can ask Mom. She makes the dough from scratch. It takes three hours. She says good things take time. I think that's why she's still teaching me long division.
Things You Should Know About Earth:
- Gravity. It keeps you from floating away but it also makes you fall off bikes. Lily says it's “the thing that makes ice cream drip down your arm.” She's not wrong.
- Ice cream. It's like frozen happiness. We have it when someone is sad or when someone is happy or when it's Tuesday. If you don't have this, we should fix that first.
- Hugs. Lily says these are important. When I asked why, she said “because they squeeze the sad out.” I don't think that's scientifically accurate but I can't prove it's wrong. Mom hugs me when I have nightmares about the basement. It works. Maybe you have nightmares about black holes. We can help.
- Bugs. Some are okay (butterflies, ladybugs) and some are NOT okay (spiders in the bathroom). Lily wants to know if you have bugs. She says if you don't, can you take some of ours? Specifically the ones in the kitchen that Mom keeps finding in the cereal.
- Night. It gets dark here for about half the time. Some people are scared of the dark but I think it's just the world resting. Lily sleeps with a nightlight shaped like a dinosaur. His name is Gary. She says you can borrow him if space is too dark.
The Most Important Thing:
We fight a lot. Me and Lily, I mean. Yesterday she broke my LEGO tower and I said she was the worst sister ever and Mom made us sit on the stairs until we could “use kind words.” It took twenty minutes. But then Lily gave me her last cookie and I let her use my markers even though she presses too hard.
That's how it works here. You break things. You say sorry. You share cookies. You start again.
I don't know if you have brothers or sisters. I don't know if you have cookies. I don't know if you say sorry or if you just… don't break things in the first place. That would be smarter. But it would also be lonelier, maybe.
Last Question:
Do you get scared? I do. Of the basement. Of Tyler's chair-kicking. Of growing up and having to know things I don't know yet. Lily is scared of thunder and the vacuum cleaner. Mom is scared of something she won't say. Dad is scared when he checks our room at night, but I pretend I'm asleep so he doesn't know I know.
If you're scared of something, you can tell us. We might not understand. We might ask too many questions. But we'll listen. That's what we do here. We listen, even when we don't know what we're hearing.
Lily wants to add something. She says:
She's crying again because she thinks you'll be lonely in space. I told her you probably have each other. I told her that's enough. I hope I'm right.
Come soon. We have questions. We have cookies. We have a cat we're not offering but we'll show you pictures if you want.
Also, if you have a cure for long division, that would be great.
Sincerely,
Danny (and Lily, and Mr. Whiskers, and Gary the nightlight dinosaur)
P.S. — Lily says to tell you that stars are just “night lights for everyone.” I think that's the best thing anyone's ever said. Maybe start with that when you get here.