Chapter 1: Got a Tissue?
 
"How do all those strange earthlings fit in that teeny tiny car?" Zeke Zander asked his friends Eddie and Amelia.
 
Amelia gave Zeke an odd look. "Strange what?" she asked.
 
Oops. Zeke had forgotten. Earthlings did not call themselves earthlings.
 
"I mean, how do all those strange people fit in that teeny tiny car?" he said instead.
 
"I don't know," Eddie said. "It's a clown trick."
 
Zeke watched as three more earthlings with red noses and rainbow­ colored hair piled out of the car.
 
There was no way they could have all been in there at the same time.
 
But it sure looked like they were.
 
Sometimes the strangest things happen on Planet Earth.
 
"That clown just sprayed soda on the other one's head," Amelia said. "Ha ha ha."
 
Zeke reached into his pocket and pulled out a tissue.
 
"Here you go," he said to Amelia. Amelia looked at the tissue. Then she looked at Zeke.
 
"What's that for?" she asked him. "For your nose," Zeke told her. "You're a funny guy, Zeke," Amelia said.
 
Zeke looked at Amelia strangely. What is so funny about a tissue?
 
"Here comes the tiger trainer," Eddie said.
 
Zeke watched as an earthling led three orange-and-black cats into the center ring. There were three stools waiting there.
 
The earthling yelled something at the giant cats.
 
The giant cats jumped up onto the stools.
 
The earthling lifted his hand.
 
The cats leaped up onto their hind legs.
 
The earthling turned his hand in a circle.
 
The cats danced around and around.
 
Wow! It looked like the earthling was in charge of the big cats.
 
That would never happen on Planet Z.
 
On Planet Z, the cats were in charge.
 
Of course, Zeke wasn't on Planet Z anymore. He was on Earth.
 
He'd been here since his family's spaceship had crashed. And he was stuck here until they were able to fix the ship and fly home.
 
Still, Earth wasn't all bad.
 
Earth kids played fun games like tag and hide-and-seek.
 
They went to great places like the circus.
 
And they drank sweet apple juice.
 
Zeke was thirsty. He pulled his juice box from his backpack.
 
He stuck one end of the straw through the little silver circle.
 
Then he stuck the other end of the straw in his ear and started to drink.
 
Eddie watched Zeke slurp up the apple juice. Then he let out a loud "ha ha ha."
 
"I'm sorry," Zeke said. "I'm all out of tissues."
 
Eddie gave him a funny look. "Huh?" he asked.
 
Zeke took another sip of his apple juice.
 
"I love your ear trick," Eddie told him. "Someday I'm going to figure out how you make the juice disappear into there."
 
Zeke frowned. He ho ped Eddie never figured it out. Because then he would know Zeke was a kid from Planet Z. All zeebops drank with their ears.
 
Zeke could never let Eddie know that he and his family came from outer space. He couldn't let anyone know.
 
Because there was no telling what horrible things might happen if information like that got into the wrong hands.

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Excerpted from Don't Sneeze! by Nancy Krulik
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