Ralph threw the last carton on the shelf–glad to finish the final incoming load in the stifling home furnishings warehouse.  

       He couldn’t wait to shower, change into “street clothes” that would let him feel human again and head for his favorite watering hole down Main Street. He believed that, after a few “cool ones” even the flea-bitten, fly-by-night boring rural outpost of a town where he had wasted much of his life might start to look good.

     After he finished getting dressed, however, the moving foreman couldn’t believe what stared back at him in the locker room’s full-length mirror.  Although Ralph could, by no means, at this stage in his middle age, middle class life, win the top prize in any strength or endurance competition, he still considered himself in pretty good condition.

     To his astonishment, however, he saw reflected back at him a tiny, pale-looking creature standing less than four feet tall and dressed in some type of uniform that resembled something taken directly out of a recently-released outer space battle epic. Nothing as trite or old school as a little green man, of course, but still convincing enough to make Ralph think he had somehow chugged a few of those brewskys without going anywhere near the local pub.

     Although Ralph wouldn’t have qualified by any standard for Employee of the Month at the Express Moving Company he knew better than to drink on the job or do anything that would cause him to lose the paycheck that let him live the kind of life that kept him at the level of contentment most in line with the meager ambitions of a high school dropout. He also didn’t want to “rock the boat” to jeopardize his “upper echelon standing” in this community.

     Still, what could explain the figure that looked back at him in the seedy locker room’s mirror?

     Suddenly, the warehouse shook as if struck by one of the Cat 1 tornadoes that rarely struck Ralph’s area. Yet local weather broadcasts had announced nothing even resembling tornadic activity for more than two weeks.

      Then “flash”--out of a dark corner of the dimly-lit locker room a blinding light emerged and a creature similar in stature and dressed in the same type of “uniform” Ralph saw in the mirror came charging forward.  He told Ralph:

     “Do not move. We of the planet Yugocraneous have transformed you to the likeness of one of our fellow creatures because we need an earthling ambassador to convince your leaders that Earth’s climate change, if left unchecked, will completely destroy our population and its homebase within the next six months.  Also, if your leaders do not take the steps needed to save our civilization your civilization will perish shortly after our own.”

     Ralph shot back:

    “Why did you choose a simple working stiff rather than one of our most wise scientists or diplomats to relay your message?”

     “Also, why did you transform me to look like one of your fellow Yugocraneons rather than leaving me in my current form if you wanted to convince Earth’s leaders to do what you ask?”

     “I’ll answer your second question first–the members of our civilization do not trust Earthlings to keep their word. They have trusted you too many times in the past only to have them pay us back with deception and disappointment.  To gain their trust, we had to have you appear as one of us. Also, we believe the shock of your transformation would get more attention from your leaders than if it came from an ordinary earthling.

    “Additionally, we believe that both our civilizations no longer believe what your elitist scientists and diplomats tell them. Therefore, we think the person delivering our message must be of the socioeconomic class to which both our civilizations can most readily relate and trust.

      “As I pointed out before, our civilization is operating on what you earthlings would call ‘a very tight deadline.’ We will take you to an obscure village on your earth, where our top environmental scientists and others we have captured from your planet will give you the education you need to make a presentation on our behalf to your leaders. We will not return you to your previous earthly body and your previous way of life until your leaders meet with us to find a solution to the climate change crisis. 

       After you help reverse the tide moving against the survival of both our societies we will restore your previous earthling body. We also will wipe away your memories and that of your fellow earthlings about the events that now are happening. However, we will see that your future personal wealth and social position greatly exceed your current standing, but you will have no idea why you have received these rewards.”

      With that, the bright light left the locker room and lifted Ralph with it. Ralph soon found himself in an obscure mountain retreat in a heavily-guarded compound in a secret location in Antartica. His only memories of his time there involved the facts he needed to arrange the meetings of Earth’s leaders with the Yugocraneons.

      On the day before Earth’s top scientists predicted that environmental destruction would put an end to Yugocraneous and its people, the climate change that would have precipitated that destruction miraculously disappeared.  Also, the Earth’s diplomats and scientists united to make  improvements in industry and protection of the earth that they believed would save their planet from destruction.

     Ralph won a new multimillion-dollar global lottery. This enabled him to purchase the moving company for which he had previously worked. For a reason which he never quite figured out, he became intensely interested in environmental science and its role in preserving the earth. He used a large portion of his wealth to work with the most important leaders in the real estate and moving businesses to back thought leaders forging landmark global environmental achievements in those industries. 

    The former moving warehouseman also became one of the most accomplished figures in every facet of environmental advancement around the world.