Cal and Alley

Adrian squinted his eyes to read the numbers on his phone again. He was sure he could make them out, but just in case, he pulled his black frame glasses from the trash littered on the passenger's seat. His ex wife’s voice echoed in his head, you need to wear your glasses when you drive.

Adrien focused on the now-clear screen of his phone’s GPS and read aloud, “1512.” He then glanced back up to the faded, yellow house and read the paint-chipped numbers splayed vertically down the porch column. “1512.” 

Adrien furrowed his brows and pulled off his glasses. Dang. What he was looking for was a laboratory and labs weren’t typically in residential dwellings, right? Especially not small, one story, farmhouse dwellings - not the legal kind of labs, at least. 

Grabbing the phone off the holder, Adrien pulled up the email chain. He clicked the link to the website and searched for any photos of their building, but came up empty. There was only a description and the first paragraph read: 

“Calalley Research Laboratory has been on the leading edge of research and development, helping to create better products for a wider range of industries.”

Hadn’t their description been more specific before? Adrian hadn’t quite understood what exactly it was that they did either way, but he didn’t remember it being so vague. Then again, it was entirely possible Adrien had simply been too relieved when he’d received the email to notice, which had come at the exact right time. 

“Mr. Long, 

In our search for local journalists, we have come across your previous work at the News Gazette and The Beet and we are very impressed. Up until now, our most important research has never been released, but we are ready to share our discoveries. We feel as if you are best suited to be our voice to the public.” 

The email, sent by an official @calalley.com email address, finished with their contact information and website address. 

He’d instantly felt a tinge of hope that this could finally be his way out. The burnout he felt from working at the tabloid/satire news company was as extinguishing to his soul as the red “final notice” stamps on unopened pieces of mail sitting in his apartment. The divorce had taken everything from him, and he desperately needed to get his life together and be a real journalist again.  

Because of that, maybe he had overlooked some things and maybe he was a bit sloppy from depression since his wife - no, ex wife, he was still getting used to saying - relocated their son across the country. But, he wasn’t a fool. Adrien had googled the company and read the reviews, researched employees, and found numerous articles about their achievements from reputable sources. Only a couple of hours after receiving the email, he received a phone call from a woman with a thick country accent to confirm and hammer out the details. Her tone was pleasant and each of her words were drawn out long, like she was paid by the syllable. 

That voice was the same one who answered as Adrian clicked the phone number there in his car, looking towards the gravel driveway leading to the house and a large detached garage. There were small blue lights lighting up the inside of the garage. What was that? He wondered.

“Calalloy Labs, how can I help you today?” 

“This is Adrien Long. I spoke to you a few days ago. I have an appointment with Cal, but I think I’m at the wrong place because the address I was sent took me to a country house in the middle of nowhere.”

The brown vertical blinds occupying a tall front window moved slightly. “I see you. You are at the right place. Come on up, hunny. Cal will getchyu.” Click.

Adrien looked from the house to the road in front of him and back at the house. What was he supposed to do now? He should have asked more questions. Keeping a hand on the gear shift in case he needed to make a quick exit, he glanced towards the fields of the farmland. Beauty shone down in the form of the sun’s glow over the flowery fields, and Adrien was suddenly overtaken with a sort of peace and serenity. 

He shook his head, breaking loose from his trance. This whole thing was strange. He wondered if this was some sort of trap, like a robbery, or something of the sort. He then thought about his sweet, almost-12 year old child, Leroy, that looked up to him and adored him. He couldn’t risk being harmed - not for himself, but for his son. 

Not knowing or wanting to find out why he’d been brought to a secluded farmhouse, Adrien pressed the sole of his tattered leather shoe onto the break, and switched into drive. Suddenly, as if he had manifested from Adrien thinking about his own child, a boy walked down the driveway towards him, dressed in a white laboratory coat about 4 sizes too big.

“Wait. Don’t leave,” the boy yelled.

Adrien rolled down his window and spoke slowly. “What’s going on here, bud?”

The boy, seemingly happy to have successfully stopped Adrien, smiled. As he got closer, the smile turned sheepish, reminding Adrien of Leroy’s expression last year when he’d met his favorite local hockey player.

 “Because you’re Adrien Long, the best journalist ever. I’m your biggest fan.” 

“Oh, boy,” Adrien said, taking it all in. Had this whole thing simply been a stunt by a child to get him there? “I am very flattered, kid-“

“Cal, my name is Cal.” He stuck his hand through the open window to shake Adrien’s hand.

“Cal, son, did you pretend to have something important to show me - just to get me here?”

“I wasn’t pretending, sir. This is a real company, Calalley Labs. It’s top secret.” 

“Cal-alloy labs.”

Cal shook his head, confused. “No, Cal - alley labs. I’m Cal and Alley is my business partner.” 

Adrien placed his palm to his forehead, realizing in full now what had happened. He had googled the name of the company and it must have automatically been autocorrected to alloy. Calalloy Research. That’s why the website looked slightly different when he’d just clicked it straight from the email. 

“Alley - is that who answered the phone?”

Cal giggled as if Adrien had asked him something silly. “No, that was my mom.”

His mom. Of course it was. 

A southern voice called from inside the house’s open door. “Thank you for coming, Adrien! Would you boys like some tea?”

Cal looked towards the journalist to answer. “No ma’am.” He wasn’t staying. 

“Are you going to get out of your car?“

Before Adrien could answer, Cal added, “please, you have to. Let me just prove to you I have something super awesome for you to write about. You don’t have to come inside or anything. It’s in the barn right over there.” Cal pointed to the large garage with blue glowing lights right inside the open door. 

Adrien started to shake his head but the boy’s gaze pleaded and weakened him. The passion for whatever it was he wanted Adrien to see lit up a fire behind him, and Adrien realized how hard it was going to be to burst it. 

“Are those computers in there?” Adrien asked instead, pointing towards the blue glow. 

“Yes! Come see what they can do, then I promise you’ll have things to write about. It will only take a few minutes to see. Please, you’re the only one I trust, Mr. Long.”

Adrien drummed his fingers on his steering wheel, considering. Maybe just a minute wouldn’t hurt, he thought. The boy’s mother was right there and knew he was over and why. Plus, back in Adrien’s prime, working for his father-in-law at the state’s largest newspaper company, he’d been able to turn many less-than-interesting story ideologies into sensational pieces of art, read by hundreds of thousands of people. Perhaps there would be a story here after all. 

Adrien turned off his engine and stepped out of his car. The excitement radiating off of Cal could heat a whole room, he thought. 

As they approached the large open entrance, there were a half a dozen computers lined up next to each other, all emitting a blank blue screen. 

“Go ahead, give him a show.”

At Cal’s words, the computers burst to life, lighting up different colors, with digital renditions of balloon animals dancing from one screen seamlessly to the other. Trumpets blared along with keyboard sounding music. 

Adrien smiled. “Did you do this? Nicely done.” 

“Not me, it’s Alley.” 

Was Alley what Cal had named his computers? Adrien wondered.

“Now, Alley, do the one thing with the aliens.” 

As photos from one of Adrien’s most popular articles from the satire tabloid flashed from one screen to the next, Adrien grimaced. 

“Are they really real?” Cal looked at Adrien, eyes wide. “You really saw them walking around?” 

Adrien ran a hand through his messy hair. “Oh, Cal. No, buddy. The articles from that magazine aren’t real, they’re made up.” It hurt Adrien to have to be honest with the boy. It was obvious he’d invited Adrien here on false pretenses, probably idolizing Adrien for all the bizarre and strange things he thought Adrien saw and wrote about. 

“Oh.” Cal considered this for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, when you write about Calalley, make sure everyone knows that it’s very real. This is very important and will probably change the whole world.”

“Of course.” Adrien admired the boy’s pride over his voice-activated computer show that he’d undoubtedly worked very hard on. Although the journalist would hardly consider it world changing, the computer programming skills Cal had were still very impressive for a child his age. There was a story there, even if it was just a nice, heart warming expo of a child’s skills. Was it enough to get him off the satire pages, though? Probably not.

“Great job you’ve done here.” Adrien smiled widely at the boy. “Let me do a video and snap some photos and then I’ll be on my way. First, let me just ask you a few questions.” Adrien paused to grab the notebook from the breast pocket of his collared shirt. 

Cal’s face twisted into confusion. “Wait. I haven’t even shown you the discovery we have here. You haven’t even met Alley, yet.” 

Now it was Adrien’s turn to be confused. “Isn’t Alley the name of your program?”

“Well, no. Not exactly.” Cal met Adrien’s eyes, then gestured towards the colorful screens. “You thought that’s why I brought you? No, Mr. Long. That’s not it, not it at all.” 

Adrien cocked his head and opened his mouth to speak when he heard the voice of Cal’s mom from the house. 

“Cal?” She called, sounding more like “Cow-ahl.”. 

“Come on, Alley, it’s time,” Cal shouted back.

Adrien heard a door close and looked towards the house to see a figure walking towards them. Not wearing his glasses, he couldn’t fully make them out, but hadn’t Cal said that voice belonged to his mom? Was Alley his mom? What was going on? His chest pounded as he nervously rubbed his clammy palms together.

Then, his breath caught in his throat as the figure came into view. They weren’t bouncing up and down with normal steps, its body gilded steadily as if on wheels. A feminine figure was wearing black sweatpants and hoodie, but where her face should be, there was a faint pale-green glow. 

“Cal?” Adrien asked nervously. “What is going on?” 

As the figure reached them, she pulled down the hood of her sweatshirt, revealing a large, almost cone-shaped head. Her eyes were dark and large, her mouth small, and only had two small diamond shaped crevices where her nose should be. Her skin glowed and Adrien felt it in his gut, as a sudden warmth rose inside of him, like a sense of nostalgia that had been trapped in the grooves of his temporal lobe, floating to the surface. 

I should run, thought Adrien logically, but there was not an ounce of panic in his thoughts. His legs were like a concrete statue but was he even trying to move? There was something extremely peaceful and good radiating from the creature. 

The computers lit up and that same voice he’d heard earlier came over the speakers. “It’s very nice to meet you, Adrien Long. I’m Alley.”

Adrien looked from Cal to Alley and back again to Cal, his eyes wide as saucers. He wanted to speak, ask questions, but couldn’t form words. 

Finally, he was able to spit out, “but - your mom?”

Cal took in a deep breath and spoke matter-of-factly, as if the words were coming from an adult - not an 11 year old boy. “If you could leave that part out of your article, and don’t mention me at all, actually, I would greatly appreciate it. My mother left me years ago - a new boyfriend and alcohol were all she wanted - and never came back. It’s okay, though, Alley takes great care of me and if anyone finds out, they’ll just take me away.” 

Adrien didn’t bother asking why he’d lied. He understood why Cal wouldn’t have wanted to tell him about her straight away. 

Instead, Adrien just stared, caught in a dazed silence. When he looked back at the interaction later, he wondered how he’d reacted so calmly to such a world changing revelation. But, he knew why. It was because Alley had kept him calm. Alley was something magnificent. 

She put an arm around Cal’s shoulders and kissed the top of his head. “I love him.” Alley’s lips mouthed the words but the computer speakers were what really spoke, and as they continued, her southern accent disintegrated, molding into a more neutral and digital sound. “But he needs more than my love. He needs a real family and a real childhood. I can’t give that to him, which is why I invited you here.”

Cal pulled his shoulders forward, out from under Alley’s arm to look at her large eyes. “What are you talking about? I thought we were having him write about you so everyone could know about you at once, and then no one could harm you. We were going to show everyone the goodness in you and what you can do, so they’ll help you find your family. Tell him, Alley.”

“Oh, sweet boy,” the speakers replied with the movement of Alley’s gray lips. “I can’t stay. My family has been reaching out to me and I must return to them, but not until I know you’re cared for.” 

“No, Al. That’s not what you said. You can’t leave, please don’t leave me.” With each word, the adult-like-confidence drained from him, revealing the hurting, innocent child underneath. “You lost your family and we have to find them together, remember?”

She looked at me. “I was exploring your planet when I came across Cal here, alone and caring for himself at only 10 years old.”

She then explained how she’d been keeping in touch with her family from her planet while she cared for Cal, who had been broken hearted and all alone. She’d seen he needed love, so she’d used her gift to heal him and give him the kind of love he’d deserved, more powerful than any human could have given. 

“But now my work here is done. Write about me, or don’t, that doesn’t matter.” 

Cal tried to talk, eyes wet with tears, but Alley placed a gentle, long finger to his lips and he went silent and calm.

“Why me?” Adrian finally spoke. “If you don’t need my story, why bring me here?” 

Alley wrapped both arms around Cal, pulling him into her chest. “He adores you. He has read all of your articles, and especially loves your stories about aliens - but don’t worry, he usually knows they’re not real.” Alley looked Adrien in the eyes, captivating him and speaking with such emotion, she added, “there’s no one he talks more about than you, Adrien. You’re a dad, you have a son who seems to adore you from what I’ve seen and Cal really needs a friend, a human friend. I need you to help him and be there for him until he’s able to join a loving, family that’s best suited for him - whether that be yours or somewhere else.”

In the end, Adrien realized there was no way he could share her story; Alley needed to be saved from humans, not by them. If the world knew about Alley, they’d never stop until they found her, undoubtedly doing harm to her and the others. 

Instead, he did an article about a young boy trying to survive on his own after his mother abandoned him. Adrien wrote about how Cal had cleverly brought the journalist there to save him, and then immediately befriended the journalist’s son, who came to visit more often. He didn’t share this article with the world, though, just the case worker. He also didn’t mention that it was Cal who’d saved Adrien - not the other way around.