The fridge wasn t empty now. The shelves looked different from the ones that were usually there, and on one of those shelves was that lemon soda Kit had mentioned, a few plastic bottles of it. Nita reached in and pulled one of those out first, opened it, and had a long swig, smiling slightly: It was her favorite brand, which Kit s mom had taken to buying for her. Then Nita looked over Kit s refrigerator s other contents and weighed the possibilities. She had a brief flirtation with the idea of one of those yogurt drinks, but this was not a yogurt moment; anyway, those were Carmela s special thing. However, there was that chicken, sitting there wrapped in plastic on a plate. About half of it was gone, but the breast on the other side was intact and golden brown, gorgeous. Okay, you, Nita said, come here and have a starring role in a sandwich. She reached in, took out the roast chicken, put it on a clean plate, and then unwrapped it. Nita pulled the sharpest knife off the magnetic knife rack by the sink and carved a couple of slices off the breast. She contemplated a third slice, then paused, not wanting to make too much of a pig of herself. Uh-oh, something said again. Nita looked around her, but couldn t see anything. Something in the dining room she thought. Hello she said. Instead of a reply, there came a clunking noise, like a door being pulled open. Kit, said a female voice, what s wrong with the fridge All the food s gone. No, wait, though, there s a really ugly alien in here disguised as a leaky lettuce. Hey, I guess I shouldn t be rude to it; it s a visitor. Welcome to our planet, Mr. Alien! This was followed by some muffled remark that Nita couldn t make out, possibly something Kit was saying. A moment later, Kit s sister Carmela s voice came out of Nita s refrigerator again. Hola, Nita, are your phone bills getting too big This is a weird way to deal with it… Nita snickered. No, Mela, she said into the fridge, I m just dying of hunger here.