Free Alien Rights by Nicole Austin

Chapter One
     
    Bells tinkled a merry greeting as the door
of the Moonlight Diner swung open. Emily Baxter finished refilling the last
salt shaker and glanced at the clock. Ten minutes until closing time and a new
customer shows up. Great, she’d have to work late again.
    Story of my freakin’ life.
    Brown hair sticking up in all different
directions, white shirt buttoned haphazardly and one pant leg partially tucked
into a sock, the man who’d walked in had a wild gleam in his glassy eyes. He had
the lean, athletic body of a runner and when cleaned up was probably rather
attractive.
    “Aliens!” He pointed toward the back of the
diner. “I was abducted!”
    Okay, cleaned up and dried out , she amended.
    Hank’s bald head appeared in the
pass-through. “Aliens? Hey, did you get probed?”
    “How’d you know?” The customer stumbled as
he made his way toward the counter and dropped down onto a stool with a sharp
hiss. “Did Calgon get you too?”
    She glanced back at Hank, owner of the
diner and her boss. One corner of his mouth drew upward into an evil grin Emily
knew well. She’d been a victim of Hank’s bullying and her heart went out to the
customer who thought he’d found a sympathetic listener.
    “Calgon the alien took you away, huh?” Hank
sputtered, barely getting the words out. “You’ve been watching too much TV,
dude. Hey, Em. Better call the guys with the white coats. He needs a padded
cell and one of those jackets with the really long sleeves.”
    While Hank laughed and cracked jokes at the
man’s expense, Emily set a cup of coffee in front of the customer and patted
his arm. “Ignore Hank. Everyone else does.”
    The second she went through the swinging
door into the kitchen, Hank grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the grill,
where he kept a close eye on the man who sat hunched over the steaming mug.
    “That guy’s a total crackpot, Em. Don’t get
close to him. Might rub off on you.”
    “Insanity isn’t catching.” Jerking free of
his hold, she punched Hank’s beefy tattooed arm. “But stupidity is,” she
mumbled under her breath.
    She understood Hank’s bully mentality—how
making other people feel small gave him the false sense of being a big man.
Still, understanding didn’t make dealing with him any easier. “You are such an
ass! That man is obviously down on his luck and could use a little compassion.”
    “Compassion?” Hank gave her a slack-jawed
stare. “You’re crazier than he is.”
    Emily sighed and shook her head. She
preferred to believe everyone had some goodness in them, but Hank had proven
himself rotten to the core, lacking in any depth or virtue. A true lost cause.
    The grill had been shut down and cleaned
for the night but there was still a pot of soup simmering. She filled a bowl,
put a couple of rolls on a plate and headed for the door, not surprised when
Hank moved to block her path.
    “That bum didn’t order anything and sure as
hell won’t have the money to pay.”
    “I’m not sending him back out on the street
without a meal.” She couldn’t afford to lose her job but would make a stand on
the issue if necessary.
    “Okay, Sister Teresa, but you’re not giving
my profits away.”
    Emily shook her head. “You mean Mother Teresa, moron, and I’ll pay for the meal.”
    Hank’s brow furrowed with confusion and
disbelief shone in his dark eyes. “Must be paying you too much if you’ve got
money to throw away on bums.”
    Grinding her back teeth, Emily battled the
urge to throw the soup in Hank’s cruel face. “The way you treat people is going
to come back and bite you in the ass, Hank. It’s called karma. Because I’m kind
and help others in need, one day when I’m down low, someone will offer me a
hand.”
    Hank’s riotous laughter had her hoping
she’d be around to witness the day karma tore him a new one. Why did she
continue to try to get through that thick skull of his? He would never see acts
of kindness as anything other