Alice was silent for a moment, as though she were content with my answer. She walked around the porch about two times, not letting the basket with strawberries out of her hands. Then she asked:

“Are they in the field or in the forest?”

“In the forest.”

“How do you know that?”

“They told us themselves. By radio.”

“That’s good.”

“What’s good?”

“That they’re not in the field.”

“Why?”

“I was afraid that I saw them.”

“How so?”

“It’s nothing, I was just joking…”

I got up from my chair. In general, Alice can be a great fabulator…

“I didn’t go walking in the forest, Papa. Word of honor, I didn’t. I was in the meadow. That means I didn’t see them.”

“Alice, I want you to tell me everything, in detail, all that you know. I’m not going to add anything myself. You saw strange…people, in the fore st?”

“Word of honor, cross my heart, I wasn’t in the forest.”

“All right, all right. In the meadow.”

“I didn’t do anything bad. And really, they’re not all that strange.”

“I want a decent answer from you, an adult answer: who did you see and where were they? Don’t torment me and the rest of the human race….”

“Is the rest of the human race here, Papa?”

“Listen to me, Alice…”

“Oh, all right. They’re here. They came with me.”

I looked around involuntarily. The terrace was empty. If you didn’t count the buzzing bee, there was no one here but Alice and myself.

“No, not there. You’re not looking in the right place.” Alice sighed, walked up closer to me, and said. “I wanted to keep them. I really didn’t know the human race was looking for them.”

She stretched out the basket with the strawberries. She raised the basket right in front of my eyes, and I made out, not really believing what I saw myself, two figures in space suits. They were covered with strawberry juice and sitting together on a single berry.