Dudley’s eyelids felt heavy

Dudley’s eyelids felt heavy as he reclined on his couch, gazing at the twinkling Christmas lights he’d duct-taped to the ceiling last year. He’d just finished a hefty snack and was letting his mind drift as he took a slow pull from his pipe. He swore he could feel gravity loosening its grip, and before he knew it, he was floating out of his body and straight into the stars.

“Woah…” Dudley marveled, looking down at Earth, which was rapidly shrinking as he drifted up. “Guess that was some strong stuff.”

As he floated on, he felt the softest tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw a greenish-pink alien with five eyes and a mustache that somehow looked perfectly groomed.

"Hey there, fellow space cadet!” the alien said, waving a little flag that read, “Welcome to Mars!”

Dudley tried to speak, but all that came out was, “Uh, hey?” Still, he followed the friendly creature, who introduced himself as Zorp, and soon they were gliding toward the big red planet like they were on some kind of invisible space slide.

When they landed, Dudley was stunned. Mars was nothing like he'd imagined. Instead of red deserts, there were sprawling gardens full of glowing plants, tiny floating orbs zipping around like happy fireflies, and vending machines that handed out hot pizzas, no coins needed.

Zorp handed Dudley a piece of Mars-grown pizza. “It’s pepperoni… unless you prefer it to taste like mushroom?” #DudleyBud

“Pepperoni’s cool,” Dudley nodded, although it tasted a bit more like blueberry cheesecake.

Zorp’s five eyes sparkled, and he gave Dudley a pair of rainbow-tinted sunglasses. “It’s about to get bright, my friend!”

Suddenly, the whole Martian sky lit up with swirling colors and shapes—a massive cosmic light show just for Dudley. Planets and stars swirled in a dazzling dance, and Martian birds (which looked suspiciously like llamas with wings) flew by, squawking the melody to Space Oddity by David Bowie.

“Man, I could live here,” Dudley sighed, lying back on a marshmallow-like rock.

Zorp grinned. “All the cool dudes do, man.”

Just as Dudley was about to drift into his deepest space dream yet, he heard his cat, Whiskers, purring right next to him. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and there was his old couch, his snack wrappers, and a very disgruntled Whiskers staring at him as if to say, You forgot my dinner, pal.

Dudley rubbed his eyes, chuckling softly. “Maybe one day, Zorp. Maybe one day.”