Gratuity "Tip" Tucci Timeline and Summary

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• Assigned an essay for school about the "meaning of Smekday," Gratuity starts writing about her experiences.
• For her, it all started with a mole on her mom's neck, but more on that later. First, she tells us about Moving Day, when everyone was packing up their stuff and hitching a ride to Florida. It turns out the Boov aliens decided all Americans should live in one state while they take over the rest of the country.
• Gratuity is on her way down to Florida in her car with her pet cat named Pig, when she runs into a Boov named J.Lo. She's reluctant to take his help, but she's got a flat tire, so she agrees to give J.Lo a ride in exchange for fixing her car.
• And fix it, he does: Now the car floats and has a bunch of extra-special bells and whistles. The two start chatting and J.Lo explains that earth is renamed "Smekland" in honor of their captain. Wait, what?
• This is the first time Gratuity heard about Smekday, or Christmas, when the Boov landed on earth, so that's what it means to her. The end.
• Gratuity gets a C+ from her teacher, because she didn't explain enough; if she wants a higher grade, she can rewrite it for extra credit, so she does just that.
• She starts at the very beginning, when her mom woke up one morning with a mole on her neck and a wacky story to tell. She claimed aliens abducted her and put the mole on her. Gratuity rolls her eyes, but a couple nights later, she sees a spaceship in the sky, and her mom gets sucked up into it.
• Everyone starts freaking out, and before she knows it, earth is conquered by the Boov and it's Moving Day.
• Back in the car with J.Lo, Gratuity figures out that J.Lo knows her mom—but while she's glad her mom is still alive, she's angry that the Boov took her to teach them about earth. How dare they?
• They head down to Florida, only to learn when they get there that everyone is now in Arizona since the Boov changed their minds about where the people should go. Oh well.
• Before they can turn around, they stop at Happy Mouse Land where a group of youngsters are fighting off the Boov and standing their ground; they help Gratuity out by showing her where to escape.
• Gratuity also learns that J.Lo hasn't been exactly honest about his situation. He's on the run from the Boov because he accidentally alerted the Gorg (another group of aliens) to their whereabouts. Oops.
• Sure enough, the Gorg show up and start rounding up all the cats and fighting the Boov. J.Lo knows the Boov won't win, but Gratuity thinks there might be another way of saving earth from all aliens.
• The pair make a detour to Roswell, where they go to the UFO museum and hear about other times aliens have landed on earth. At first, they think it's a bunch of hogwash, but then they find some alien creatures called koobish and a teleclone device. So aliens did land on earth before this.
• Gratuity and J.Lo make their way to Arizona, where they find her mom and meet the political leader, Daniel Landry. He's striking a deal with the Gorg to save earth—or so he thinks.
• Even though Gratuity warns him against the plan, Daniel Landry goes along with it, because, well, he doesn't really trust an eleven year old to know what the aliens will do.
• Big mistake. Luckily, Gratuity figures out the Gorg are allergic to cats, so she duplicates her pet cat and puts cats all over the place.
• Eventually the Gorg give up and leave; they're sneezing so much they can't stand it. Meanwhile, the Boov ditch earth, too, but J.Lo stays behind.
• He's family to Gratuity now, and goes to live with her and her mom.