The compliment made Josh blush but thankfully it was too dark for anyone to notice. While the men ate Josh got to his feet and began to gather driftwood from the beach. “I’ll make a fire to dry your clothes,” he told them. “I’m not sure those are the kind of things you can put into a drier,” he added nodding toward the gold, silver, and iridescent green costumes dancing in the breeze near by.

It was only after Josh had carefully stacked the tinder into a little teepee that he realized that he didn’t have any matches to start the fire with. He was wondering if he could get a spark from rubbing two sticks together when Hat noticed his predicament. Hat slipped his fingers deftly into a hidden compartment in his hatband and with a flick of his wrist sprinkled the wood shavings and twigs with red powder. Instantly the wood blazed up. Josh jumped back in amazement. “Wow!” he exclaimed. Josh quickly laid the driftwood on the fire log cabin style. But all the time he was wondering what other surprises were in that hat!

Their hunger satisfied, the four friends sat around the campfire staring into the dancing flames. “I’ve been wondering,” Josh said after a time, “if you don’t mind my asking, with the whole universe out there to explore, why did you decide to come to Earth?”

The Three Magi looked at each other for a long moment and then Hat cleared his throat. “I think that we three are not the first to come. We have heard communications from your planet on many occasions in which what you call UFOs. Unidentified Flying Objects, have been sighted by your people. It is our understanding that your military are quite anxious to investigate such sightings.”

The hair on the back of Josh’s neck began to feel prickly. He rubbed it nervously. This was going to be even bigger than he had imagined! He could see the headlines now, “Georgia Boy Discovers Truth About UFOs.”

Hat continued, “We are astronomers, the most learned men of Mesouranema Galaxy, east of your Milky Way. Each of us has studied the heavens for many years."

“Yes, quite right,” said Theo thoughtfully.

“Indeed,” agreed Mel, nodding his head. “Many years.”

“We are from different planets, of course,” said Hat.

“Oh, my, yes,” said Theo, “quite different.”

“Indeed,” laughed Mel.

“But we are all alike in many ways,” said Hat.

“Quite right,” nodded Theo.

“Indeed,” said Mel. “Different but alike.”

“Just as we are different from you, young Joshua,” Hat said. “And yet, in some ways we are very much like you.”

Josh thought about that for a moment. It was true that even though the Magi were from outer space and were a little strange, they weren’t much different from a lot of tourists he had seen on the beach.