The Story Of Zoltz

The Story Of Zoltz

The story of Zoltz as presented to a Red Studio / MoMa character sketch contest.
This drawing and story won honorable mention by Laura, age 17, from California.

Dashing, brilliant, exotic and green Zoltz travels around the world on a daily basis. In fact, it's his day job-or should I say night- Zoltz is a little green being no larger than an average sized orange. He's from a dense electrical planet called Ohmz. Zoltz is more adventurous than most of his people, so when the idea of exploring other galaxies comes up, so does Zoltz. He boards his craft and takes off for the closest galaxy to his home; the Milky Way. The exploration mission is intended for pure research; Zoltz explores, gathers information and goes back home. The one thing his people didn't count on is Zoltz discovering a new home... He first visits the two planets closest to the sun, Mars and Venus. It's not very exciting-just really hot and dry. Figuring the third time's the charm, he makes his way to Earth. He breaks through the Earth's hemisphere while a massive lightning storm is over looming over North America. Zoltz's craft smoothly sails on a lightning bolt, approaching closer and closer to Earth until-BAM! It strikes a power line. Zoltz's craft is fried but he manages to travel through the telephone pole?s power line. Zoltz discovers he can stop at different grounded angular structures (which he later discovers are what humans call buildings) by popping out of the electrical sockets. One day, when Zoltz pops out of the socket in a home he notices a young child tossing and turning in her bed. He pokes out of the socket a little further to see what's wrong (he usually sees humans just lying in bed) without realizing the soothing yellow aura he emits. The child soon enters a peaceful sleep so Zoltz goes back into the socket and continues riding the current. After several more houses, and a glimpse of himself in one of the children's bedroom mirrors, Zoltz realizes that his glow provides a comfort for children with nightmares. Every night, Zoltz travels through electrical wires visiting houses with children who have nightmares and soothes them with his aura, like a nightlight.