The True Meaning of Smekday

J.Lo is a Boov, an extraterrestrial species, and a supporting protagonist. A full-grown Boov like J.Lo is shorter than Tip at 11 years old. J.Lo has skin in shades of grey and blue and “tiny frog arms” (19). J.Lo’s history of the Boov reveals that they originated in the sea and slowly adapted the ability to breathe on land. The other Boov wants J.Lo because while working on an antennae farm, he accidentally sent a broadcast through space toward the Gorg, alerting them of the Boov’s location. His knowledge of the Gorg’s technology becomes vital at the novel’s climax, where he uses a teleporter he repaired to clone Pig and send her to all Gorg teleporters, causing their allergic reaction.

When they first meet, J.Lo and Tip clash because J.Lo is still ignorant about human feelings. For instance, because Lucy was his tutor, he calls her “Turtlebear” (81), thinking it is a general term of endearment rather than a special nickname. He doesn’t understand why it upsets Tip to hear him use it. He is insensitive to human perspectives through ignorance. J.Lo tells Tip about how the elite class of Boov society, the HighBoov, teach the rest of the Boov information that dehumanizes humanity. The HighBoov teach that humans are “animals […] nasty and backwards” (150). While this indoctrination by the HighBoov shows The Impact of Colonization from a Child’s Perspective, breaking free of these beliefs is J.Lo’s greatest character growth. He and Tip forge a bond of mutual understanding, informing the theme of The Nature of Cross-Cultural Understanding; they call each other “clever little human” and “clever little Boov” when they get out of a tight spot (144, 161). After J.Lo expresses his disagreement and thoughts that the Boov should not have come to Earth, Tip finally tells him to “[c]all me Tip” (150), what her friends call her rather than Gratuity. J.Lo has proven himself a trusted ally. His ideological change makes him a dynamic character. 

He and Tip begin to learn about each other’s cultures. He tries to teach her to “understand Boovish” and to “read and write” their bubble writing” (177). She tries to teach him to write English, and she teaches him what a family is. He eventually decides that Tip, Lucy, and Pig are his family, and he wants to stay with them rather than return with the Boov. His Boovish perspective on community gives him a distinct perspective on humans. When Tip and J.Lo get to Arizona, Tip sees how human communities have become even more divided, cordoning themselves off into nation-states based on race, religion, and other identity groups. When Tip says something about there being “no countries anymore,” J.Lo is thoughtful and says he is “not knowing if these countries were ever such a good idea in the first place” (243). J.Lo sees how his government has convinced his people to fight against other groups of people and sees countries as divisions between people. The fact that the human groups in Arizona immediately set up new countries and states within Arizona supports his perspective.

Lucy is Tip’s mom and a dynamic character who changes throughout the text. Before the Boov invasion, she is selected for abduction as a “tutor” to teach the Boov human language because she can speak both Italian and English. When she relates her initial story of the Boov abducting her and putting a mole on her, Tip reflects on her mom’s unreliability and impulsivity. Tip has had to both parent herself and fix her mother’s mistakes: She recounts throwing out “spoiled meat” Lucy buys at a discount and calling back a door-to-door salesman to get their money when she hears Lucy had “blown [their] savings on an eight-hundred-dollar vacuum” (37). As Lucy’s mole gets bigger and she notices Lucy chanting in her sleep, Tip sees another problem her mother has that Tip must solve.

When Lucy is abducted a second time, Tip thinks she’s dead until J.Lo tells her that bilingual people’s thoughts and speech were harvested so they could “tutor” Boov in human languages. J.Lo reveals the people were relocated to the Human Preserves. This revelation drives the plot of the novel as they embark on a road trip to find Lucy.

When Tip hears that a woman called “Lucy Tucci” is a community leader in Tucson, she initially doesn’t believe it is her mother, because her description seems so different from the irresponsible woman Tip remembers. While Adam Rex doesn’t offer insight into why Lucy’s personality changed after her abduction, she stepped up and became responsible for helping human communities affected by displacement and discord. While Lucy initially seems wary of J.Lo, she quickly accepts him when it becomes clear that J.Lo admires Tip’s bravery and helps keep her safe during their journey.

Mrs. Hoegaarden tells Tip that Lucy has “been a big help to everybody” and has “met everyone in the Airport District” (357). She has taken the time to meet people and try to understand their problems. This contrasts with Landry, with whom she works closely. Tip is dismayed to find that Lucy tells Landry much of what Tip confides in her, like how she is worried about the Gorg. For a while, Tip isn’t sure she can trust her mom. Lucy ultimately proves her trustworthiness when she tells the Gorg she is Tip, giving Tip the freedom to think of the plot to defeat the Gorg. Lucy’s kindness toward struggling people also helps Tip indirectly, as the residents of the casino where they live help get Tip and J.Lo to safety.

Daniel Landry is a minor antagonist. He is the leader of a human community near Tucson and is at the forefront of the movement to cooperate with the Gorg. Landry’s biggest character flaws are that he is materialistic, opportunistic, and power-hungry. When Tip first hears of Landry, he is dealing with the Gorg and is the leader of a community of people on a reservation. Tip questions why Indigenous people would “elec[t] a white guy” to lead a reservation, and she finds that “mostly white folks” have seized the area to live on and elected Landry (338). Landry has no qualifications to lead other than being “really rich,” which a government official named Mitch says makes him a “good leader. People spuriously associate Landry’s wealth with leadership qualities, which Landry enables.

When Tip meets him in person, she notices that he talks to her “like he was on TV,” and he looks “to see who’s looking at him” (360, 359). Landry tries to look like a powerful, smart, and competent leader. He shows off his books like they are “animal trophies. This shows how he thinks of his surroundings as indications of his intelligence and prowess.

This showboating convinces many people, but Tip discovers that Landry uses it to disguise his true intentions. He secretly cooperates with the Gorg to amass power. In J.Lo’s words, he “was just wanting to be leader. He wanted to be the king of Earth and call it Danland” (396). Landry doesn’t want to defend humans from the Gorg; he sees their invasion as an opportunity to amass more power and renown for himself. After Tip and her allies defeat the Gorg, Landry tells a fake story about him defeating the Gorg captain, which becomes the official history of the invasion. This ties Landry to The Complexity of Living Through and Recording Major Historical Events. Though Landry gets everything he wants, his fate is one of poetic justice. The fame and power he desires lead to him being hyper-critiqued and scrutinized after the invasion, which significantly deteriorates his quality of life. This leads to the only moral Tip identifies for her story: “what goes around comes around” (423).

Chief is a 93-year-old Diné man who lives in Roswell. He moved there in the early 1940s as part of the Army air base. In 1947, a Boov pod with the koobish animals inside hits a weather balloon, which ricochets off and lands in a water tower on Chief’s land. Initially, he tries to tell the government, but they think he has “[p]ost-combat fatigue” (326). When he decides he has “had it with the army” due to “a lot of other grievances” (326), he realizes he can’t take back his claims about discovering a spaceship, so he makes the ship seem fake and hides the koobish flock in the water tower. The Roswellians’ belief that Chief is a charlatan is purposefully manufactured by Chief to keep the ship safe. Only Tip instinctively knows Chief is putting on an act for the Roswellians. Eventually, the ship becomes a vital part of the plot as J.Lo uses its parts to repair Slushious and get them to Arizona.

Chief is the only Roswellian who knows J.Lo is a Boov and who helps him and Tip. While Vicki betrays Chief to the Gorg and puts Tip in danger, Chief defends Tip, telling the Gorg interrogating Tip to “[l]eave her be” (280). He is severely hurt by the Gorg for defending her. He shows up to help Tip in Flagstaff and then again in Tucson. While Tip is unsure if she can trust Lucy due to her closeness with Landry, Chief is the only adult Tip can confide in and plan with. Chief is gone during the climax of the novel because he rounds up old army friends and tribal members to fight back against the Gorg and Boov. Because Chief shouts at white Roswellians like Vicki and Kat, they call him “Chief Shouting Bear.” Though Chief points out that his real name is Frank José, the novel does not critique the stereotypical offensiveness of this name, and Tip continues to refer to him by this name throughout the novel.