The four groups of people
| Bloogans
Bloogans are slender and the tallest in height of the four species. They have "longish" narrow faces and thin, straight noses. Their eyes are perfectly round, perhaps a half-size too small, and their eyebrows are arched with "worry furrows" on their foreheads. Most have slightly pointed ears. The light-blue-skinned Bloogans are blessed with dark blue hair, which grows straight up, sometimes giving them the appearance of a person who has been frightened half out of his wits. Many women apply large amounts of greasy cremes and ointments to their hair so it will lie down, but most people do not consider this much of an improvement. Although their slender bodies are not unattractive, they consider “nakedness” immoral and it seems that nakedness means everything but head and hands. This means frequent conflict with Garbonians. (Bloogan children are forbidden to have any contact with Garbonian kids, lest they be corrupted by “immorality.”) It also means unmerciful teasing from the other three races who consider them to be prudish. Bloogans have a conservative temperament, and tend to be intellectually careful and nervous about anything new or unusual. They are very fair and honest in their dealings with others, so much so in fact, that other people sometimes take advantage of their generosity, and this never fails to disappoint them. They rarely show real anger, however, and would never consider trying to “get even.” They do seem to worry excessively about the morality of everyone, including themselves, and as a result, do not seem to enjoy life very much. Children are forbidden to associate with the children of races who are “immoral” about keeping their bodies covered, or who do not “behave themselves properly.” Bloogans are found primarily in professions related to serving people: teachers, social workers, government workers, medicine, and dentistry. They worry a great deal that the other three races do not really understand important social problems or the necessity for collective efforts to help solve them. The other three races, on the other hand, consider all problems relating to these professions to be the direct result of the predominance of “blue-skinned” people in these fields. Like Garbonians, Bloogans also take physical fitness very seriously. They are very much "into" aerobic exercises, but are not very enthusiastic about exercises with weights. They are careful eaters, especially preferring high fiber diets with lots of fresh fruit to enhance regularity.
They would never dream of sunbathing, and the idea of appearing topless on a beach would cause a woman to faint with embarrassment. Men would blush deep blue at the thought of such a thing.
For formal attire they dress almost the same, substituting a dark blue silk for the denim. Both sexes wear pointed toed, wing-tip shoes, both with flat heels. They never wear jewelry of any kind, except men often wear on their left breast small golden replicas of the merit badges they earned as a youth in the Boy Scouts. Bloogans normally carry a black umbrella with mace in the handle, even when the sun is shining.
Bloogans rarely "go out" but, when they do, they dine at inexpensive smorgasbord-type restaurants, followed by attendance at a "serious" lecture or a musical performance, featuring a thin woman playing Bach-like music on a flute. Frequently, husbands sleep through these performances, which leaves their wives feeling very disappointed with them and the men feeling extremely guilty.
Bloogan social habits are much more restrained than the other species. At home, they enjoy quiet evenings with other Bloogans, preferably when everyone brings a hot dish, where they earnestly discuss serious social problems and the "decline in modern morals," mostly imagined. Such nervous activity brings out the social conscience of their race and never fails to leave everyone feeling renewed, restored, and refreshed.
Bloogan rareloy drink wine or alcoholic spirits, but they do enjoy strong tea that sometimes over-stimulates them into hyperactive and rather unpredictable behavior. During these “frenzies,” they have been known to organize watermelon-seed spitting contests. Frequently, they miss the target bucket, probably not by accident, and spit the seeds on a bystander. They always find this very amusing at the time, but are terribly embarrassed the next day.
Bloogan boys are given dignified names like Mandred, Birsten, Gadle, and Flan. Girl's names always end in "a," such as Darla, Farla, Flenna, and Stella | ||||||||
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