- The next morning, Elliott's in bed with a thermometer in his mouth. Mom confirms that he has a fever. When she leaves, Elliott confirms our suspicion that he's faking sick because he just discovered an alien. Meanwhile, Michael's outside clumsily trying to back the car down their treacherous driveway. Jeff Gordon he is not.
- Mom comes back and wanders into Elliott's enormous closet. Elliott's super-worried. Whatever could he be hiding in there? Turns out Mom just wanted an extra blanket for her sick kid before she leaves for work, and Elliott's relieved.
- With the coast clear, Elliott leads E.T. out of the closet. He excitedly shows E.T. several items in his room—Coke, toys, fish, a peanut bank, Pez—and explains what they are.
- When E.T. tries to eat a toy car, Elliott decides they need a snack. He tells E.T. to stay and assures him, "I'll be right here, okay? I'll be right here." When he opens the door, Harvey comes in and scares the peanut butter out of E.T. before Elliott tugs the dog out of the room.
- Elliott yanks items from the fridge that he thinks E.T. will like. Meanwhile, E.T. checks out Elliott's stuff. When E.T. pops open an umbrella, it frightens him. At the same time, Elliott experiences a similar, albeit unexplained, scare in the kitchen.
- School's out! Michael comes bounding into Elliott's room, eager to tell him about some kid that beat the high score on Asteroids. Elliott has, um, bigger news.
- Elliott makes Michael promise not to be a butthead, and when Michael acquiesces, he shows him E.T. Michael is gob-smacked.
- Just then, Gertie comes tearing into the room and almost literally runs into E.T. She screams. E.T. screams. Elliott screams for her to be quiet. Michael screams because everybody else is screaming.
- And then Mom comes home. When it rains, it pours.
- Elliott ushers Michael, Gertie, and E.T. back into the closet just before Mom enters the room. He makes small talk, while Michael covers Gertie's mouth. Mom finally leaves. Elliott goes back in the closet and finds Michael and Gertie staring at E.T. in disbelief. He assures Gertie that E.T. won't hurt her. She wants to know if he's a boy or a girl and if he was wearing any clothes. Again, girl's got priorities.
- Elliott swears his brother and sister to secrecy re: the whole harboring an alien thing. So, at 35 minutes into the film, the kids all know about E.T.
- Back on the hill overlooking suburbia, Keys and his guys are taking photos and carrying their probably-not-metal-detectors.