Calling Them In (excerpt)

 
 Published in "Messages from Hidden Lake. Vol. 8" Alamosa Public Library Literary & Art Collection, Dec. 2016

     “Honey...?”

     “I gotta tell you something.” He rocked forward, standing to accentuate the message. “something happened last night while you guys were sleeping.”

     “What?”

     “There was a bright light right outside the window, there by the bed - it woke me up. I couldn't see anything out the window but light, because the source was over the house. So I went out on the deck to look. There was a brilliant white ball...” He stretched out his arms to indicate the size, “...and it was hovering right over the bedroom!”

     “Oh, my god! What did you do?”

     “Nothing! I was petrified. I could only stand there and watch it! Beams of light, four, I think, came out of it and one shone on me. It raised up a little, then shot straight up and disappeared! I came back inside with you guys and have been sitting here awake ever since. But it hasn't come back.”

     “Should we call someone?”

     “What would be the point? People see crazy stuff all the time. But I gotta say, I've never seen anything like this. It scared me silly.”

     “That explains why I had that weird feeling of being watched all last evening.”

     “Yeah. What if it comes back?”

     “What if it's after the baby?”

     “I'm staying awake tonight, or sleeping in the living room.”

     “Good. I probably won't sleep either. I want to talk to someone though. I'll ask the neighbors if they saw anything.”

     “That'd be alright. You don't have to go into detail.”

     “What time did it happen?”

     “Between two and three a.m., I think.”

     “No one up then, but it won't hurt to ask around. I'm gonna call Mama, too. She'll have an idea.”

     Crazy as my Mama is, she always seemed to know what was happening, especially if it was in a galaxy far far away. The morning air was clear and clean and typical. I felt good. The uneasiness had vanished like a nightmare in the sunlight. Only excitement remained. I checked with the neighbors; everyone had been asleep; no reports of strange lights. So we decided to stow the story away to be retold around a campfire. Then we called Mama on speaker phone.

     “So Krishna, you didn't get the rifle and shoot it down?” she asked. That, of course, would have been her first instinct.

     “Hell, no, Mom. You don't go and attack something like that! What if it returned fire?” Funny, you'd think with all his video game practice he'd have taken the gun outside with him. I'm glad my husband can keep his head.

     “I guess you're right, son. Well, there is someone you should tell. I'm sure they'd like to know. The SETI conference is in your town all week. You didn't know?”

     “No, Mama,” I sighed. “I don't pay attention to all the weirdos who come through here.”

      Mama would have known, of course. She was up on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. “There must be intelligent life somewhere,” she'd say, “cause there ain't none on this planet.”