Conspiracy theorists believe first contact happened in the middle of the New Mexico desert. After a night drive across western Kansas, I've come to the conclusion they should consider adding a new set of coordinates to their list.
The sun set as we crossed the Colorado border into Kansas. Aside from a faded welcome sign, it was an unmemorable event. Exactly as it should be...flat fields of wheat and other crops with little else to break up the monotony. That is, except for a few faint red lights far in the distance. An approaching airport, I thought. I went back to staring up at the night sky and marveling at just how many stars one could see with no city light pollution.
"Have you noticed those red lights? What do you think they are?"
My father's questions pulled my eyes off the sky and to the horizon. The red dots had multiplied, were quite vibrant and blinking evenly. Clearly not an airport.
"A refinery maybe?"
"I have no idea. I don't think there are refineries this large in Kansas. A massive grainery, perhaps?"
"That would be a lot of grain."
The first one hit without warning. Tink, tink, tink. A bright glowing green smear appeared on the windshield alongside the normal collection of dead bugs. Then the next one hit and then yet another. I stared at it....where on earth do the bugs glow green when you hit them? Dark shapes haloed the the red lights as we got closer, but it was impossible to define clear figures.
A few more minutes of discussion passed into silent contemplation with no firm conclusion. Wasn't this the sort of thing you saw in sci-fi movies? People driving along dark and mostly deserted roads late at night before the aggressive version of ET arrived. The NPR station petering out a few exits before. I admit neither of us really fit the stereotypical lead characters, but I was beginning to wonder if the Hollywood screenwriters were misinformed. And whether my project was going to take a decidedly different direction.
Just as I went to pull my phone out for a little UFO research. we passed the first one. We were too late. The aliens were gone, but not without leaving behind a decidedly terrestrial souvenir: a wind farm of active turbines with red lights to comply with the FAA's height restrictions. And the glowing green smears? The bioluminescent entrails of a lightning bug.
No comments:
Post a Comment