~Slayer
At last, there
was the site. They pulled in and started unloading gear. The site selected was
in the middle of a pine tree clearing. The site had two tables set up in a
loose L-shape, split by a barbecue grill set on a pedestal. Fifty yards to
their front, through a gap in the trees, they could see a small creek lazily
meandering through the park. They could
faintly hear the soothing sound of running water. "This is a nice site
Grandpa," Thomas gave him an approving smile.
"I
like it too Thomas." Grandpa was stacking the last few pieces of wood he
brought for a fire later that evening. "Is there anything left in the
car?"
"Nope,"
Thomas called from the car. "That looks like all of it." They spent
the rest of the morning organizing and getting ready for the rest of the family
to arrive. They finished early, which left some time for the two to explore a
little ways down the creek. Thomas was amazed by the clear water, allowing him
to see salamander and small fish going about their business in the creek.
Before long, the morning cool had burned off giving way to late-spring warmth
and soon Thomas heard cars making their way up the short dirt road that
accessed the site.
Thomas’ mom, Grandma, Ally, and
Molly were in one car. The other held Aunt Alice, Uncle Sean, and Dad along
with the rest of the food. Once all were reunited, the kids moved toward the
creek to start exploring. “Stay in sight of the picnic area,” Thomas' mom
yelled in a serious tone. Aunt Alice seconded the comment and with that, the
brood slipped into their own kids' world.
They walked up and down the creek.
“Look at these!” Ally squealed, pointing to a group of salamander. She splashed
in the water and they darted off in all directions to her amusement.
“I know! There’s a bunch of stuff in
here,” Thomas replied. “Grandpa and me looked around for a while before you all
got here.” He jumped over the creek where it narrowed going into a slight
corner. “Woo Hoo! Made it!”
“Grandpa and I,” Ally corrected. She was two years older than Thomas was and
did much better in school. She enjoyed showcasing her intellect on occasion.
Ralph let out a snort and tried to
jump the creek too, but at a wider point, and he did not make it. He shorted
the landing by about eight inches and fell backwards with a splash. “Dang it! I
missed!” He started giggling, which got everyone giggling.
Before
it was all said and done, the four of them were wet over a good percentage of
their bodies. It was cold at first, but they dried off quickly in the late
spring warmth. By the time they were dry, they had already moved on to a new
activity. They had paired up for war: Thomas and Ralph versus Ally and Molly.
The boys' and the girls' squad each established a base in the tree cover on
opposite sides of the picnic site. The boys were the first to attack. "I
can see them between those two trees," Ralph pointed and whispered from a
crouch position.
Thomas
nodded and moved silently toward the girls’ position using trees as cover.
"I will go in from the left and you go from the front to distract
them."
"Okay."
They were both low to the ground and whispering their plan. They maneuvered toward
the girls’ position until they were about 50 meters away, then all hell broke
loose. On signal, the boys separated and Ralph ran up the middle screaming like
a banshee. Thomas kept a bit more quiet and came in from the side. He didn't
let out his blood curdling scream until he was right on top of the girls' HQ.
"No
fair!" Ally cried foul. "We weren't ready yet. You said we had half
an hour to prep our base." She scowled at Thomas.
"It
has been half an hour." Thomas wondered why girls always took so long to
'prepare' things.
"No
it hasn't," Molly replied, entering the fray.
Ralph
tried to keep the peace, "Okay, we’ll reset and look at our watches this
time. It's 3:30 right now so the next attack can't start until 4:00."
The
attacks went off according to the new schedule published by Ralph and they
lasted until Grandpa rang the dinner bell at 6:00. The kids had eaten
sandwiches with dirty hands while they were on the run at around noon, so they
were famished. They agreed to a peace treaty so they could eat the hamburgers
and hot dogs Grandpa had grilled. Thomas was so busy playing that he hadn't
noticed the smell of the barbecue, but was acutely aware of it now, which got
his mouth watering. They washed up, and sat down for a delicious picnic dinner.
After
dinner, Grandpa built a fire and everyone pulled up a seat to bask in its
warmth while digesting the big meal. All the kids were there too, full and
tired from the day of nonstop play. Thomas sat and looked at every one's faces
dancing in the glow of the fire. He contemplated how good it was to be out of
school, and in the company of those who accepted him for who he was.
The
gallons of soda worked their magic on Thomas and he got up to heed the call of
nature. "I'll be right back," he told Mom and started toward the edge
of the picnic site for some privacy. Thomas looked back at the fire from a
cluster of pines and could hardly see the group. "This'll do," he
said quietly to himself, and took care of business. When he finished, he looked
up at the stars and pondered the view, which was much better than viewing the
night sky from the city. That was when he saw it.
He
watched as the object approached from the far horizon, moving silently toward
him in the night sky. It was a large, maybe three or four football fields
across, dark brown disc that was slowly rotating as it executed its trajectory
toward Thomas. The craft was not overtly illuminated, but had an ambient glow
around its edge as if it was lit up on its top, producing a soft ring of light
around it’s circumference. The object was almost overhead and Thomas could not
believe what he was seeing. It steadily continued on its flight path, which was
a large arc that went directly overhead, never veering from course or altering
speed. Thomas watched, amazed by its size and the lack of sound from the craft
as it flew. He searched his vast eight-year old data bank to try and identify
the craft but came up with nothing. The object did not scare him though,
rather, he was curious as to what it was, and was taken aback by its beauty as
it grew smaller and was eventually swallowed by the darkness of the night sky
on the opposite horizon.
Thomas
stood there for a few moments, gathering his thoughts, before he ran back to
the group by the fire. "Did you see that?!" Thomas asked excitedly.
No one by the fire looked very excited. "Did you see that thing?" he was quickly getting
agitated.
"What
thing tard?" Ally took the opportunity to attack.
"THE
THING IN THE SKY!!!"
Mom
chimed in, "What are you talking about honey?"
"The
giant thing that just flew overhead," Thomas was beginning to suspect
they, in fact, had not seen it. "It was a big, brownish, flying...thing!"
Dad
picked up the ball. "Calm down Thomas. Tell us what you saw," he used
his 'you'd better relax' voice.
"A
thing," Thomas was still keyed
up. "It flew across the sky. It was big. None of you saw it?"
Thomas
was known as somewhat of a joker and, to the rest of the family, this seemed
like just the sort of story he could cook up as a gag. "None of us saw it
tard," Ally continued the attack on her brother. "Because there was
nothing to see." He and Ally got along most of the time, but each had
their own mean streak, which reared its ugly head occasionally.
Thomas
ignored her. "Ralph?" he pleaded, "You honestly didn't see
it?"
"I
don't know what you are talking about," Ralph was trying to stay out of
the line of fire. "I thought you just went over there to pee."
"I
did!" Thomas was yelling again. "The thing flew overhead after I was done. It went from there to there,"
he pointed and made a long arc with his arm. "Come on! I'll show you where
I was standing!" He started walking back toward the trees but no one
followed.
Mom
tried to calm him down, "I'm sure you saw a plane or something," she
patronized, "but I don't think anyone else saw it."
Thomas
took a step back, trying to process. It had seemed like a big deal to him and
he hadn't the foggiest idea how they could have missed it. Maybe the light from
the fire drowned it out, after all, it wasn't very bright and it didn't make a
sound. Maybe they were engrossed in their own conversations and just did not
notice. It did happen though, of this
Thomas was sure. He throttled back the emotion, "I did see something."
Ally
was relentless, "Sure you did tard. We believe you." She pointed
toward her head and made a circular motion with her finger.
"Shut
up Ally!" Thomas knew he wasn't going to win this battle but he wasn't
about to simply surrender.
"That's
enough! Both of you!" Dad put his foot down. "I think you are both tired
and it is time to start packing up." He got up to get things ready to go
and the rest of the family followed suit.
Thomas
brooded while he helped and eventually they were all ready to go home. He took
another look skyward in hopes of seeing the craft again to prove his sanity. No
such luck though, and he got in the car to head for Grandma and Grandpa's
house. Another family picnic down, and this was one for the books, he thought
during the drive. He knew what he had
seen, he just could not prove it.
The
experience faded into the background the following week as he started enjoying his
summer freedom. He played with his sister and cousins until Uncle Sean’s family
left. Back at home, Abraham was visiting his cousins for the week so Thomas was
left to his own devices. On the next Saturday, one week after the sighting, Thomas
was playing quietly in his room while reflecting on what he witnessed in the
Santa Fe' Forest. Thomas thought that maybe he was the only one given that
fantastic, sublime gift. None of his family members had seen the object and
they were at the picnic. As such, no one from school could have seen it either,
especially Ryan or Victor. He thought of what Grandpa had told him during their
drive into the forest, which brought a smile to Thomas' face because the
experience of sighting the extraordinary craft certainly made him unique and
special too.
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