Saturday, September 22, 2012

Passing By

“Yep.  It was a spaceship.  no doubt.  A spaceship from space,” the old man rocked back in his chair.  “A flying saucer.  Looked just like one of them pictures in one of them Amazing Stories books I seen when I was a kid.”

“Henry, you are one crazy son of a bitch and you know it,” Lloyd said from his rocking chair.  “Ain’t no spaceman gonna come around here.  He’s got all of space to poke around in, why would he come here.  Might go to Knoxville or some other big city, I guess, but not here.”

“I can’t say.  I can’t get into the head of a Martian.  Ain’t never met one.  Just saw his spaceship that one time.”

The two old men rocked silently for a while after that.  The porch along the front of Alice’s store was their favorite place to spend a hot day, and they had plenty of time.  Younger people - mostly women with young children - walk past them into and out of the store.  One little boy, Todd Williams, the three and a half year old son of Ryan and Amy Williams, gripped his mother’s leg especially tightly when they passed the two old men.  Their gray, stubley beards, battered blue jeans, old flannel shirts and hairy arms with wrinkled hands gripping the arms of the rocking chairs were just too much for the boy.  When he grabbed his mother’s leg she stumbled and nearly fell down the steps onto the dirt and gravel parking lot.  “Toddy, you let go now,” she said.

“Lloyd?” Henry said.

“Yeah?”

“I wonder what them space women are like?  You think they got some long legs?”

Lloyd chuckled.  “Oh, yeah.  I bet they do.  Probably two or three sets of ‘em too.  Once they got a grip on ya, they wouldn’t let you go ‘til they was done.”

“That’d be alright with me,” Henry said.

“Shit.  You’d wake up dead after that.”

“But what a way to go.”  They both began laughing at that.

A police cruiser pulled into the lot.  An office jumped out and ran up the stairs.  He drew his gun as he rushed into the store.

“Looks like Dave’s run outta donuts again,” Lloyd said.

“That boy needs to eat a apple once in awhile,”  said Henry.

The loud bang of a gunshot roared from within the store behind them.  Then came several short shrieks in rapid succession.  That was followed by a female voice.  “Damnit, Dave, what the hell are you doing?”

“Did I tell you,” Lloyd said, “I went with Dave’s grandmother a few times?  Long time ago.”

“Helen or Flora?” Henry asked.

“Helen.”

“Good looker in her day, wasn’t she?”

“Hell, yes, she was.  More’n a little wild too, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah.”  Henry said.  “I remember.”

“What the hell you mean, ‘you remember’?” Lloyd said turning toward Henry.

Henry stared back at him smiling.  “Yeah, I remember pretty darn well.”

“Damn,” Lloyd said leaning back in his rocking chair.  “And here I thought-”

The door slammed open and Dave walked out trailed closely by a large, middle-aged woman, Alice Mason, who had him by the arm.  “Dave, I know they give you that gun, but that don’t mean you can come into my store shooting.  What the hell were you thinking?”

“We got a call-” Dave stammered.


“You got a call?  You got a call?  Was it from me?  No.”  Alice, loosened her grip and looked across the parking lot and past the empty field across the street to the rear of a dirty white house.  “Probably that damned Marty Jenkins.  Why don’t you go over and arrest that boy.  He don’t ever go to school.  Sits around smoking dope all day.”

“Alice, I’m sorry.  I’ll pay-”

“Oh, I know you will,” Alice said.  “But not now.  You go on before I lose my temper and take you out behind the shed.”

“Okay.  Okay.  I’ll go,” Dave said stepping down to the parking lot.  “But, Alice, do you think the sheriff has to-”

“Boy if you think you can keep a thing like this a secret from old Will in this town, you need more help than I thought.”  Alice said, staring down at him with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah, I guess you’re-” Dave started.

“Go, boy, make sure he hears it from you first.  That’s my advice if you got sense enough to listen to it.”  Alice said, turning back toward the store.  She stepped through the door and began speaking more softly trying to calm the shoppers still inside.  Dave returned to his cruiser and drove away.

“You really go with Helen too?” Lloyd asked?

“Ha,” Henry laughed.  “Lloyd, now I never said we actually went anyplace, did I?”  He began laughing harder.  “Well, maybe to the barn.”  With that he burst out and Lloyd looked away with an angry glare.

Once again the men rocked in silence.  This time for several minutes.

Finally Lloyd spoke.  He stopped rocking as he leaned forward in his chair.  His eyes suddenly focused on the field across the road from the store.  Henry sat back in his chair, eyes closed, slowly rocking.  “Henry, you say them flying saucers were gray-like, did’n’cha?”

“Yeah.”

“And it had lights all around it?”

“Yeah,” Henry repeated.  His eyes remained closed.

“And you say the grass and the trees just kinda...move away from it?  Like they was pushed by the wind?”  Lloyd’s voice had taken a curious tone.  He continued leaning forward in his chair and staring.   “Did it have some long, skinny legs that popped out of it when it landed?”

“Hell, Lloyd, I don’t know.  I didn’t see the damn thing land.”  Henry said.

Lloyd ignored him.  “Did it have a sorta door that slid open with a long ramp comin’ out of it?”

“What the hell you talking about, Lloyd.  The damn thing was flying around in the sky.  I didn’t see no door or nothin’.”

“You might wanna open your eyes, then.”  Lloyd said.

The ship completely blocked the old men’s view of the Jenkin’s house.  It’s polished silver hull reflected the cloud-free brightness of the summer sky.  It’s door was open and a long black ramp ran out from it, coming to rest at the far edge of the road.  As Henry opened his eyes, the first creature stepped out onto the ramp.  It was followed quickly by another and one more after that.  The three aliens paused briefly at the base of the ramp before moving across the street and toward the two old men.