Night Lights Book One Chapter Three

1/5/02

An hour later, after the breakfast dishes had been cleared away and the kitchen cleaned up, Jim and Emma started for the hill. The day was very pleasant for late October and both were silent as they started on their way. Each had their own thoughts about the events of the night before. Emma was seriously worried about her husband and his insistence that the newscast was wrong. Jim was still trying to decide if he had imagined the whole thing. Both felt that visiting the site would help to straighten out the confusion.

Jim reached for Emma’s hand after a few minutes. They walked with a relaxed, easy stride. Jim smiled slightly when Emma squeezed his hand reassuringly. As the hill became a little steeper, Jim took Emma’s arm for support. While both of them were quite healthy for their ages, neither took such long walks that included steep inclines.

From the top of the hill, they could see much activity below. After a brief pause to rest, they started down toward the “sinkhole.” Without the smoke and the darkness of the night before, the hole appeared much larger than Jim remembered. It was a gaping wound in the Earth’s soul. Jim shook his head at the thought.

A few people passed them, going in the opposite direction. They exchanged greetings. As the day grew warmer, the silence grew heavier between the couple. They were almost to the police tape when Jim finally spoke, “Something happened here last night, Em.”

“Yes, Jim, I know,” said Emma.

“No, Em, I mean something happened to me, here.”

Emma looked at Jim searchingly, “What, Jim? Are you all right?”

“That’s just it. I’ve never felt better. Lately, I’ve been feeling my age. After last night, I feel young again. I feel as if there is nothing I cannot do, nothing I do not understand. Does that make any sense?”

Emma nodded, “Sure it does. I get moments like that. They don’t last.”

Jim smiled, “Well this moment is already several hours old. Would you look at the size of that hole?”

“It is huge. That poor man’s yard is completely gone.” Then, after a heavy pause Emma asked, “So what happened here? What happened to you?”

Jim hesitated and said, “I don’t know . . . I was catnapping in my rocker. When I woke up, the sky was beautiful. It was a perfect night. Then . . . this star, or a light, was going all over the sky. I could not take my eyes off it! After a couple of minutes, it fell out of the sky. All I knew was that I had to find it. I did not have a choice. Something had control of me. I came to this spot . . . I can’t explain it.”

“What happened when you got here?”

“It was weird, Emma. I was the only one here. Others were coming ‘cause I could hear sirens. Smoke was coming out of the hole, then light. At first it was blinding. Then, I could see so clearly. There was a craft in there, Emma. People were on top of it. Not people like you and me, but still, living beings.”

“Were they hurt, Jim?” Emma asked.

“No, not at all,” said Jim. “At least, I don’t think so. I saw six of them. The smallest one spoke to me.”

“What did he say?” asked Emma.

“Oh, he didn’t actually ‘say’ anything. It was like I knew what he was thinking and he knew what I was thinking. We were, like, in each other’s heads! There were no actual words, but feelings. I knew I had nothing to fear from him.”

“And no one else saw any of this?” Emma was skeptical.

Jim shook his head, “No. By the time the emergency crews got here, the light was gone and so were they. All I know is that the feelings I had at the time are still there. The hole was as you see it now . . . empty.”

“Shouldn’t you tell someone about this Jim?” Emma was still a bit skeptical, but she knew her husband was not prone to flights of fancy.

“No, hon., I don’t think so. Even you don’t really believe me.”

Emma hugged her husband and said, “Oh, but I do, Jim, I do.”