Story of the Week

The title of this week’s story is

Blue Light

By Mike Crompton

wordpress.com

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“911, what is your emergency? the bored dispatcher asked as he had a million times before.  “Calm down madam,” he said, “You think we are being attacked by aliens?”

Then added, “You saw their flying saucers, all lit up in blue, flying off from the edge of the woods.  No ma’am I don’t think you are crazy, I’ll send out the police to investigate.”

It’s going to be a busy night he thought to himself.

“911 what is your emergency? You saw little alien men running around at the edge of the woods sir? This was the second night in a row you say!  No sir I don’t think you are crazy, we’ll send out the police to investigate.”

The crazies are out in force tonight he thought, hoping he hadn’t said it out loud.

“911 what is your emergency? Yes sir, I heard you say an alien force was milling around in the woods and then they took off in bright blue U.F.Os.”

Oh dear he thought.

“No, I don’t think you are imagining it, if you say you saw them, we will dispatch the police to investigate.”

Oh my heavens, not again he mused.

“911 what is your emergency? Oh, it’s you, Bert, what can I do for our favourite cop? You saw some unusual activity on the far side of the woods. As you approached to investigate a bunch of little men quickly left in what seemed like a blue craft of some kind. When you arrived there was evidence of trampling in a wide area and small circular burn marks in several places.

“Alright, I will make a record of it and also note that tomorrow night you and a group of other police plus a contingent from the army will investigate. I must also tell you that we have had several calls about alien activity in the woods for a couple of nights. I must confess I thought they were from crazies. It seems like there is something to it. Now it seems very scary!”

The newspaper headlines the next day screamed ‘Town under attack from hostile aliens. Arm yourselves and stay in your homes behind locked doors. The authorities say everything is under control.’

At dusk the next night the armed group of police and military men met on the edge of the woods. The air was electric with anticipation plus a feeling of fear that none of the men wanted to admit to.  The leader of the group spoke in a voice barely above a whisper advising the men not to fire on anything or anyone unless they felt in danger of their lives.

“If you do, don’t fire unless ‘you can see the whites of their eyes’ to paraphrase an old movie line.  We don’t know what these aliens want or if they are friendly or hostile. We also don’t know what weapons they have and how dangerous they are. Keep an eye out for any movement or any activity from them. We know they are fairly small beings and may be difficult to see at first.”

It wasn’t long before they saw a strange blue light shining through the trees, hovering close to the ground. Almost immediately a dozen or so small aliens gathered around the light. There was a flurry of activity. It was too much for one of the scared military men to bear. He yelled very loudly and started to rush forward.

“Stop right there!”  The commander of the force shouted. “You are putting the whole mission in danger”.

It was too late. The aliens looked around and in something of a panic they seemed to disappear in several spacecraft, each with an eerie blue glow rising into the night sky. Then all was quiet.

“Alright, load your weapons and follow me to the other side of the woods. Be prepared to defend yourselves if the need arises. Take it slowly and spread out so you are not a large target all bunched up together.”

When they got to the area there were signs of a lot of activity. Hiding under a bush was one of the ‘aliens’. His name was Billy Atkinson and he was the 8-year-old son of the Atkinson family. He had with him several large blue garbage bags and light metal frames to hold them open, a pocket full of candles, and a barbeque lighter. “We didn’t mean any harm” he blubbered. “We just wanted to send our garbage bags way up into the night sky by lighting a candle mounted on the metal frame. It worked really well and they flew way up until the candles burnt out. Please say we aren’t going to jail. All my friends will be really angry at me for getting caught”.

Putting on his sternest voice and trying not to laugh the commander said,

“Well Billy, you and your friends have put a real scare into the town. I guess we can forgive you this time but see it doesn’t happen again. If it does it’s off to jail for a long, long time for you and your friends. Now get off home with you before I change my mind!”

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