Well my story starts out simply enough. It was a fine spring Saturday afternoon and I was walking to the local grocery store because my car was in the shop. I was to pick up a half bushel of rutabagas for my mother, who was visiting me at the time. We live outside of town and the grocery store is on the outskirts of the town, so my walk went along a deserted two lane road. I went and got the rutabagas, but as soon as I stepped out of the store things started to get strange.
There was an ominous cloudfront low on the horizon and a breeze was picking up, blowing wisps of dry dust off the lonely road and into my eyes. Soon I was walking headlong into gusty wind, going as quick as I could home but the storm was approaching fast. Thunder growled low, and I began to see vicious stabs of lightning streaking across the dim sky. I stared at the anvil shaped thundercloud as I walked and was frightened to see flashes of a sickly shade of green blinking sporadically on its belly. I quickened my pace, fearing the supernatural. But the storm was blowing at me faster than I had thought and soon it was overhead and pelting cold raindrops on my head. I began to run, afraid that my rutabagas might get soaked. The green flashes intensified and I tripped in a pot hole, sending my precious tubers flying to the ground, where they scattered in the road. I shook myself, stunned by the fall, and rolled over to face the dark sky. What I then saw terrified me. The bleak clouds parted in a perfect circle directly above me and I could see bright blue sky through the hole. I gazed in astonishment and primal fear as something gray and round slowly flew into the hole and covered up the sky above. A low humming noise issued from it and then my conscious ended in a brilliant green flash.
I don’t know how long I was out, but I was awoken by the shrill screech of brakes. I opened my eyes and realized I was lying prone in the middle of the road. Someone ran out of the truck, someone who I will refer to as X, and questioned me frantically about my well-being. I didn’t pay attention, I was still too stunned make sense of much.
“Where are my rutabagas?” I suddenly blurted, they were nowhere to be seen. “Huh?” said X.
Indeed there was no sign of them anywhere. I scanned the area and saw not a one. I then realized that the bizarre storm disappeared as well. I looked agitatedly around again, while X was really started to get baffled. My eyes stopped at the hay field on the side of the road. I thought I caught a glimmer of glowing green in the midst of the parched yellow wheat.
Breaking into a manic run, I dashed into the field, leaving X completely dumbfounded. As I almost reached the source of the glow, a terrifically loud boom resounded across the landscape and my hair was blown back across my head by a sudden blast of wind. The same gray airship I saw before screamed across the sky and stopped above the hay field. There it hovered for a split second and then it shot across the sky and disappeared in the distance. I stood slack jawed for a long time. Finally I turned around and saw X with a camera in his hand.
“Did you get a picture of it?” I shouted.
“Yes” said X, too stunned to say anything eloquent. Though from that moment forth he will be known in the annals of history not only as X, but as Photographer X.
Then I looked down at the ground towards the green light. To my further amazement I realized that the light was coming from one of my rutabagas. My last rutabaga. I picked it up and held it high, for Photographer X to see. Unfortunately the UFO shot was the last picture on his film, and he could not record the spectacle of my glowing rutabaga. We had a long discussion that evening on how to handle our situation. We vowed secrecy until we could meet again the next night at his place.
We parted ways then and I went home to my mother, who ate up my fabricated story of why I was late and had no rutabagas. I, of course, didn’t show her my rutabaga, which had lost its eerie glow on the way home. She left the next day and I’m sure has thought nothing of it since.
The next day I picked up my car and took my mother to the airport. On the way back, I was to stop at Photographer X’s house where we would figure things out. As I drove up his street I saw the flashing lights of squad cars. Doubt creeped in. As I got closer I realized that his house was surrounded by policeman and a heavily armed SWAT team. I executed a perfect three point turn and headed out, afraid of consequences deeper than I originally thought of our witnessing the UFO. I sped home but as I drew near to my house, the rutabaga, which I had with me on the dashboard, began to glow again. I slowed down and turned my lights off. From afar I could make out a large black Cadillac parked in my drive. Then I saw a unfamiliar van across the street, its lights off but its engine on, I could see the exhaust streaming out in the dim moonlight. Afraid, I turned off the road shoulder and slid my car slowly into the tangled briar patch that lines that side of the road. With the car concealed I climbed out and peered above the mass of weeds. Dark shadows of men were walking around my yard, shining flashlight beams into every nook and cranny. Through the unlit windows I could see beams of light in my house as well. The rutabaga glowed on.
I sat motionless for a long time, maybe an hour maybe two. Finally the dark men exited my house and got into their cars, having found nothing. I chuckled inwardly. They drove off a ways the other way down the road. Then the Cadillac stopped and a man got out. He was too far away for me to see, but I now suspect he was operating a radio activated detonator. I frowned, wondering what was going on. My eyes darted back to my house. A rumble shook it and then a brilliant light flashed out of the windows and my house erupted in flame. The man got into the car and drove into the night. I sank down, having just lost all my worldly possessions except my car and my bizarre glowing rutabaga which, as the black car disappeared down the road, began to lose its shine again.
Since then I have wandered the continent , staying clear of the authorities but always searching for that airship which stole my rutabagas and my normal life away. I believe now that the rutabaga glows when near to alien activity. For I have had more encounters with the paranormal, and every time the thing lights up. It has not shown a sign of rot or age yet and it has been quite a while since that fateful day. The thing serves as my guiding light, my beacon in a sea of conspiracy. Sadly, none of my recent encounters have been as rewarding as my initial one. You see, I managed to track down Photographer X and see that magnificent picture. He has managed to keep it from the authorities so far, which is absolutely necessary for it is the only proof undeniable we have of our encounter. And now we display it to you, the public, in order to unmask the nefarious lies that have been spread about the nature of our “solitary” existence in the universe. “Solitary.” Ha!
You can call me Witness R. R for rutabaga, my guiding light in this time of darkness
Get your own Free Home Page