Lights in the Sky

From a class assignment to write a short story based upon an actual news item.

 

 

     Smoke from the barbecue grill disappeared into the darkened evening sky as Henry Brink turned the pieces of chicken. The Arkansas air held the crisp promise of a cold night to come but, for now, Henry was still comfortable in his sweat shirt and light jacket. High above, the brightest stars already held court as their dimmer neighbors began to appear.

 

     “This is the life,” Henry thought. “Thirty years in the Air National Guard; now I can just relax and enjoy the sky as God meant it to be seen instead of zipping around through it in an F-16.” He felt the usual brief pang of regret at being grounded, but overall he was enjoying the freedom that retirement offered. Now he could stay up late if he wanted, watching the stars, reading, or watching television if there was anything worth seeing on it, which there usually wasn’t.

 

     A flicker of light near the horizon broke his reverie. “What was that?” he wondered. The light appeared again: a bright yellow ball, just to the left of the familiar radio tower’s stack of blinking red beacons. “Looks like an airplane’s landing light,” he thought. “That’s odd. It should be getting closer, but it doesn’t look like it’s moving.”

 

     A moment later, the light split into two. The second light move alongside the first. Both lights shone brightly for several minutes, then faded and vanished. While Henry stared and tried to make sense of what he’d seen, a bright red light appeared near where the other two had been. It hovered completely motionless for several minutes before a yellow light appeared above it, followed by a green light that made an equilateral triangle with the other two.

 

     “Henry, you’re not letting that chicken burn are you?” Bev called from the patio.

 

     “Hey, Bev. Come out here and take a look at this,” Henry called back.

 

     “What is it? I’m right in the middle of making mashed potatoes.”

 

     “Turn off the porch light and come over here for a minute.” Henry pointed at the lights, “Look over there.” By now, a second green light had joined them to form a diamond pattern.

 

     Bev stood by her husband and watched the four lights spread out into an even line as they sunk below the tops of the trees. “What the heck was that?” she asked.

 

     “Darned if I know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

 

     “Maybe it was a reflection of the traffic lights over in Van Buren?” Bev said. “You know, kind of like one of those desert mirages?”

 

     “I don’t think so,” Henry replied. “You should’ve seen the way they moved, like they were flying in formation. Except they weren’t flying, they were just hovering.”

 

     “Well, whatever they were, they’re gone now. Don’t you let that chicken burn.”

 

     “Yeah, it’s about done. Wait! Look – the lights are back.”

 

     They watched as two red lights rose side-by-side into the sky. Two green lights seemed to appear from nowhere, suddenly flaring bright above and below the red ones to make another diamond. In the center of the pattern, a yellow light bloomed.

 

     Henry nearly dropped a chicken breast as he tried to transfer the meat from the grill without taking his eyes off the lights. Bev didn’t scold him. The lights had all of her attention now.

 

     The show continued for another hour, the lights disappearing and reappearing and forming different patterns in the sky. Sometimes there was only one. Other times there were five or six of them. They always stayed low, near the level of the red blinking lights of the radio tower. The chicken cooled as they watched. Henry handed a thigh to Bev and they chewed as the light show went on. The mashed potatoes were forgotten.

 

     “I know what this is,” Henry declared when the mysterious lights had finally disappeared without returning. “It’s the end time – the time the Bible talks about.”

 

     “Don’t be silly, Henry.”

 

     “No, really. Look how things are. War’s raging in the Middle East, everything’s in turmoil, and now this – weird, scary things in the sky.”

 

     “You’re a fool, Henry Brink. There’s war in the Middle East because we put it there. Things were calm enough until that idiot President of ours decided to go stomping around in other people’s back yards with muddy jackboots and rockets. And these lights, well, I don’t know what they were, but they aren’t any Apocalypse. Jeez – you’re the one with the technical background. I’d have thought you’d be finding some more reasonable explanation than this.”

 

     “And you’re a heathen, woman. You’re going to burn in Hell while I sit in Heaven with a drink in my hand, looking down on God’s handiwork and watching the damned writhe and beg forgiveness.”

 

     “Well, if God’s the way you describe Him, then Hell doesn’t sound like such a bad alternative to me. Retirement hasn’t been very good for you, Henry. I’m going to bed.”

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

Inspired by news article from Thursday, January 18, 2007, on http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53820, �Air Force Colonel Reports Lights �Not of this world��.

Reviews

[Mark D. Chevalier]

I really liked this. It harkened back to my immersion in science fiction when I was young. And I think Henry was right. When I was in the Army I flew all the time, but it amazed me that for most of us, we never just "look up" anymore.
I enjoyed the banter between the couple. Your words flowed seamlessly, and the dialouge was fresh, drawing me into the story while letting my mind visualize the scene. There's some nostalgia in the font as well. Well...at least for me.
Excellent story Daryl!

[Doctor JKC]

Whatever is happening you just can't let that chicken burn!

I like the unexpected role reversal of opinions between
Henry and Bev. The pilot of an F-16 is also a scientist
as well as a craft master.

I also enjoyed them eating the chicken (a bird as flightless as
Henry is now---grounded) watching the extra-terrestrial show.

An expertly done short story and I don't say that lightly.
Dr. Callaghan

[C. Harter Amos]

When an Air Force Colonel says these were "not of this world", it's time to listen. Barring experimental crafts, it's beginning to look a lot like aliens are here! You've made it easy to imagine this couple going through their calm and easy life, cooking in the backyard as they have on many nights. I love how they cope with strange lights in their sky as calmly as they would anything else in modern life. I think we've seen so many alien movies and tv shows that it's not that shocking to think of "them" as a real possibility anymore. Is it a concerted effort by the government and the media to prepare us for "full disclosure" ? I smell a conspiracy theory. I veered off course here, but it was a good short story and very enjoyable to read.

[Samuel Dickens]

I think I may have heard about that particular sighting. A good write, Daryl. No mashed potatoes? pity. I'll never forget that 1962 early morning in Booneville when my buddy and I watched a silvery-white object moving across the sky.

[THERISA]

Interest juxposition with Bev and Henry talking about the ending of the world and his forced retirement. How their view of heaven and hell are diametrically opposite of each other. Wonder, what Henry would have done, if he was in a jet that night. We'll never know, but interesting to spectaculate. Thank you for sharing this short story with us.

therisa