The Golden Orb: A UFO Sighting
Terry knelt on one knee and started to pick at the paint. The winter salt from the roads had begun to erode the undercarriage of the midnight blue Chevy Astro van. The blister of oxidized metal flaked away easily under her prodding fingernails.
“Are you ready yet?” she called to her husband.
“On my way. Give me a second.” He replied calmly.
Terry liked to leave on time. It was already 7:30 a.m., thirty minutes later than planned. She stood up and looked at the cool mist that hung over the lake like a wool blanket. The morning sun was already pushing it into the nearby forest. The cloud cover from the morning rain shifted erratically in the sky.
She took one last look at the cargo in the back of the van to ensure it was complete and secured. She and her husband were moving to the city, finally getting out of her parent’s basement. She gripped the steering wheel and sighed with relief, welcoming the change.
Terry’s husband gave her a thumbs-up with a smile and jumped into the Chevy Celebrity parked behind her. He started it immediately and gave her another thumbs-up through the open window. She turned the key, and the van gave a loud rumble as the engine turned over. They were off.
The midwest highway was a long, listless snake that nibbled on the horizon. Terry led the way since she had driven the route many times before. The monotony of the passing miles made it easy to examine the passing towns and cornfields. She could see that her husband was listening to music by the way his hands beat upon the steering wheel.
The Astro van was a gift from her uncle. Terry was extremely satisfied with how it drove and the amount of cargo it could haul. The windshield was wide and clear, allowing her a great view of the vast, gray sky.
At that moment, she saw it. It moved silently like a phantom, penetrating the clouds with eerie precision. The rounded top curved elegantly to the sides, and the bottom disappeared intermittently. The metallic body radiated like a golden light bulb.
“Oh my God,” Terry whispered in awe.
It took all of her effort not to drive off the road. Oncoming traffic pulled her eyes away, and she was fearful of losing sight of it. But she quickly darted her glance back to the mysterious flying object in the sky. There it was.
“This can’t be happening,” she said to herself. “There it is, right in front of everyone. Why hasn’t anyone stopped?”
The cars coming toward her must have seen the UFO. The cars behind her must also see it. Her husband! He has to be seeing it too.
At this thought, she rolled down her window and began to frantically point to the half orb in the sky. “There!” she called out her window. “In the sky! Look!”
But everyone drove on. Terry felt alone.
She started to construct the tale that she would tell her friends that evening, her coworkers that week, or anyone who would listen for the rest of her life. When people said, “I know someone who has seen a UFO,” they would be talking about her. The thought petrified her. She could not wait to tell everyone but, at the same time, feared that their disbelief would lead them to label her as eccentric.
Terry struggled to formulate how she would convey the UFO sighting in a verifiably secure and convincing tone. She was not crazy!
She looked in her rearview mirror to see if her husband had responded to her frenetic gestures out the window, but he continued to tap on the steering wheel to the cadence of an unknown tune.
Terry was getting hysterical. Tonight, for sure, there would be a report on the news or at least an article in a local newspaper describing the sighting. Surely a lone farmer snapped a picture from the seat of their combine and later gave an interview. It would be front-page news in a tabloid, but she would know the truth!
No one would believe her. Maybe she wouldn’t tell anyone at all. It could be her secret forever.
Terry visualized herself as an old woman wearing a yellow linen dress. She was having a picnic with her granddaughter, and they were laughing. Terry suddenly leans over and whispers her secret. Her granddaughter smiles and nods with a knowing gaze. A secret held until the end of your life is a valuable treasure.
The UFO maintained its position in stark contrast with the thin gray sheets of cloud. Terry saw her right turn ahead, which would take her to the city. The clicking of the turn signal shook her back to reality as she eased the Astro van south.
Like an insatiable voyeur, she returned her gaze to the side window to confirm her sanity. The UFO seemed to be getting closer, or the clouds were getting further. No, the clouds were starting to thin from the morning warmth.
The UFO was suddenly covered by clouds and hidden from sight. Terry panicked and jerked her head in desperate attempts to regain visual contact. She couldn’t find it. It was just there! The clouds shifted again, this time growing thinner and thinner.
And then the clouds were gone. There was nothing where the UFO once floated mysteriously.
There was nothing but the fully exposed sun.
