“So, what am I looking at here?” Scout asked. He squinted down at Anna’s phone with his back to the sun. Fiona and Lula took turns invading his space as they jockeyed to get a better look.
The four sat on the rusted bleachers overlooking the school’s baseball diamonIt was lunchtime and a group of kids were in the middle of a pickup game of baseball. There were loud shouts and a crack of the bat, clouds of dust kicked up as someone ran the base path, but Anna barely noticed.
“Gaaah, back off, will ya? You’re steaming up my glasses,” Scout pushed back against Fiona while crouching over the phone to block her view.
“So, what do you think?” Anna asked nervously.
Scout scrubbed the video back and forth trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He squinted. He opened his eyes wide. He swiveled his head back and forth in sync with the direction of the video.
“I don’t know, Anna,” Scout shook his head and handed the phone back. “It’s weird. I’ll give you that. But, it's also a little fuzzy. I have no idea what I’m looking at.”
“That’s pretty much what my uncle said. He also said it wasn’t a drone, at least not one of his. So, no one has a clue,” Anna’s voice trailed off.
Someone whistled sharply from the baseball diamond, sharp enough to catch everyone’s attention. It was the kind of effortless whistle that Anna had always wished she could do. The boy named Del, the one who made Anna mildly hyperventilate the day before, smiled brightly from third base and raised two fingers.
“Fiona! You’re up in two,” Del shouted then looked directly at Anna. “Hey, new girl. You play?”
Anna froze. Of course she played. She knew she could hit as well as anyone on the field except maybe for that moose named Edison. She searched for the perfect words, the confident, charming string of words she would say in reply. The words that would make Del remember her past lunch time, through the afternoon and for the remainder of the year.
But, the best she could muster was a half-hearted smile and something that sounded like a cross between a grunt and “yeah,” more of an expulsion of air than spoken word. Del shrugged and returned his attention back to the game. Opportunity lost.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be right there,” Fiona waved her hand dismissively. She looked back at Anna. “Can I see your phone again?”
Anna, still mortified, handed over the phone. Fiona and Lula leaned up against each other to replay the video again. Lula shook her head in amazement. Fiona’s grin spread as her eyes widened.
“This. Is. Awesome!” Lula said. “I think you have aliens, Anna.”
Fiona handed the phone back. “So, you’ve seen this light two nights in a row now, right?
Anna nodded yes.
“Then there’s a good chance we can see it again tonight,” Fiona grinned. “Maybe, we can head on over to the lake and look around. I know it’s last minute, but are you up for a sleepover?”
“I’d love to, but what would the neighbors think?” Scout didn’t miss a beat.
Fiona worked hard to ignore him. Lula just closed her eyes and shook her head. But Anna hadn’t heard a word Scout said. She’d never had a sleepover. Dog sitting didn’t count. This would be another first in a week filled with firsts.
“Yeah, that would be great,” Anna smiled, the dull ache from earlier already starting to fade. “I’m sure my uncle won’t mind.”
“Sweet. Shoot me your address,” Fiona said. “I’ll text you before we head on over.”
Scout looked back and forth between Anna and Fiona.
“Wait. Is this a bring your own sleeping bag kind of deal, or will accommodations be provided?”
Uncle Jack had given Anna his old bike to use. It weighed a ton, and was ancient and rusted. She had to stand up on the pedals and push down with all her weight to get it started, but once she did, the thing could really move. She made her way down the dirt road to the end of the lane, then leaned the bike up against the white fence and peered down the road in both directions. No sign of her friends yet. Across the road, a cow absently stared at her while slowly chewing a large clump of grass.
“Hi,” Anna half-waved.
The cow snorted in reply.
Anna looked down at her phone. No new texts. The sun was still warm and the flies that swarmed the cow looked like a halo in the evening light. Her shadow stretched far down the road. Anna lifted her arms to her side and watched her shadow wings unfurl. She began waving her arms, trying to make the motion smooth like a wave, when she heard a voice behind her in the distance.
“Nice noodle arms,” someone shouted.
Anna jumped and turned. Scout was pedaling furiously to keep up with Fiona and Lula.
Their brakes squeaked in unison as the three friends rolled to a stop.
“Hey Anna,” Lula smiled.
“Hey guys.”
“Sorry, but it looks like we picked up a stray on the way here,” Fiona nodded towards Scout.
“Don’t worry. I’ve had my shots,” Scout smiled.
The three girls pedaled down the lane side by side, just fast enough that they could still carry on a conversation. Scout followed behind, singing to himself while weaving his bike back and forth in a snake pattern.
As they rolled closer to the farmhouse, the research barns and greenhouses came into view, glistening in the evening sun. An autonomous electric tractor rolled slowly down the center of the barnyard like a giant green toy as a dozen people made their way along paths that connected the buildings. The end of the work day. Patches of conversations in multiple languages faded in and out as the friends rode their bikes through the center of activity. A small, white drone buzzed twenty feet above their heads as it headed in a straight line to the fields in the north.
“Your uncle’s place is huge,” Fiona looked around the facility in awe. “I didn’t know all of this was here. You can’t see it from the road.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Some kind of research farm,” Anna said.
“Wait! I’m an idiot” Fiona stopped her bike. “Your last name is Armstrong, right?”
Anna slowed down and looked back. “Yeah. Why?”
“Doh!,” Fiona slapped her forehead. “Your uncle is Dr. Armstrong.”
“You know him?” Anna leaned against her handlebars.
“All the kids in FFA know him. He and Dr. Gloria judge the innovation event every year,” Fiona said.
“FFA?” Anna asked.
“Future Farmers of America. Fiona and I took first place at the fair last summer,” Lula and Fiona high-fived.
“Future Freaks of America, more like it,” Scout pedaled his bike in circles around them. “I thought we were supposed to be hunting aliens, come on!”
He quit circling and started pedaling straight towards the farmhouse.
“But, that’s not the...direction,” Anna said quietly.
“He’ll figure it out, eventually,” Lula said. “Let’s go before he notices.”
Anna stood up and leaned down hard on the bike pedal to gain traction. By the time she hit the dirt lane that led to Tyson lake, she was moving full speed. The three girls laughed as they made their escape. Their bike tires flew over the deep ruts in the road as they sped uphill towards the setting sun. Warm wind whipped Anna’s hair. Her eyes watered in the bright light. Within a half mile they neared the top of the steep hill and slowly rolled to a stop. The valley opened before them. A dense patch of woods lined the lake in one direction. Farmland seemed to spread out forever in the other. A flock of starlings silhouetted against the evening sky whirled in constantly shifting patterns just above the light reflecting off the lake. Amidst the quiet, in the far distance, they could hear Scout shouting for them to wait up.
“Think we should?” Anna asked.
Lula and Fiona shrugged. The three laid their bikes on the ground and stretched.
“By the way. Did you know Dr. Gloria is Del’s uncle?” Lula smiled knowingly.
A dull ache struck Anna just above her solar plexus. “Who?”
“Who?” Lula laughed. “Look at her acting like she doesn’t know what I’m talking about.”
“What?” Anna shook her head. “I don’t even…”
“Even what? I saw your expression when Del called out to you today,” Fiona said.
“You guys are crazy. I don’t like him. I don’t even know him? I don’t know anybody.”
Lula opened her eyes in disbelief and stared accusingly. “Ohhh. You’re so lying.”
“Well, I mean, sure, he’s cute and all...” Anna’s voice trailed off. She frowned. “Was it really that obvious?”
“To everyone except Del. He’s clueless. Always has been. Cute and clueless,” Fiona said.
Anna buried her face in her hands. “Oh my god. I want to die.”
“Cute and clueless. You girls…must be...talking about me,” Scout rolled to a stop behind them. He was winded.
“Little legs couldn’t keep up?” Fiona asked.
Scout fell off of his bike in exaggerated exhaustion and rolled onto his back. Beads of sweat lined his forehead. “Can’t get rid of me that easily. I’m too...puff...fast.”
Fiona pulled a blanket she had packed from the back of her bike and unfurled it over a small clearing overlooking the lake. The three sat down, knees crossed. Scout made his way over and the four sat in silence for a moment taking in the view before them.
“Oh man — I know where I’m hanging out this summer,” Scout started chewing on a long blade of grass and pointed at the lake. ‘The Armstrong public pool, right here.”
“I think there’s a height requirement,” Fiona said. “Sorry.”
“Ha ha. You’re hysterical. But seriously. This is sweet,” Scout pointed down towards the lake. “You even have your own little island, Anna? We could totally throw a party there. Turtle island.”
A small hump of land, covered in trees and bush, floated about a couple of hundred yards from shore. Scout was right, it was small and looked like a turtle shell peeking above the water, but seemed big enough for a campout.
Anna showed her friends where she had seen the light from the night before, and pointed out the direction of her Uncle’s house just behind the patch of woods. They spent several minutes quietly surveying the sky, then boredom set in. The next hour passed as they talked about music and the other kids at school, the movies they loved and the foods they hated. And just like that, they had forgotten about the mysterious light as the evening sky turned from a pale orange to a deep plum blue. Stars began to dot the sky behind them. Then the sound.
Lula was the first to feel it. It felt like a rumble deep in her chest and then the hair stood up on her arms.
“Uh, can you feel that?” Lula sounded uneasy. She stared down at her arms.
“Feel what?” Fiona asked.
Anna felt it next; static shock like someone had rubbed a balloon across her skin. The hair on her head began to stand up now. Her body itched.
“Whoa...I feel it too,” Fiona stood up and began rubbing her arms.
“What the...,” Scout jumped up as if someone pinched him. He began bouncing back and forth and laughing in a panic.
From nowhere and everywhere at once an impossibly deep horn blared across the sky, followed by silence. The four friends stood unmoving. Seconds ticked by, but no one was willing to move.
“Uh...that wasn’t me,” Scout tried to smile.
“Shut up, Scout,” Fiona whispered.
“Maybe it’s…”
Another trumpet blast, but this time the pitch changed, a sound like twisting metal that vibrated through their bodies. Lula jumped. Scout let out a squeal.
“Is anybody recording this?” Fiona shouted above the noise.
Anna started the video on her phone but she didn’t know where to point. The sound was everywhere. Another horn, that's the only way Anna could describe it, began to blare in a slightly higher pitch. Then another quickly followed. All three sounds ran into each other like the sky was ripping open.
The starlings that had been flying in synchronized patterns scattered at once. Their form dissolved, now individual black dots, each flying in a different direction. Lula covered her ears and shut her eyes tightly. Fiona put her arm around her instinctively. Scout, still laughing, ran back to his bike. Anna kept filming, frantically looking across the sky for the source of the sound. From the corner of her eye she saw a flash of light, enough to catch her attention. She turned in time to see a figure in white on the far side of the lake, a woman floating a good twenty feet above the far shoreline. Anna dropped her phone. The woman vanished and suddenly the sound stopped as an echo rolled across the valley like a departing wave.
Fiona and Lula lay curled up under a pile of blankets and over a patchwork of pillows Uncle Jack had spread out on her bedroom floor. Anna was propped up on her side in bed. The lights were off, but the moonlight streaming in from her bedroom window was bright enough to outline their faces in blue. They spoke in hushed voices..
Scout had left minutes after the final echo faded away. No smart comments. Barely a goodbye before he pedaled away as fast as he could. He was shaken up. They were all shaken up. The three girls had planned to camp outside under the stars and watch for the lights, but now they were more than glad to be inside
As hard as she tried, Anna couldn’t stop shaking. It wasn’t fear. It was a sense she had touched the unknown. Something not of this world. She laid her head against her pillow, and let her arm hang over the side.
Lula reached out and held Anna’s hand. It was warm and small and dry. Anna quit shaking and smiled at her friend. Lula reached out with her free hand and locked fingers with Fiona. The three smiled at each other, their eyes lit by moonlight.