The Hurricane

“I just saw a flying saucer!” Sean screamed to his mother from the living room window. He jumped up and down in his excitement.

“It was probably somebody’s roof or a car. Now come away from that window. The hurricane is still very strong and it could shatter the glass. I’m not sure why your father didn’t cover it with plywood like the others.” He spent enough money at the hardware store to build an ark.” Sean’s mom exclaimed from the kitchen.

Sean’s dad harrumphed from behind his copy of Science Fiction Digest, “The boy could be right, Mabel. It could be an alien craft. Maybe it got pulled off course by the strong winds and rain. And I didn’t cover that window because I ran out of time.”

In all fairness, Sean’s dad wasn’t exactly a handyman. It was sheer luck that kept the plywood on all the other windows. The nails he used to fasten the wood to the house were too small. If the wind caught just under the edge of one of those sheets of plywood, it would have been ripped right off.

Oxenblox was just fortunate that Sean was the only little boy curious enough to be looking out the window just then. He wasn’t blown off course at all. He’d used the hurricane to cover his entry into Tampa. He ditched his vehicle in a nearby swamp where he could get to it when he was ready to go. It wouldn’t matter if people saw him leave. He’d be a speck before they could even realize what went by. Then he’d dump a bunch of debris so the people below figured they must have seen the flash of a meteorite. It was really only the entry that was difficult.

What Oxenblox didn’t know was that Sean had seen him. He’d watched until the spacecraft landed in the swampy area of their subdivision—the only lots that couldn’t be built upon. Sean knew that swamp well, because his mom homeschooled him and they studied the swamp for science projects all the time.

The next morning, in the eerie calm after the raging storm, Sean slipped out the front door while his parents were still sleeping. Oxenblox was still sleeping too when Sean took up vigil on top of a fallen live oak tree. He wore camo so that he’d blend in. When Oxenblox emerged from his craft to check out the neighborhood, he was surprised by the rapid clicking of Sean’s digital camera taking shot after shot of the pilot from Vindar. Each frame capturing another contortion as the alien tried to get out of the line of sight.

Oxenblox finally got control of himself and marched over to the edge of the swamp where Sean sat on the fallen tree. “What did you do?” he demanded of the bold child.

“I took your picture.” Sean replied calmly. I’ve never seen anybody with two heads before.

“What do you mean you took my picture? What’s a picture and how could you take mine away from me? I didn’t even know I had one for you to take.” Oxenblox babbled on as Sean started laughing at him.

“You really are silly looking when you get mad. One of your heads has angry looks and is shouting at me and the other head isn’t even paying attention. How do you do that?”

“I am not silly or mad. I am Oxenblox, First Lieutenant, Vindar Espionage Squadron. Now show me my picture that you took.”

“You’ll have to come over here and look at the screen on my camera.”

“You already put my picture in that small container? I demand that you take my picture out of there immediately and give it back to me!”

“Come and get it!”

Oxenblox grabbed the camera out of Sean’s hand and shook it violently. “I don’t hear anything!”

“Good going Einstein! Just look at the screen on the back. You won’t get the picture out by shaking it.”

“I’m not Einstein. I’m Oxenblox and, oh I see what you mean. You made an image of my likeness. Then why didn’t you say that. You didn’t get my good side. Well anyway, it doesn’t matter. You’ve compromised my mission. I’d best be going before you tell everybody I’m here.”

“But I have your picture.”

“Well actually, you don’t. See you later, alligator.” And with that Oxenblox tossed Sean’s camera back to him and returned to his space ship. Sean just sat there with his mouth open as the aircraft took off and sped away, getting smaller by the second. Finally, Sean looked at the camera in his hands. Every shot of Oxenblox had been erased.

As he walked back home, Sean thought about all that had happened. “Should he tell his parents or would they just think he was nuts?” As he walked through the back door, he caught sight of his mom and dad eating breakfast.

“So what’s the damage like out there, son?” asked Sean’s dad.

“It’s unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.”

The End.

© Sue Barton 2004