The Encounter

You can ask me another six times, you can ask till your head falls off, I don't know any more about the alien than I've said. 

 

I don't know where he comes from and like what we call Betelgeuse he probably calls something else, so what difference does it make? He don't come from here.  That's a given, right? That's the point, isn't it?

 

I'm supposed to have harboured an alien--an Alien Alien. That all me, Sharon Feinstein, no body in particular, had an alien alien land in her crummy yard in Jamaica, instead of some Yankee base among big scientists and First World people--like I sent for him or my yard has global significance.

 

I don't know why he landed in my yard, but he did. And now you're going to start asking me again what he looked like, as if I haven't said so a dozen dozen times.

 

He was like a man; big, broad but his head was larger and his eyes different--the pupils are more like a cat's. His skin, what I saw was dark. Not black, more like 'red' you know? Coolie royale with Chiney, sort of the complexion of that Constable, only redder--and his hair was black, Chiney like, but thicker.

 

When I put him in my husband's clothing and got a tam on his head, a pair of darkers over his eyes, he could almost pass for one of us. If one didn't get too close.  He doesn't smell like us. It's not unpleasant, just different.

 

How I met him, that's the big question, right? And why I never 'turned him in', right?

 

I was standing on the veranda looking at the sky. No particular reason why I wasn't in bed, okay? I was outside and felt this heaviness in the air as this glowing object hit the sand like a chain from where I was.

 

I live on the beach. You know where I live. Why do you want me to go over it? Okay, fine.

 

My house is about two hundred yards from the foot of Sugarloaf Hill. Between the hill and my yard is a road. You know the road. You remember that part.

 

My land is mostly sand though it's bordered by macca bush and trees. You can't see my house from the road or the shore.   Yeah, I keep it like a jungle, I call it privacy, you know?

 

Anyway, I'm here, on my veranda facing the sea. It was very late or very early, and it was there. Suddenly it was there.

 

It was hot and glowing, sort of shaped like a triangle. I didn't move, just stood and looked.  It was real hot but cooled quick. Started out blinding white, got darker, red, then no light at all in less time than I said it.

 

I knew whatever it was, it didn't come from here. Don't try get technical with me, cause it won't work. All I know is that when I saw it I knew it wasn't from here.

 

I was not even breathing, when I saw like a hatch opening, but only an outline for it was a fairly dark night. I saw someone get out, stumbling like, and fall onto the sand.   It looked like a man.

 

I checked I'd seen something from out there from the jump, but was open to suggestion. Open to it being a piece of 747 or crazy kind of helicopter.   It was dark, what I was seeing was in shadow. Everything happened in less time than I can tell it, maybe three seconds.

 

I went hesitantly to the man or the creature I call Daktoy.  He'd gotten out of the thingy, stumbled and fell a little away from the craft and was lying face down on the sand.  He kind of urned over.  I thought he was a man, for a moment, a soldier or pilot, and went to brush the sand from his face.

 

I couldn't see his features in the dark, but soon as I touched him, it was different. His skin felt different and I pulled back, really frightened. Then the ship just fell apart.  No noise just not there anymore.  I jumped  back.

 

No, I did not call for help.

 

I wasn't afraid as if I were in peril. I was afraid of the unknown. I knew he wasn't from here. That's why I was afraid.

 

It was the ship just dissolving. It crumbled on the sand. You've been there a dozen times. You can't find it. Take my word for it or dig up the entire beach.

 

Anyway, about the man.

 

I wasn't afraid of him. Maybe awed is better. I never thought he was going to kill me or eat me. I just wasn't sure I could deal with being in the presence of something, someone alien.

 

The dogs were barking at him, I ran them and approached the man. I keep saying man, for he still seemed to be a man.   I know it sounds stupid, it sounded stupid even when I said it, but I stooped down and asked;

 

"Are you alright?"

And he said, "Yes." and began to get up.

 

I mean most of the people on this planet don't speak English, most of the people in this country don't speak English, so where would he come to speak it?

 

Anyway, he pulled himself up and sat there, looking at the stars, then sitting like a regular person, asked;  "What world is this?"

 

You can now write down I was sure he was an Alien Alien.  Anyway, I said;

 

"This is earth. The third planet from the star we call Sol."

 

And he said; "Earth? When?"

 

I said l989. He repeated it.   His voice was deep and there's a flatness to it. He didn't have an accent. Not American or English or Small island. He spoke flat. He said "l989", then looked at me.

 

I was feeling really strange now. I mean, here I am in my yard, talking to a creature in English, who's answering me in English, who's just asked what year it was.   

 

I decided I needed a cigarette.

 

I went into the house, figured, okay, I'll light this cigarette and cool, go back, he won't be there and everything will be like normal. When I turned he was by the door, looking into my room with this wonder on his face.

 

The light was not on in my room, but in an adjoining room, and I could see him now. There was no way you could tell me this was a human. No way.

 

He looked at me as well  then made this gesture with his hand, as if he wanted to see my hand, and I put it out, and he nodded;  "Yes, you are human."

And you, I asked.

 

He said he was something like Zerzin, but his language had these sounds in it I can't fully duplicate.

 

Yes, he wanted to see my hand. See my hand here, five fingers, right?He looked at my hand. You can extrapolate from that, if you want.

 

My opinion? Why do you want that?

 

Well, to me, the reason was there must be other creatures that resemble us, but the hands are different. That's my humble explanation.

 

Anyway, I was standing there, he was standing there, and I told him my name. I said, 'I am called Sharon' and that's when he said something like Daktoy.  I repeated the name, Daktoy. He nodded his head as if well, he would allow it.

 

Then I asked if he were hungry or thirsty and he said he was thirsty. I went into the kitchen. He followed me. He was so big and heavy, he filled the room.  He drank water. About a gallon of it. Then I heard the Police, I heard you guys, outside.

 

I'd put on the kitchen light as I entered so couldn't pretend to be sleeping. I knew I'd have to answer when they called. Besides the dogs were barking. 

 

I looked at Daktoy and thought, if they find him, if you find him. I'll never see him again. That's exactly what I thought. Also, I wouldn't turn anyone over to you, so that's why I went outside and when you asked if I saw anything I said no.

 

And you can box me again if it makes you feel better.

 

Fred? Leave him out. He didn't know thing one. He was upstairs sleeping until your noise woke him. He never went into the kitchen where Daktoy was, he came out by the garage, so when you questioned him he answered honestly. He didn't know anything.

 

When you left, Fred asked if I'm going up to bed and I said not yet and he went up. I thought about telling him, but didn't.

 

Not then.

 

In a way, I wasn't dead on certain something had really happened. It was like a dream. I was not perfectly sure I would see Daktoy when I entered the kitchen.

 

You got that, you following this? You realize I'm not an inter-galactic spy, or any big super genius mad scientist type, right?

 

I went back into the kitchen and looked at Daktoy in the light. He was real. I told him the police were gone.

 

"Why did you not apprise them?" he asked.

 

"If I did they'd take you away, and make you into an exhibit somewhere."

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 30.08.2021
ISBN: 978-3-7487-9283-3

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