She climbed onto Bandit and took one last look at the creature, who now seemed so vulnerable and unthreatening lying against the streambed wall. She kicked and Bandit trotted up out of the arroyo through the water coursing down in a torrent.
As she topped the slope, Fay was amazed to see that virtually nothing was left of the craft but small chunks littering the ground around her.
She picked up a dozen of the silvery metallic scraps and rode Bandit toward the fence line, scattering pieces behind her every few hundred yards. The shiny metal would lead the way back. When she reached the fence, she dropped the last few bits where she knew Mr. Brazel and Dee would see them.
But two remnants of the crash she kept with her, safely tucked into her vest. One was a curved piece of silver craft itself, its jagged edges wrapped in her bandana. The other was the strange wooden carving.
She wouldn’t tell anyone what she’d seen. Something about the way the creature pointed at her gave her the sense that she would get into all kinds of trouble if she volunteered the story.
If the creature wasn’t washed away by a flood, Mr. Brazel would find it. He would come across the wreckage, too, and then tell the government authorities about it. After it made the news, she imagined that the discovery of such an alien craft would be the talk of the town in nearby Roswell.
TEN
After Fay finished her story, no one moved. Tyler stared at his empty plate and mulled over what he’d just heard. Grant had a look like he was trying not to show he thought she was nuts. Jess twirled her knife back and forth in her fingers and kept her eyes on the table.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone about this back in 1947?” Grant asked.
“I was afraid. When Mac Brazel reported the spaceship wreckage, the Army came in, covered the whole thing up, and convinced everyone Brazel was crazy. If people wouldn’t believe the ranch foreman, why would they believe a ten-year-old girl? I don’t even know what they did with the alien body. Took it back to Area 51, I suppose.”
“But you went to the UFO festival a couple of weeks ago. Why?”
“I had tried on my own for five years to find the truth, and I never got any closer to answering my questions. I was at a dead end. I had nothing to lose. Or so I thought.” Tyler felt Fay’s eyes fix on him. “I can tell you don’t believe me.”
He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think of a way to put his next words delicately.
“I like you, Fay,” Tyler said.
“Oh, this isn’t going to be good.”
“You really think you met an alien?”
“He certainly fits the description of other encounters that have been reported: the gray body and huge head, the bulging black eyes, the slit for a mouth.”
“And you believe those stories?”
“I can tell you don’t believe in UFOs and aliens.”
“I believe in UFOs. They’re unidentified flying objects. Anytime someone can’t figure out what something is flying through the sky, it’s a UFO by definition. That doesn’t mean they’re spaceships from another world.”
“How can you be so sure?” Fay asked. “‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’”
“Sounds familiar,” Grant said to Tyler, who squinted as he tried to recall which Shakespeare play the line was from.
“Hamlet, Act One,” Jess said to Grant, then looked at Tyler. “Did you take any English courses at MIT?”
“Just one,” he said. “Science Fiction and Fantasy. I can give you a great analysis of the human compulsion for self-destruction symbolized in A Canticle for Liebowitz.”
“So you’re a science fiction fan who doesn’t believe in aliens,” Fay said.
“It’s the fiction part that’s important. I do believe it’s probable that alien life exists in other parts of the universe. It’s even likely that some of that life is sentient and intelligent. Astronomers are finding new planets all the time. Eventually, we’ll confirm that some of them are capable of supporting life.”
“Then why is it so impossible to believe that some of those civilizations have visited Earth?”
“I didn’t say it was impossible. I’m not an absolutist. Shakespeare was right. I don’t know everything. But I’m also a scientist, so I go by evidence. No one has yet produced incontrovertible video, photographic, or physical evidence that spacecraft have visited us.”
“Don’t we have stealth aircraft that you can’t see on radar?”
“Yes.”
“Then why couldn’t the aliens have something similar but more advanced?”
“They could,” Tyler said, “but then you run into another issue. Current scientific knowledge states that faster-than-light travel is literally impossible. An alien civilization would have to send ships that take thousands of years to get here.”
“Maybe they did,” Fay said.
“But why do the ships always land in Podunk little towns in the middle of nowhere? No offense.”
“None taken. Maybe it’s because they know humans have itchy trigger fingers, so they’re trying to feel us out. Maybe they’ve been in our solar system for hundreds or thousands of years just observing us.”
“Why?”
“They could be waiting us out. Seeing if we kill ourselves. Then they can just move in.”
“They’ve been waiting for thousands of years and have never made their presence known?”
“They have made their presence known,” Fay said. “I may not have a college degree, but I’ve been studying this for years now. There are eerie similarities among cultures around the planet. Simultaneous development of key technologies. Common structures like pyramids built by the Egyptians, the Inca, the Mayans, the Cambodians, the Indians. I’ve been all over the world and seen them with my own eyes. You can’t just dismiss the strange coincidences. What I find hard to believe is that humans could build such advanced structures and technology with the primitive tools they had.”
“I don’t think that gives much credit to human ingenuity and creativity. We’re a pretty smart bunch of people. I’ve been around the world, too, and I’ve seen things you would have a hard time believing if you hadn’t been there.” Tyler exchanged a knowing look with Grant, who’d been with him to witness those incredible sights.
“And what about my own experience?” Fay said, exasperated. “Are you saying I’m making it up?”
“Fay, I don’t want to sound patronizing, but this was sixty-five years ago. You were ten and probably had never left your county at that point in your life, so anything outside of your experience would have seemed exotic. I’m sure you saw something you didn’t understand, but that doesn’t make it a flying saucer from another world.”
“Then what was it? A weather balloon?”
“It sounds like some kind of aircraft.”
“And the alien?”
“It could have been a man in a flight suit.”
“Then why couldn’t I understand what he said?”
“Maybe he was injured in the crash and that messed with his language skills,” Grant said. “I’ve had a couple of concussions, and I could barely pronounce my own name for a while after each one.”
“And the blue blood?” Fay said.
“Are you sure it wasn’t just water?” Tyler said. “You said yourself there was a storm coming.”
“It wasn’t water. It was bright blue, like glass cleaner.”
Tyler turned to Jess. He knew she would have an equally hard time with the belief in aliens. Time to put her on the spot.
“What do you think about all this?” he said to her.