cluttered with important papers, all the computer equipment, files, notes, and so forth. Brian, see if you can buy extra videocassettes at that supermarket across the road. Should anything of an anomalous nature take place tonight, we must have documentation." He patted his now-perfect hair. "I have an idea tonight is going to be filled with adventure, don't you?"
Rosemary winked, Cynthia blinked, and Brian nodded.
As I locked the front door of the PD, I noticed Jules and Lucy were deep in conversation with my landlord. Roy was slouched in his favorite cane-bottomed rocking chair out in front of the store, but I could tell that he was agitated and that the tabloid reporters were enthralled with what he was saying. I had a gut feeling he wasn't reciting poetry.
"What's up?" I said as I walked across the road.
Roy took a drink of something I doubted was iced tea, wiped his mouth, and waited until I'd joined them. "I meant to come over earlier and tell you about it, Arly," he said apologetically. "Then some tourists from Connecticut showed up, and I got busy with them. By the time they left with two boxes of depression glass and that repulsive faux marble cherub, I'd plum forgot the whole thing."
"What whole thing?"
"Last night about eleven I was driving back here from the picture show in Farberville. As I went past the Assembly Hall, I happened to glance down County One-oh-two. There was a funny little light that appeared to be flying all around that pasture between Estelle's and Earl Buchanon's houses. You know where I mean?"
I glanced at Jules and Lucy, who were busy scribbling notes. "Was it orange?" I asked Roy.
He took another drink, then leaned back and closed his eyes. "Nope, it was white. I decided to take a closer look, so I drove down the road a short piece, stopped, and rolled down the window. Before I could get a fix on it, that damn thing came diving straight at me. Somehow I got the window rolled up, but my hands were shaking so hard I liked to never have got my truck in reverse. It chased me all the way back to the road. It's pure luck I didn't run down Estelle's sign or end up in a ditch."
"How big was this light?" asked Lucy.
"It's hard to say. When I first saw it, it was off in the pasture. I don't reckon it was bigger than one of those little penlights, but I can't say for sure because I don't know how close it really was."
"Did it make any sound?" asked Jules.
"I might have heard a buzzing noise, but I wouldn't swear to it. It's hard to recall the particulars when you re backing up a narrow dirt road at thirty miles an hour. My neck's still kinked."
I was getting tired of allowing the reporters to conduct the investigation. "Think back, Roy," I said. "There was heavy fog down on County One-oh-two last night, and things may have looked spooky because of the distortion. Couldn't you have seen a planet or a particularly bright star and convinced yourself it was moving?"
"Sure, Arly, and then I convinced myself it was darting around the truck the whole time I was weaving up the road. I convinced myself it was coming after me like a hornet. After all, I just got off the watermelon truck and I ain't never seen fog."
I took the glass out of his hand and took a swig. "Sorry," I said as I returned it to him, then screwed up my face as the cheap whiskey caught up with me. It was not his usual brand. "It's just that I'm having a hard time with all this crazy stuff."
"I've heard it," he said. "That's all anybody was talking about at the barbershop this morning. But lemme tell you something, Arly: What I saw wasn't one of those mysterious orange lights, any more than it was a star. It was something altogether different."
Jules put his notebook in his pocket and said, "Mr. Stiver, could I talk you into letting me take some pictures of you pointing at the pasture? I can't promise they'll make the Weekly Examiner, but if they do, we'll pay you fifty dollars."
"The Probe can pay seventy-five," Lucy
Rosemary winked, Cynthia blinked, and Brian nodded.
As I locked the front door of the PD, I noticed Jules and Lucy were deep in conversation with my landlord. Roy was slouched in his favorite cane-bottomed rocking chair out in front of the store, but I could tell that he was agitated and that the tabloid reporters were enthralled with what he was saying. I had a gut feeling he wasn't reciting poetry.
"What's up?" I said as I walked across the road.
Roy took a drink of something I doubted was iced tea, wiped his mouth, and waited until I'd joined them. "I meant to come over earlier and tell you about it, Arly," he said apologetically. "Then some tourists from Connecticut showed up, and I got busy with them. By the time they left with two boxes of depression glass and that repulsive faux marble cherub, I'd plum forgot the whole thing."
"What whole thing?"
"Last night about eleven I was driving back here from the picture show in Farberville. As I went past the Assembly Hall, I happened to glance down County One-oh-two. There was a funny little light that appeared to be flying all around that pasture between Estelle's and Earl Buchanon's houses. You know where I mean?"
I glanced at Jules and Lucy, who were busy scribbling notes. "Was it orange?" I asked Roy.
He took another drink, then leaned back and closed his eyes. "Nope, it was white. I decided to take a closer look, so I drove down the road a short piece, stopped, and rolled down the window. Before I could get a fix on it, that damn thing came diving straight at me. Somehow I got the window rolled up, but my hands were shaking so hard I liked to never have got my truck in reverse. It chased me all the way back to the road. It's pure luck I didn't run down Estelle's sign or end up in a ditch."
"How big was this light?" asked Lucy.
"It's hard to say. When I first saw it, it was off in the pasture. I don't reckon it was bigger than one of those little penlights, but I can't say for sure because I don't know how close it really was."
"Did it make any sound?" asked Jules.
"I might have heard a buzzing noise, but I wouldn't swear to it. It's hard to recall the particulars when you re backing up a narrow dirt road at thirty miles an hour. My neck's still kinked."
I was getting tired of allowing the reporters to conduct the investigation. "Think back, Roy," I said. "There was heavy fog down on County One-oh-two last night, and things may have looked spooky because of the distortion. Couldn't you have seen a planet or a particularly bright star and convinced yourself it was moving?"
"Sure, Arly, and then I convinced myself it was darting around the truck the whole time I was weaving up the road. I convinced myself it was coming after me like a hornet. After all, I just got off the watermelon truck and I ain't never seen fog."
I took the glass out of his hand and took a swig. "Sorry," I said as I returned it to him, then screwed up my face as the cheap whiskey caught up with me. It was not his usual brand. "It's just that I'm having a hard time with all this crazy stuff."
"I've heard it," he said. "That's all anybody was talking about at the barbershop this morning. But lemme tell you something, Arly: What I saw wasn't one of those mysterious orange lights, any more than it was a star. It was something altogether different."
Jules put his notebook in his pocket and said, "Mr. Stiver, could I talk you into letting me take some pictures of you pointing at the pasture? I can't promise they'll make the Weekly Examiner, but if they do, we'll pay you fifty dollars."
"The Probe can pay seventy-five," Lucy
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