Perspective

It started like any other day. The little boy woke up, got ready, went to school, and came home and did his homework before going outside to play in the yard until it got dark. He had always been a good student, and his parents were very proud, knowing that one day he would do great things.

But he was also a dreamer. He had a grand imagination and often lost himself in his fantasies. Which is why, on this particular day, his father had a hard time believing him.

"Daddy! Daddy! Come quick! There's something in the sky."

His father looked at him affectionately, unable to resist his son's sense of childlike wonderment.

"What did you see, buddy?" His father asked as he got up from his chair. "Is it a bird? Or a plane?"

"I don't know," his son said, dragging his father outside. "It's too far away."

The boy's father emerged from the house and followed his son's extended finger, looking toward the darkening sky. Sure enough, there was a strange craft streaking past their field of vision.

"That is far away." Dad said. "Stay here while I get my telescope."

The boy's father returned with the telescope, setting it up just in time to peer through the lens and see an alien craft pass by their planet. Looking closely, he could make out a strange red, white and blue rectangular logo with stars and stripes... next to letters for something called NASA.

"What is it, Daddy?"

The Martian father looked at his son, and then back toward the heavens as the UFO passed their planet.

"I don't know son. I don't know."


(276 words)