The Special Suprize

Michelle got up in the middle of the dark early morning and walked outside inonly her pajamas. In her house she was trying to stay awake but she dozed off for a while. It was about to happen any minute and she almost didn’t make it. She waited biting her lips and fidgeted with her hands.

“Wow, I wonder why no one else is out here. There has to be someone who knew what tonight was.” she asked herself. She looked at the sky with anxiousness and a nervous smile. Then she saw her neighbor Beth from across the street with a flat cell phone. Michelle knew her to be into sports, magazines and makeup. She was not at all the kind to enjoy such a scientific event like tonight. She waved at Michelle and Michelle waved back. Then she gasped.

“My cell phone! I forgot about recording it!”

She twisted around and scrambled to her house and threw open the door and darted to the coffee table. “Where is it? I could have sworn!”

Michelle looked on the couch cushions then dug between them. Next, she went to her room and looked on her dresser then on her bed. “Ack! Where is it?”

She feared that she may miss the grand moment. Then she saw something black sticking out from under a few envelopes on her nightstand. “Aha!”

She scooped it up and ran out gleefully. When she got outside, Beth and two other neighbors were clapping and hollering. She had missed it! There was no limit to how bad she felt.

Beth ran across the street. “Oh, you should have seen it! It was dazzling!”

She was sad but angry too and she found herself mad at Beth as though she was rubbing it in her face.

“I’m sure it was fine and dandy!” she said sarcastically.

Beth’s’ happy expression fell and immediately Michelle felt sorry. “I’m sorry. It is just that I’ve been waiting months for this supernova and I missed it.

“If it’s any consolation, I did tape it.”

“Thanks Beth.”

Michelle knew that probably everyone at the library she worked at had seen it and recorded the occurrence. She slumped back to her house and plopped onto her mattress and fell asleep.

She woke up at 9:30am and started the coffee then turned on the news. She listened to the morning report that mentioned the supernova briefly, got dressed and went to work. When she arrived Earl came out of the library with a glowing face. “Did you see it?”

She felt all the more deprived of missing the moment. She was probably the only one who knew about it that did not witness it. She should have just stayed outside and left off recording it. She looked at the ground then sighed. “No, Earl, I did not.”

“Did you sleep through?”

“No, I missed it while looking for my phone.”

“Well I taped it,” said Earl.

“I’ll look at it later. Right now I just want to get to work.”

Michelle walked passed him with a forced smile then entered the glass doors of the library. She sat at her computer and began her work. “Autocorrect is so annoying!” she said.

“That is the thing about the old word processors. We should be getting a new one,” Earl said.

Then Roger came in with his thick glasses and flamboyant purple tie and toothy smile. “Missed the big night Michelle?”

“Yes.”

“I have an offer for you if you are interested. Talk to me after your shift if you’re curious.”

What could that mean? Roger was a strange one and Michelle normally would have not cared about it but for some reason she was enticed. Her shift was long and mundane as usual. Finally she got off work and approached Roger in the parking lot in the evening.

“Spit it out Roger. What is it you want to tell me?”

“Have you ever seen a UFO?”

Alarms went off in her head. Then again, this was Roger. She should have known it was a waste of time. She spun around and rolled her eyes.

“How would two-hundred dollars sound if you are not amazed at what I have to show you?”

She stopped. “An easy two-hundred bucks; I could use it. Okay, we have deal.”

“Follow me,” he said.

She followed in her car after Roger’s. Forty five minutes later they were on a rural highway. Roger pulled over and got out. “It is just up this small hill.”

Michelle walked up the dirt mound overlooking empty wilderness with about a dozen other people.

“Now what?” she asked impatiently.

“Wait for it.”

Twenty minutes later nothing happened. “I’m leaving,” she said.

Just as she spoke, a bright disk shaped light appeared in the sky. It began to descend several yards then hovered there. Michelle found herself wondering out loud. “A UFO. Can it really be from space? Am I watching the vessel of aliens? How fantastic!”

The disk had blue, green and red lights in its rims and made a low hum. It floated there for about ten minutes then it flew up and darted off into the starry night sky. Michelle was awestruck. She clapped and gave Roger a hug. “Thanks Roger. But who will we tell? Who will believe us even if we had footage?”

“That is part of the experience. There are not very many people that I would share this with but I saw how disappointed you were.”

“I’ve never known you to be so thoughtful. I don’t know what to say,” she said.

“Just make sure you keep it secret. If everyone came to see it would probably stop coming.”

“I will. How often does it come?”

“Once a year at night on this date. Want a bite to eat? We usually go out to a restaurant after seeing the UFO. ”

“Sure.”