Short Story Sunday: Fireball

It all started a few nights ago, on Friday night, when I saw the fireball in the sky.

At 2:54 a.m. a big wet nose rammed into my face. My dog needed to go outside. As usual I pulled on my pants and slipped my feet into my 20 year old Burks and took her outside. Also as usual I watched the night sky, looking for planets, airplanes, and checking out the street for racoons and skunks. What wasn’t as usual was the fireball that streaked through the Northern sky right over my neighbor’s house and then into oblivion. 

It was amazing but I didn’t think much of it after that. There was no obvious landing or explosions. Once my dog was done with her business I went inside and checked the usual online sources and didn’t see anything about it. 

The next night when I took my dog out at 3:21 a.m. the night sky was still. I glanced down to the end of the street and saw four glowing lights. Racoon eyes? Skunks? They were too high. Deer? They blinked. Assholes wanting to break into my car? 

I called out, “Hey.” The lights vanished but I could still see the shadows of two figures.

“Get the Hell out of here or I’m calling the police.” Yes, I am a grouchy old woman. 

Then one of the figures raised a hand. No middle finger was seen. It was a hand, not a claw, no gloves, no extra-long fingers. 

One of them held what looked like a box out in front of it. I still couldn’t make out their faces or what they were wearing. I couldn’t even tell what race or sex they were. 

Then out of the box came a sultry female voice. “This is the Omni Voice 3000 Translation Box. We are lost. We are not from around here. We know you saw us last night when we were required to make a crash landing. We come from Uranus.”

What the fresh fuck? Yeah, I know my husband and kids tell me to clean up my mouth.

“You’re not funny,” I said. “Uranus is a gas planet. So I guess that makes you just a couple of farts.” Yes, I should be ashamed of myself. I’m a retired biology professor so I know better than that, but I was standing outside in a tank top with no bra, pajama pants, and my 20 year old sandals. My hair looked like I’d just been in a hurricane. I had no interest in joking around with a couple of strangers standing in the middle of my street.

Then suddenly, just like the fireball, a light came on over their heads. They had lights coming from appendages on top of their heads, like horns or antenna.  They had faces, but not quiet human. They noses were too small, and the eyes too large. They weren’t ugly, just sort of weird looking. They wore pale green jumpsuits but I couldn’t see any zippers or fasteners. One had pale blue hair that hung down to its shoulders and the other had light brown hair that curled down it’s back. 

So what was I supposed to do? I invited them in and made coffee. 

At this point I’m not sure what to do. Call the Space Force. Contact the University? In the meantime we’re making sweet rolls and they’re telling me about the enclosed cities on on Uranus. My dog likes them. My husband isn’t sure what to do either. We had a Zoom call with my kids and they’re pretty amazed by it all. Even the cats like our visitors. 

I guess we’ll figure it out. In the meantime we’ll do what people do and have food and learn about each other. Maybe I’ll take them to the art museum tomorrow. We’ll see.