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EMERGENCY LANDING
by George T. Philibin
A strange whining sound, soft but persistent, filled the air and captured the attention of Eric, a teenage boy working on his car with his brother Mark.
The summer night was warm, but cloudy, as Eric looked out of the garage and saw lights oozing from behind the barn. They weren't car lights or tractor lights, and Eric became concerned. He never seen an aura of lights like those before.
He finally said, "There's sometime weird going on behind the barn.
"What is it?" Mark asked as he crawled out from under the car holding a open-ended wrench.
"Something's behind the barn," Eric said as he stood by the door.
"This shit always happens when mom and dad are out."
"Come on," Mark said. "We better check it out."
As Mark wiped grease off his hands, Eric said, "What if it's burglars?"
Burglars! Mark thought, maybe so. The equipment shed rested behind the barn! Maybe somebody broke into it!
"Get Butch," Mark said, their Labrador.
Before Eric could call Butch, Butch came running into the garage with Susan, their sister. Susan yelled, "Somebody's out there-- Butch has been growling at something he seen through the window!
Butch shot out of the garage with Mark and Eric in pursuit, but when Butch hit the lawn, he assumed a low, quick, stride with his nose close to the ground.
"He's on to something," Eric said and Mark agreed.
Butch beat them to the back of the barn, but once there he stopped and sat down, very unusual for Butch when hunting.
Mark and Eric inched their way along the side of the barn, and Butch up ahead just sat with his ears pointed up and his head cocked to one side.
When the boys reached the corner, Mark hesitated for a second, took a deep breath, then together with Eric they both peeped around the corner. Their eyes landed on a shiny object, as large as a water-tower tank but oblong, with soft, blue-tinted lights integrated into its body. Whatever it was rested on three legs about ten feet off the ground. And a ramp led down from its underbody to the plowed field.
"What the...it's a flying saucer!" Eric loudly whispered.
Both stood mesmerized before the thing, but when Mark's senses finally came around, he whispered, "Let's run over to the equipment shed for a better look."
They both darted across an open space to the equipment shed in record time, and Butch followed them. But Butch's ears popped up half way across. He stopped and growled; then pointed at the old outhouse as if a game-bird were hiding in it.
The outhouse hasn't been used for years, and their dad had planned to tear it down and fill in the hole, but he never found time.
They inched around the equipment shed to get a closer look.
An eerie silence settled over them, and a light breeze that started coming from the direction of the outhouse carried with it an atrocious odor that even made Butch sneeze and withdraw back some. Mark never seen Butch place his paws over his nose, but he did after a second whiff!
"Oh-my-God," Eric whispered. "That's awful."
Mark agreed for tears started forming in his eyes from the odor.
Then the outhouse door opened, and before them stood a creature bathed in some type of light which radiated from its clothes. The creature seemed to be pulling his pants up, and as he fastened his belt, possibly, he looked over at the boys and said, as if his voice were coming from an old time radio, "Boy---- is that a relief, my young earthlings. A meteor hit my ship and disabled the waste-neutralization processes, and to tell you the truth, I thought that I were going to bust wide open! But fortunately my sensors picked up this rather crude but effective discharge waste storage facility. Thank the galactic fathers for primitive civilizations like this one. ---Oh, no offense intended---I'm really sorry for that one, but as you can see I really, and I mean really had to go!"
As the alien finished buckling up, he added, "I got a long way to go. I'm expected on the planet Zahort soon and believe me when I say this: There are no stops from here to there!
"Well, got to be going---take this small token of my appreciation." The alien flipped a metallic coin to the boys and it landed at their feet.
After he climbed up the ramp and closed it, the space ship rose, hovered for a moment, then took off for the clouds and disappeared into them.
Mark picked up the coin and Eric asked, "What are we going to tell mom and dad?"
Mark had to think about that one, but finally said, "We had better remind dad to fill in the old outhouse a soon and possible because we don't want anymore strangers using it!"
***THE END***
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