U is for UFOs

Scott and I had been dating for about five months when after a particularly romantic Italian dinner we went for a stroll on the beach. The moon wasn’t up yet and the stars sparkled like mad all over the sky. Hand in hand we walked along the nearly deserted beach. It was about ten o’clock and after some smooching I returned my gaze to the sky.

“Look,” I said pointing to a bright light that seemed to be zipping across the sky alarmingly fast.

“Yeah,” Scott said, “I see it. It’s probably one of the planes out of the base.” He pointed north. “The base is only a few miles up that way a bit.”

“Hmm. Have I told you about the time I saw a UFO?”

“They don’t exist.”

“No! Really!” I insisted. “There is even a book that was written all about the one I saw.”

Back in the Eighties in upstate New York where I grew up, a series of boomerang UFO sightings were reported. One night, my brother Karl, an amateur astronomer, called us all to come to the upstairs porch where he had been stargazing. Gliding across the sky was a large array of lights in a large boomerang shape. We watched it as it moved silently across the sky blotting out the stars behind it. In stunned silence, we stood on the porch until the craft was beyond our view.

“We don’t really ever talk about,” I finished up. “My mom brings it up now and then, but I can’t remember when my brothers or sister have ever mentioned it again. Supposedly, the sightings were of the Stealth bomber, but according to the book I found, the Stealth bomber was never testing in that region.”

“Interesting,” Scott said.

“You don’t believe me?” I asked a little hurt.

“You said it yourself, you were really young.”

I looked back up to the sky. A single star catches my attention. It is brighter than the others and I try to recall if any of the planets are supposed to be visible this night. I can’t think of any and then the thought of planets flees as the light starts growing.

“Look at the Scott,” I point to the light.

Scott stood still next to me as the light continued to grow and then all of a sudden began to shrink again. And then, almost imperceptibly, the light began to wobble around in a small circle. I took my glasses off, cleaned them and looked again.

“Did that light just-”

“Yeah.” Scott didn’t even wait for me to finish.

“Probably a plane…circling…right?” I asked.

“I…don’t know. I don’t see any blinking lights.” Scott was hesitant and he took my hand. “Let’s go.”

“Go? No! Let’s watch for a few more minutes.”

The light grew brighter again jolted up and down in rapid succession. Then all of a sudden from the north, three flashes of light zipping through the sky caught my eye.

“Look.” I pointed at the new lights.

“They look like fighters flying in formation.” Scott said. He grew on and around the base and would know what planes flying in formation would look like.

The planes shot to the first light and began circling it. Circling it. Zipping around all the while the original light kept growing in brightness and then suddenly dimming.

Scott grabbed my hand tightly. “Let’s go.” He insisted. “Right now!” He pulled me down the beach and back to the car.

Once safely in the car, safely driving away from the beach, I look back at the sky. The bright light was no longer there and the three planes seemed to be flying back to the north.

“Do you think that was a UFO?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” Street lights flashed across his face as we drove. “I’ll tell you what, though, I’ve never been as freaked out before.”

“Cool.” I grinned as Scott looked over at me.

“Cool?”

“Now I’ve seen two UFOs!”

Scott shook his head. “I’ll feel a lot better about this once we get back to the house.”

To this day, Scott still does not like talking about that night!