In
2017 in a newspaper, Luis Elizondo, former Head of the Pentagon
program, Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program, (AATIP),
stated, "There are reports by people of their encounters with
UFOs that include associating with entities such as ghosts, elves,
and other mythical beings."
The
earthquake that rocked the village of Clairwood on the fifth of June
1949, did not affect the lives of Bobby Perumal and Henry van Staden
because in those few minutes they were high up in trees with a few
other urchin homeless children like them vying with wild monkeys for
wild fruit.
The
two were eleven years old; had been homeless urchins for as long as
they could recall; lived temporarily wherever they found themselves;
could read, count and write, though having stopped attending school
years ago.
Clairwood
was a ghetto. Most residents were poor. Bobby and Henry were two of
many, many vagabond homeless individuals.
Clairwood
had sub-tropical weather at sea level. The weather was never cold.
For eleven months of the year temperatures were warm-to-hot, and it
rained nearly every early evening, quite often in thunder storms. It
was not surprising, therefore, that raggedy clothed waifs in and in
the environs of Clairwood were clean and never dehydrated, though
perpetually undernourished, jungle wild fruit being their only
reliable food.
Strangely,
Bobby and Henry were inseparable. Strangely, because they did not
share with each other the food or coins they earned; and they were
seen to be in fierce competition for opportunities to work for the
usually meagre rewards. And, they never appeared to be spontaneously
inclined to help each other.
There
were no adult homeless persons in Clairwood because most of the poor
ghetto residents were violent against adult homeless persons. When
Bobby and Henry would become adults in Clairwood, they would have to
relocate, or suffer violent consequences. That a homeless child in
Clairwood would eventually grow into an adult in Clairwood, was never
a certainty. The evidence of that was in the weekly occurrence of
corpses of all ages here-and-there, and in the sudden permanent
disappearance of individuals.
The
earthquake brought benefits to the homeless vagabond children. The
widespread damage to homes meant that there were countless extra
opportunities to help people, in return for payment in food or money.
Most,
perhaps all, of the vagabond children lived in the wilderness area
that encircled Clairwood. The wilderness might have been the first
and only reason the village grew there with no interruption from the
National Government, from the beginning, nearly a century previously.
When
Bobby and Henry came upon an unconscious body on the ground in the
wilderness, on an early afternoon, a day after the earthquake, their
first response was to ensure no other urchin children were around to
claim shares in the spoils. After that, the two of them sat by the
body to be there to search and strip it when they sooner-or-later
decided the body had at last become a corpse.
This
was a normal typical behaviour of the ghetto residents, adults and
ragamuffin children, when they came upon drunks and other immobile
persons on the village roadsides, and in the wilderness.
The
body stirred. Bobby and Henry were disappointed. They debated briefly
about how much longer they should hang around. The body called out to
them, weakly; barely audibly. They approached it, warily. It was so
covered in dirt, they could not tell whether it was female or male;
not that they cared, one way or the other.
Help
me, please.
Okay.
Yes. How?
Help
me find my transmitter.
Transmitter?
What's
a transmitter?
It's
a small metal box. It was in my shirt pocket. It must have fallen out.
I cannot move to search around for it.
Are
you hurt?
Yes.
I think so. I cannot move.
Were
you hurt by the earthquake?
Yes.
I and my friends had parked our vehicle. The earthquake half-sunk our
vehicle before they managed to drive it free.
They
left you behind?
They
did not mean to. With the ground rocking about and trees crashing
onto them, they had to focus on getting the vehicle to safety. There
might be others like me who were left behind. The vehicle will be
back for us. I will be able to contact them with my transmitter to
let them know.
Okay.
Bobby
and Henry searched the ground all about. They did not find the
transmitter.
It
could be in one of your pockets.
Yes.
Please help me search my pockets. My limbs are paralyzed, mostly.
Bobby
and Henry were pleased to help search the pockets because it
increased their chances of finding things they could steal. In their
search, Bobby became frightened by discoveries that triggered
exchange of anxious looks between him and Henry. The person's body
under the clothes seemed to be soft and fluid, and squishy. And,
there were many immobile limbs, all of which were tangled up like
thick ropes. And some were dislocated. There were no hands or
fingers. The clothes on the person smelled like cooking oil.
Bobby
stepped back, nauseous, determined to run away. Henry instinctively
grabbed him and held on to him while he addressed the person.
Henry
was excited. Realization exploded in him! A creature from outer
space! For many, many days and weeks and months earlier, he had been
hearing people talking about alien visitors on Earth from the stars.
That talking increased everywhere when the earthquake hit, aliens
from outer space being blamed for the violation of our Mother Earth.
Henry
whispered conspiratorially to the person.
You
are from the stars, aren’t you?
The
person did not reply right away. It inhaled deeply and audibly. The
boys waited for the exhalation. When it did not happen immediately,
both of them decided to flee.
Henry
let go of Bobby. Bobby, because he had not stopped pulling away from
Henry, tumbled to the ground when Henry unexpectedly let go of him.
Bobby was knocked unconscious by either the fall or the fright at
hearing Henry's question to the person. Or by a combination of both.
At
that moment, a shaft of black light plunged through the wilderness
tree cover, and enveloped the alien.
Without
considering what to say, Henry blurted out to the alien, Take us with
you!
The
alien disappeared within the shaft of black light. The empty shaft
remained. A voice within the shaft and from above, spoke quietly to
Henry.
Only
if you don't mind taking a few hundred years to return as you are.
Henry
van Staden laughed in defiance, hugging tightly onto the unconscious
Bobby Perumal. Before he finished speaking, the shaft embraced the
two of them.
"However
long it takes! Even forever! Bobby and me!"
Contact
Ezra (Unless
you
type
the
author's name in
the subject
line
of the message we
won't know where to send it.)
