(August 13, 2018)
The alien called Skid-loader noisily arrived in the dark, its bright lights blinding us
beckoning us to put our folding chairs in its yawing mouth and sit on its upper lip
Lifting us up a few inches, it backed up and slowly, bumpily
took us behind our friend’s farm in northeastern Ohio
its lights bounce-playing on the rows of tall corn as we passed
I screamed when the alien tilted and tipped on uneven ground
The Husband kept manfully-quiet but hung on tightly
Skid-Loader stopped close to the folding-chair-reclined figure of our friend’s wife
near an open field
highlighted in the alien lights
staring up at the dark, starlit sky
We stepped off Skid-loader’s mouth, thankful to be safe, and unfolded our chairs as
it moved around beyond us and shut down to rest
Our friend appeared from behind and reclined on his own folding lounge chair
We all stared up into the gorgeous starry sky
Glossy clouds tried to cover our monitor into space but stayed away just
enough for us to see past them
Many airplane lights flashed, heading in different directions, then
what we came for happened!
Here… over there… down there…
“Oh! Did you see that!!”
“Huge flaring arc!”
“Yeah! A long one!”
All this to see meteor showers or as we enjoyed calling them
Falling Stars