Knowing: Four

Four

“Hey, are we still meeting for dinner tonight?”

“Sure, I can be there about 6 p.m.  Where do you want to go?”

“Not sure.  Let’s decide when you get here.”

“Okay, see you then, Carol.”

I’d met Carol at a local UFO Conference.  A slender, blond woman with a nicely coiffed bob from South Africa looking older than her fifty years.  Living in a country where apartheid was the main stay wasn’t easy for this free spirit. Her pasty white skin and angular facial features made her stunning with her model’s figure. 

She lived forty-five minutes over the mountains to the northeast in Cashiers (pronounced cash – ers).  Carol spoke about numerous encounters that night at the conference. Held in a state-of-the-art senior center, the conference was packed.  Many stood outside the doors hoping to hear something. 

An accident on the narrow road to Carol’s home meant not only would have to wait to use the restroom, but that I would be late for dinner.  There was no cell phone tower in this remote area.   

She greeted me instantly as I pulled into her driveway.  Her daughter was away for the night so it was a good opportunity to talk. There was so much I wanted to know about her encounter, her sightings.

Spending a few hours with this eclectic woman was like dining with a butterfly.  I kept wondering where and when she would land. If she would land.  I think it was her high energy that attracted UFOs to her home. There was much I wanted to know.

Almost immediately, I was whisked to her garden.

 She was bubbling with stories about seeing them land, only to take off again.

The garden was mystical, magical, Yoda-like. Eerie. She couldn’t wait to tell me about the waterless stream on her property.

“I dug the creek myself.  Some neighbors came by to help.  Look at it.  There was no water here and now it is abundant. After seeing the spaceship and setting my intention, the water appeared one morning.  A splashing brook."

She ushered me into her more than comfy home which doubles as a hair cutting salon for her day work and left to prepare our meal. We had discussed going out to a restaurant.  When I arrived, Carol said she preferred to make dinner.  I hadn't eaten all day.  Since I hadn't tasted South African food before, I was excited to eat. 

After a few minutes, she appeared from behind the tiny bar in her tiny closet sized kitchen.  A plate with four hind quartered chicken was served.  They had been roasting for some time. She didn't use spices.  That was the entire meal save for dry red wine. Not being much of a drinker, I took a sip and left the glass on her bistro table on the deck where we were eating.

“Do you live here alone?” I asked.

“Yes, I was married for a little while.  It didn’t work out but I got her” she said pointing to a ten year old child’s picture.

“She is lovely” I said.

“I saw it right there, through the slider” Carol said pointing toward the woods.

An hour later, her friend met us on the balcony. Her friend stayed while she spoke.  Carol softly retreated to the chaise. 

As the evening faded, I thanked my new friend for the tour,  for sharing her experience and I left to go home. I was starved. 

The evening sky was full of bright white lights everywhere I looked.  More activity than a planetarium. I was driving the Highlander slow, often pulling off to the side of the road in wonder so I wouldn’t miss anything. Taking astronomy in college helped; I wished I had my textbook next to me.

The lights leapfroged from east to west, then south to north. I had seen them before off my front porch in the same vicinity in the sky though the thick forest often made it difficult to follow. 

Then the sky lights vanished as I followed the circuitous road into the forest canopy.  Reaching the bottom of the basin, I turned left to Webster Road which followed the Tuckaseegee River to the highway.  I was the lone car on the road. For the entire trip.

I hadn’t gone more than a couple hundred feet before I saw it. Almost immediately, I turned my head looking all around me. Where was everyone?

There wasn’t a car in sight until I made a u-turn to turn south.  With my speed deliberately slowed  ensuring my safety, I was able rubber neck everywhere.  Suddenly there were two medium sized white sedans behind me.  One was in the fast lane behind me, the other white car was one-third of a mile behind me in the slow lane.  Despite my slower speed, neither white vehicle appeared to get closer to me. 

Something made me look up.  And there it was!  I didn’t want to take my eyes of it, afraid it might disappear.  But I turned around to check the location of the white sedans.  It was uncanny that we were the only vehicles on the road for miles.