ALIEN SIGHTING

Photo by S. Auberle

For the last two hours, thin people in bright clothing have been running past my house, down the long, golden tunnel of my road. The rain has finally stopped, the temp is 39 degrees, and earlier, a weak sun attempted to appear but it's gone now. The very thin people don't seem to notice or care. The looks on their faces are intense. The womens' hair bounces down their backs and I wonder what they're thinking of as they plod along for fifty miles. What it's like to be first? What it's like to be last? Are they running to something? Or away? I think of the times in my life I should have run...and didn't. Both ways. But that kind of thinking gets you nowhere fast, so then I begin pondering how not in shape I am, and how not athletic, and that gets you even less nowhere. Finally, after nearly three hours of nagging, non-specific guilt at watching these creatures, I think I know the answer--they are, clearly, not from this planet! A shiny, aluminum spaceship, under cover of yesterday's nor'easter, deposited them here, with the express purpose of inducing guilt. They're aliens! I mean, let's face it, who on this planet would, voluntarily, run FIFTY miles?

Okay, since that issue is solved, finally, think I'll go bake a pumpkin cake...