WE MADE THE NEWS

Even though it was broad daylight, I wanted to get the ship hidden in the garage as soon as possible.  It was in the invisible mode and I got it securely in the garage without incident.  I looked at the flight data recorder and we were in the air for four and one-half hours and the time indicator showed we had taken off five hours ago.  It was now 3:10 P.M  P.S.T.  I told Bobby to go straight home and act as best he could that nothing had happened and that we had worked in the yard together.  His mind was on getting his paper delivery bundle to see if we were in the news.  I went inside and fished around on the T.V and radio to see if any news on.  Nothing.  I fixed a ham and cheese sandwich and opened a cold beer.  Unless someone had seen the ship as we rose from my house, we might be safe, but alot depended upon who saw it first and where.  Bob's papers were late due to breaking news.  When he finally got them, he tore the binding cord and opened the first paper up.  He came running up to my house all aglow.  Mr. Key, LOOK!    We were on front page headlines with a big picture of the F-16 flying beside our ship.  It was taken from the ground.  The headlines read:  "STRANGE OBJECT OVER GLENDALE.  There were many eywitness accounts that filled the whole front page and other pages too.  We devoured every word.  Evidently we were not noticed until we had reached full altitude.  That was good news. It was described as looking a cigar to a triangle.   Bob was beside himself:  "We are in the news" he said over and over.  I knew what was coming; he would spill the beans to all his friends and eventually his parents would know.  I had make my move quickly.  "Bob, if you tell anyone about this, I will deny everything and not see you again...and I promise."  One thing that flight did for me was I fell in love with the ship; it was a keeper and I began planning all places I wanted to go, but only on Earth...nothing way out there.  My mind was a bee hive of flitting thoughts.  I needed to get away and get tired.  I decided to drive up to Mt Wilson and take a hike that my good friend Clyde and I took one Saturday in 1955, just three years from now and fifty seven years ago from 2012 where I came from.  Only thing was, it would be getting dark soon...another day.  I rehearsed that trip with Clyde....his older brother, Carl drove us up to Mt Wilson one sunny morning and let us off just before we came to the summit.  Clyde knew of some old ruins  about three miles off the road and he wanted to see if we could find them.  We plowed through brush until we happened upon an old and forgotten road.  We followed that until we came to a tunnel.  There were large boulders along the side of the path and we pushed them over the side.  There was a drop that went down into a valley below.  The rocks quickly gained  momentum and we could tell where the rock was even though it was out of sight.  Bushes bounced and shook as the boulder plowed down the steep side of the mountain.  We found the ruins and there were sections of three story walls still standing with tons of rubble.  It used to be an upper scale Inn where people could get away and enjoy the whisper of the pines.  We started back towards the main road as Carl was going to pick us up at a certain time.  We were both growing very tired and Clyde had another problem.  Uhhh...the space between his buns was red and chapped and quite painful.  Of all places, of all places, Clyde dropped his pants right in the middle of the road and tried to insert a sheet of tissue between his buns.  Of all times, of all times, a car appeared from around the corner and Cyde panicked.  He tried to walk to the side of the road with his pants around his ankles so he could hide behind a bush.  When the people passed, they were convulsive with laughter as was I.  Clyde was no where to be seen.....(to be continued)