Chilling Past

Yesterday I was visiting with my Lola (my grandmother), and we swapped the weirdest stories…

I had stopped by her house after school, and we were talking over dessert. She had baked this delicious cassava cake, and I was commenting on how much I loved her cassava recipes. She replied that she had learned to make lots of different things with it when she was living in Ecuador. Ecuador? Well I know Filipinas use cassava in their cooking, but I didn’t know her recipes had Latin origins as well.

She said she had sometimes vacationed there with her aunt and uncle in Quito when she was a teenager. Funny, I had never heard stories of it before. I asked her why she never mentions that we had family there, and when was the last time she visited?

My Lola fell silent. She said she hadn’t been back since she was 17. She said Quito was a strange place, and she dared not return. What about our family? She said she loved her aunt and uncle very much, but after her visit in 1949, her parents never let her go back.

I asked what happened, and what I heard next made me feel very uneasy.

She said it had started out as a typical vacation, and she was staying with her aunt and uncle in their apartment near the Central Plaza. As the capital city, there was always something to do in Quito, and she never got bored. She said it was a busy city, and her aunt and uncle always took her out.

It was February 12, and the three were relaxing in the living room after dinner. They would always turn the radio on for entertainment, and tonight there was going to be a special performance by some famous artists. At 9 o'clock, as they were enjoying the music, the broadcast was interrupted by an urgent news bulletin. To the family’s horror, the announcer started to describe how aliens were attacking the city in the form of a large cloud. Their landing was proposed to be 20 miles away.

Without skipping a beat, Uncle Roberto demanded that the ladies pack up a few things and evacuate the house immediately. Terrified, my Lola grabbed her purse and jacket and was ushered out of the house with her Aunt Lucia holding her tight. The three stumbled onto the sidewalk only to find that the main square was mobbed with people. Some families, like hers, were bundled up with their children dashing away down the alleys, while other men were brandishing weapons and yelling for everyone to stand up and fight. Uncle Roberto, the bravest man she knew, refrained from joining the mob, though several of his friends urged him to help defend the city. Knowing he had his niece to care for, Uncle Roberto swept the ladies away from the square, fearing the chaos would consume them before the Martians would.

Uncle Roberto didn’t know much about extra-terrestrials, but the fog that had descended upon the central square was undeniable. So strange and mysterious - they had better keep moving. As they were rushing away, more men with torches were rushing towards the main square, yelling their intentions to burn the radio station for being in cohorts with the aliens. Everyone was panicked and confused – some people were saying that the broadcast was a hoax, while others were determined on violence.

My Lola never saw the radio station burn down, nor witness the people dying in the fire, but it happened. She said it was a dark night for Quito, and she had never been that afraid in her whole life. Uncle Roberto had managed to avoid the riots and hide them out in the country, and as soon as it was safe again, she went back home to Manila - never to return again.

My Lola said the experience shook her, and ever since then, she has believed that aliens are out there. In turn I told her my story, and she only shook her head. She said she was too old to be worrying - if they will come, they will come.

Lost in the Fog

I’m not sure what to think about what happened last night. It was so bizarre…

Weary from work, I was totally spaced out during the drive home. The radio was on, but I barely heard anything that was playing. My mind was in a daze, which made it difficult to think about anything except the road. The visibility was awful, and us commuters labored our way up and down 19^th Ave.

After parking the car and grappling with my many grocery bags, backpack, laptop, and gym bag, I hoisted my load with gritted teeth and began trudging to the apartment. I had forgotten my jacket and was shivering in the cold. The mist was particularly strong, and my face was starting to get wet. My balancing act with my packages didn’t last long, and I felt my duffel bag slipping in my right as my left was struggling with a mega-pack of paper towels. A mere ten feet away from my doorstep, my cargo gave way, and my items dropped all over the sidewalk. I cursed San Francisco for making me so miserable, and in my frustration, I stomped my foot and wagged my finger up at the horrible sky.

At that precise moment, I saw something so remarkable that my mouth fell open, and I stopped in bewilderment with my finger still hovering in the air.

Even through the misty darkness, a purple orb was glowing faintly above me. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, because the glow would fade to nothing, and the orb would seem to completely disappear. Slowly, but surely, it would light up again, illuminating the orb just enough to delineate its shape – an octagon, not a perfect sphere. The guy from Safeway had described something similar.

Despite the rarity of seeing a semi-brilliant firework hanging out next to the moon, I felt enormously calm and relaxed. While I wanted to shout to the neighbors and the police and the government that someone should immediately check this out, part of me wanted to just let it be. It seemed oddly unobtrusive there, just fainting in and out while the world was distracted with its life.

For whatever reason, I tore myself away from the spectacular gem and stooped down to pick up my things. I gathered my belongings in my arms, took one last look at the heavens, and went quietly into the house.

At least I wasn't alone in what I saw. Others are noticing, while others sleep unknowingly in their beds.

Safeway Secrets

I’m not gonna pretend I know anything about life outside our planet – who really can? But what happened last night, got me thinking…

I was standing in line at the 19^th and Taraval Safeway with my frozen dinner, when I overheard two guys talking behind me. They each had a beer pack in hand and were muttering quietly to each other. As the lady in front of me haggled with the cashier about how her debit card really did have money on it, I couldn’t help but listen in on the hushed conversation:

“Dude, it was real.”

“No way dude, it must have been our imagination.”

“There’s no way we were imaging the same thing at the same time!”

“Maybe it was a shooting star.”

“But it wasn’t moving. It was just there.”

“Maybe it was a spaceship that NASA forgot about, I don’t know!”

“Exactly! I definitely think it was a spaceship, but seriously dude, NASA doesn’t just forget about its spaceships.”

“Maybe WE should just forget about it.”

“No way man, I know what I saw. And it was weird.”

Just as my interest was piqued, debit card lady loudly interrupted my thoughts by angrily throwing dollar bills at the poor cashier. The guys behind me stopped too, even though I desperately wanted to hear more.

Then, as I greeted the cashier and set down my Lean Cuisine, the guys starting talking again.

“Dude, you saw it appear and disappear just like I did.”

“I seriously think it was a trick of the eyes.”

“I bet you it’s still out there.”

“But when we left, it was gone.”

“Or just invisible.”

Totally rapt in the story, I didn’t even hear the cashier fumble over my last name with my receipt. Finally, the cashier’s “Excuse me, miss?” caught my attention and I was forced to turn away and begrudgingly go home. 

After all, I’m not one to interact with strangers.