All aboard. People I very much appreciate:

Monday, January 19, 2015

UFOs Like Riddles


"Well, hello you."

"You-Eff-Oh, if you don't mind."

"I'm Geo. You don't really have a name, do you?"

"Uh, no, I travel light."

"So what brings you --may I call you 'U'?-- to my garden tonight?"

"I just saw you looking up in the dark. I've seen you do that a lot over the years and thought I'd visit."

"Thank you U.  I appreciate the company. Been here long then?"

"Oh yes. I love to roam over the towns as they go to sleep and watch the few restless bits of traffic --engines starting and lonely cars stirring like fevered dreams."

"That's your assignment, your whole mission to this planet?"

"No, that would be silly. It's just that I've been here so long...if I knew now what I knew then..."

"Ah, I understand. We humans have a similar saying: If I knew then what I know now, surely I have forgotten it."

"Or, you could have accomplished all you've done since in ten minutes. Funny humans."

"Funny UFOs. You remind me of someone I used to know."

"Who?"

"Me, or someone else --I forget. Do you remember what planet you came from?"

"Only that it was an unhappy place. Contentious populace. Our tolerance of each other was considered a recurring miracle. It comprised our whole religion. Many of us volunteered to explore the universe.

"I'd like that, U."

"But Geo., there must be so many people, like you, whom you could get along with easily."

"Oh I get along fine! But try to understand, there is nobody else like me --sometimes I can't even do it."

"Is this a rare condition?"

"Certainly not. Everybody on Earth suffers from it."

"Then, you ARE all alike! Hahaha--Zooooom!"

"Hey U! Come back here...oh dang, out-riddled by a UFO again!"


                                   ***************
                        For  Brigitta: My Aventures On Kaboom



32 comments:

  1. Nobody like you ,Geo.
    You are unique ...loved this little story!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kind Margie, I hadn't addressed the ufo enigma before and had fun with it.

      Delete
  2. Geo. Perhaps we are kindred spirits. I've spent many hours looking into the stars, wondering and wandering. Can they discern our thoughts? Are they aware of our better intentions too.? I certainly hope we are not convicted, in their awareness, by our primitive ways. We have barely begun to walk, barely aware of the history that is over our heads.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too hope we're just being observed, not judged.

      Delete
  3. Think Margie meant nobody like U. (Or everyone like yoU. Either way.)

    ReplyDelete
  4. How I love the quirky, questioning uniqueness that wears your label.
    And watching the stars. And wondering. A life-time of wondering which will never end. Particularly when you send me wondering off on tangents. And by-ways. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank YOU, EC, let's keep looking up --and Happy Birthday!

      Delete
  5. I wonder if U will grace you with another visit. He (She) would bring you so much amusement and you obviously amuse U.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I sure hope U will. I have a good opinion of U.

      Delete
  6. Geo have you ever though about being a screenwriter?? Your tales would make some incredibly interesting movies :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know a couple screenwriters. They're amazing and quite beyond my league, but thanks for the compliment.

      Delete
  7. That's us...all the same and all different. How I wish I knew now what I knew then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. Except I'm not even sure I know what I know now.

      Delete
  8. It's amazing how very much alike we all are - - in our own unique, one-of-a-kind ways. Sometimes it takes a visitor from another planet to help us realize this. Stimulating conversation, Geo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Indeed, I'm reminded of the modern Passion Play (1951, "Day The Earth Stood Still"): "Klaatu barada nikto".

      Delete
  9. Like Delores, I wish I knew then what I know now. Alike, unique, culturally diverse yet connected...

    That was a wonderful movie for me to see when it appeared in afternoon movies. Prepared me for much more than I realized then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess that's why I too have a fondness for the 1951, "Day The Earth Stood Still". To be presented with a stranger to our continuum and given a vital message of peace was indeed apposite at our entrance to the Atomic Age.

      Delete
  10. A lot of times I wish I knew then what I know now....but sometimes I just wish I was a child again, not really knowing anything and therefore enjoying life completely fearless :)
    I'd love having a conversation with U and see where it would go :)
    I hope you are doing well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Beate. You can converse with U whenever imagination calls. Thanks also for writing during what must be a busy and happy time for you --my congratulations.

      Delete
  11. Just in from walking the recycling down the drive- it is a clear sparkly night and I waved at the stars. Now I know it was not a wasted gesture :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa, I'm sure the ufos --and the dragons-- appreciated the gesture.

      Delete
  12. Dear Geo., I like people or U's that travel lightly (I see no sense in doing otherwise) - and for a long time I used the private pen name 'Holly Golightly" - but that was 'all Greek to" most people.
    Now THAT is interesting: while reading your text I had a Freudian slip: I really read: "Many of us volunteered to exploDe the universe". Good grief - must have been the words "tolerance" and "religion" - the slip shows me that the shock about the occurences in Paris is deep.
    Hope that people learn to get along with each other (more) easily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Brigitta,
      Truman Capote's darling character has one of the catchiest names in entertainment history. Holly Golightly has doubtless made herself known to all the world by now. As to "Freudian slip", perhaps not.Explore/explode has been dealt with in 2 of my essays. I have installed a clickable link at the bottom of this post to my adventures on planet Kaboom a year ago. And yes, I join you in your excellent hope.

      Delete
  13. There was something very Wonderland-y about that exchange! I'm trying to figure out which of you was the caterpillar and which was Alice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm, that would depend on which was smoking the hookah --and what was in it. But a very apt analogy just the same!

      Delete
  14. Great fun, Geo! Love the image of You-Eff-Oh. You have all kinds of unique conversations! I've spent a lot of time looking up at the night sky. I don't for a second believe that there is no other intelligent life in the universe. I'm thankful that I lived to see the incredible images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Have you read Dan Simmons' "Ilium?"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haven't read Mr. Simmons' book but am fond of sci-fi, Shakespeare, Homer, and revisionism in imagination. Will definitely keep it in mind when book hunting. Am also, like you, happy to live in the Hubble era --to see that life is opportunistic enough to exploit a wide variety of hosts. Have you perhaps, like me, seen something remarkable and unidentifiable?

      Delete
  15. I hope U visits you again. It's easy to tell you had fun writing this post, because it was fun to read. (Oh, and if U comes back, don't let him anywhere near a TV set. God forbid aliens judge the human race by a show like "Honey Boo Boo"...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Susan! I've never seen Honey Boo Boo but from what people tell me I thought it was ABOUT aliens.

      Delete

Please comment! Stats are just numbers and don't really represent you. I need to read what you think and thank you.