"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
Nobody like you ,Geo.
ReplyDeleteYou are unique ...loved this little story!
Kind Margie, I hadn't addressed the ufo enigma before and had fun with it.
DeleteGeo. 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.
ReplyDeleteI too hope we're just being observed, not judged.
DeleteThink Margie meant nobody like U. (Or everyone like yoU. Either way.)
ReplyDeleteSometime nobody like me but me still like them.
DeleteU2?
DeleteMe 65.
DeleteHow I love the quirky, questioning uniqueness that wears your label.
ReplyDeleteAnd 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.
Thank YOU, EC, let's keep looking up --and Happy Birthday!
DeleteI wonder if U will grace you with another visit. He (She) would bring you so much amusement and you obviously amuse U.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope U will. I have a good opinion of U.
DeleteGeo have you ever though about being a screenwriter?? Your tales would make some incredibly interesting movies :)
ReplyDeleteI know a couple screenwriters. They're amazing and quite beyond my league, but thanks for the compliment.
DeleteThat's us...all the same and all different. How I wish I knew now what I knew then.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Except I'm not even sure I know what I know now.
DeleteIt'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.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I'm reminded of the modern Passion Play (1951, "Day The Earth Stood Still"): "Klaatu barada nikto".
DeleteLike Delores, I wish I knew then what I know now. Alike, unique, culturally diverse yet connected...
ReplyDeleteThat was a wonderful movie for me to see when it appeared in afternoon movies. Prepared me for much more than I realized then.
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.
DeleteA 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 :)
ReplyDeleteI'd love having a conversation with U and see where it would go :)
I hope you are doing well!
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.
DeleteJust 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 :-)
ReplyDeleteLisa, I'm sure the ufos --and the dragons-- appreciated the gesture.
DeleteDear 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.
ReplyDeleteNow 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.
Dear Brigitta,
DeleteTruman 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteHmm, that would depend on which was smoking the hookah --and what was in it. But a very apt analogy just the same!
DeleteGreat 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?"
ReplyDeleteHaven'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?
DeleteI 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"...)
ReplyDeleteThanks Susan! I've never seen Honey Boo Boo but from what people tell me I thought it was ABOUT aliens.
Delete