They're Back

I can’t help but wonder how many adults like me enjoy watching the clouds to see what images they can imagine them to be.

More often than not, I can always find something interesting. A few times while out fishing with my husband, I’ve seen Angels hovering above the harbor. Having my phone in my pocket, I was always lucky enough to be able to capture those images.

I’ve seen my share of dogs, cats, birds, fish, and other assortments of animals floating in the sky. While I sit and stare, mesmerized by the clarity of the image, I watch as the wind shifts, and the image breaks apart and fades away.

How I wish I had more time to just lie in the backyard, or on a beach, and just watch the amazing clouds and their formations! One day, I’ll do just that!

But for now, taking each day as it comes is the best I can do and yet, while time isn’t always on my side, I still get to see some oddities above.

While I’m writing about oddities in the sky, I know there aren’t too many of us who don’t believe in UFOs. I believe they do exist. There have been way too many reports to prove otherwise.

In my own area, the quiet, peaceful city of Punta Gorda, Florida, there have been several sightings.

While you may want to think I’m crazy, the police reports say otherwise.

Maybe that’s why as I look up to see what strange formations the clouds may take, there is always a glimmer of hope that I may see a UFO.

Only a few weeks ago, my husband and I chose to have lunch on our lanai – something we don’t often have the opportunity to do. He’s either working in the garage or the yard and I’m either working (I’m a home health care aide) or on the computer (paying bills, writing, etc.).

We were enjoying the warm weather, something we’d not had in the past few weeks while cold front after cold front blew through Florida, we conversed about the upcoming weekend with my son and his family – a visit we so looked forward to.

As we ate our lunch, naturally, I searched the sky for whatever I might find. Was I hoping for a UFO? Honestly, that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was just enjoying the day and looking at the clouds.

It was then I saw it. I gasped so quickly, I almost choked on my lunch. My husband jumped up from his chair and started patting my back. Within seconds, I explained that it wasn’t food that made me choke; it was what I saw in the sky. I pointed to a cloud behind him, and after he turned and saw it, he became as shocked and mesmerized as I was.

Like me, he wasn’t sure if he should whisper. He thought about calling the neighbors or dialing 9-1-1. I, on the other hand, hurried inside and grabbed my camera.

Like all clouds, I thought it wouldn’t take too long for it to whisk itself away.

How do I describe this thing we saw in the sky? First of all, it didn’t look human. While I know all clouds look larger than what their reality image would be, this looked enormous. It didn’t look like any animal I had ever seen. In some way, it reminded me of a robot, but then again, not really.

If you’re familiar with the old 60s Rockem, Sockem, Robots, just picture one of them larger than life, hovering over your house. That’s exactly what the cloud resembled, and it was the first thought I had. Yet, then again, it looked more menacing, that is, if clouds can even look menacing.

So, my husband and I quietly sat there and watched. It was so weird. As I said, the cloud didn’t dissipate as quickly as I had anticipated. Normally, we would see clouds move with the wind or watch as the earth moves during its normal rotation and blow the clouds away. Whatever! However, it works, the clouds rarely stay in one spot too long but this one did. This one didn’t seem to be in any hurry to move on.

Finally, my husband said he needed to finish mowing the grass. I knew I needed to get back to writing. One last look at the mysterious cloud, and hubby and I walked in different directions. A few hours later, the cloud (?) was gone. Vanished without a trace. The sky had become as clear as a newly washed chalkboard.

We asked a few of our friends if they’d seen any unusual cloud formation lately and none had. When I showed them the photo, they were more than curious. A few female friends allowing their imaginations to run wild, were a bit concerned.

I reassured them that while I sincerely doubted the cloud whose image I captured with my camera was an actual ET, the ETs were already among us. I didn’t doubt that for a second. Their husbands laughed while the women didn’t.

Do I really, honestly believe in ETs? Yes, I am not that egotistical enough to think that my species are the only beings in the entire universe. For all I know, we might have been the experiments that went horribly wrong and made better with time.

Would I recognize an ET if I ever saw one? How would I even know? Can they shape-shift to look like us? Possibly, so if that’s the case, again, the people who live next door could be ETs.

Just think of that old movie, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It began as a novel by Jack Finney, but soon became a magazine series back in 1954 and by 1956 became the movie with Kevin McCarthy playing the lead Miles Bennett.

Keeping that movie in mind, do you really know your neighbors well enough to say they are truly human? Or are they, in fact, pod people?

Once again, keeping that in mind, who or what on earth, or almost on earth was that thing whose image I captured with my camera?

I’ll probably never know but it sure is enough to enliven a conversation.