6. A Further Snapshot

 

            Bertie held onto Howard, who was loving the attention. She looked completely confused. There was a little frown between her blue eyes.       
            “To tell you the truth, Bertie, I only know a couple of bare facts. I don’t know how or why we are here, but here is, in fact, a ranch a few miles outside of Luminous.
            “This kind gentleman, who is our host for the moment, is Dr. Hector Brown. I have never met him before this very night, a few minutes ago,” said Russell slowly and carefully. Then he stopped as if thinking what to say next.
            “Did we come here together, Russell?” she asked.
            “No. Howard and I came here looking for you,” said Russell. He neglected to mention how they knew to look where they now found themselves. No one had questioned that, so far.
            “How did I come to be here?” she asked again.
            “Ma’am, perhaps I can fill in a little here,” said Dr. Brown. “This will be hard for you to accept I think, but here it is. You were carried here by a friend of mine who found you walking among the Luminous Lights on that hillside out there. He was concerned for your well being, so he asked you if you would accept his help. Apparently you agreed to be rescued. By the way, how are your feet? He was worried that you would be injured while walking barefoot in the desert?”
            “Yeah. My feet are kind of roughed up, now that I think about it,” said Bertie. “But who is this friend? Leaving that aside, I have no idea why I was there either. By the way, Dr. my name is Alberta Mulvaney. People call me Bertie.
            “I don’t understand how anyone could “carry” me. What does that mean?” she said, at last falling silent.
            “Ms. Mulvaney, my friend is Pollis. He is fully capable of carrying you! I think you may remember him in time,” smiled Dr. Brown. “He brought you here because he trusts me.
            “You know, I think we should reconvene in the kitchen. I’ll make coffee and find out if Dolores has any cookies or anything stashed in there. Does that sound good?” said Dr. Brown.
            “Yes, it does, sir,” said Russell who was noticing that he was rather hungry. Bertie nodded and Howard who was willing to follow her anywhere, was agreeable too, so it was decided to move to the kitchen.
            In the kitchen, which was much larger than most modern living rooms, Russell and Bertie took seats at the big wooden table. Howard stayed in her lap.
            Dr. Brown put a pot of coffee on and then took a look in the fridge. “Maybe you need something more substantial than cookies?” he asked.
            “Oh yes, please,” said Bertie. She realized that she hadn’t eaten all day.
            Dr. Brown got out a platter and filled it with swiss cheese and cold cuts, then added rye bread and mayo and some mustard. Then he got out plates, four just in case Howard needed a plate too.
            By then the coffee was done, so he he brought three mugs to the table, and a saucer. There was cream and sugar too. He put some cream in the saucer for Howard.
            For a few minutes Russell and Bertie made sandwiches and they all drank coffee. It was like any friendly nighttime snack among friends.
            “Tell me about Pollis, Dr. Brown,” said Bertie.
            Dr. Brown thought for a minutes. Then he said, “Pollis is not human. He is of another race of manlike creatures who inhabit the desert at times. In other places those like him are called Sasquatch, or Bigfoot. Around here people say Desert Walker. No one knows a lot about them. Is that very hard for you to hear, Bertie?”
            “Yes, but how can I argue against it, without calling you a liar, and I don’t call you a liar,” she said. She looked near tears and exhausted.
            “I think we should start at the beginning,” said Russell. “What do you remember from this morning back at Apache John, Bertie? Do you know how this started? Do you know why you are barefoot? Is there anything you can think of to explain where you find yourself?”
            She stared into her coffee cup as if an answer might lurk there. She frowned at it.
            “This is what I remember,” she said. “I was upstairs getting dressed for the day. I hadn’t even been down to the store yet. I hadn’t put on my shoes or put my hair up. Howard was asleep on my bed, like he always is in the morning.
            “It was still pretty dark out, but I noticed a bright light down by the gas pump, you know, through my bedroom window? I wondered what in the world? When I looked down in front of the store, there was a strange looking thing parked there. It looked more like some sort of aircraft than anything else. But it didn’t look aerodynamic, if you see what I mean,” she said. “It was weird.”
“So, I ran downstairs to see what it was, Russell,” she said slowly, as if just then remembering.
            “When I opened the shop door I noticed a very slight electrical humming sound.”
            Dr. Brown made no comment.
            “Bertie, I can’t say you didn’t see that without calling you a liar or delusional, but jeez..” said Russell. “That’s hard to swallow.”                 He didn’t look happy. He even looked a little grumpy.
            “The next thing I remember is walking in the desert, just for a little while. Then I saw clouds of colored lights. That’s it! Then I woke here with Howard sniffing me,” said Bertie. “I even think that sniffing is what snapped me out of whatever it was!”
            Howard looked rather pleased with himself just then, and there was a little laughter around the table.
            “Ms. Mulvaney,” Dr. Brown began.
            “It’s Mrs. Mulvaney, Dr. Brown. I’m widowed,” said Bertie.
            “I see,” he said slowly. “Mrs. Mulvaney, can you think of any reason extra-governmental forces, like um, black ops of some kind might be interested in you?”

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