i see UFOs every day
27th of December, 2025i see UFOs every day
like that one, hovering over a gas station as i drive towards it. lucky! my fuel is running out.
they never do anything much. i mean, they usually just hover here or there. or anywhere. saw one hovering over a wheat field on my way here. i wasn't sure exactly what it was doing. nobody is. but they don't seem that bad, after all.
i remember when they first came. first there were the tweets, then there was the panic. i remember staying at home for a week. the government didn't know what to do. nobody did. but the UFOs weren't doing anything. like, anything anything. just hovering.
and then came the memes and the conspiracy theorists. the conspiracy theorists never believe anything. when there weren't aliens, they said that the government was hiding them. now that there are aliens, they say they are fake and that the government is still hiding the real ones. for some reason.
i mean, i can't deny the fact that i've never saw an alien. a living alien, i mean, unless those metal things are the aliens. actually, maybe scratch that. i don't want to get nightmares again.
i drive to the gas station. it's pretty late, by my standards, at least. the sun is setting down. i hear the familiar hum of the UFO above me. i get out of the car and start filling up my tank. it's pretty lonely out here. nothing but the woods and the gas station, but it can't be that far away from some town. maybe a few kilometres further down the road.
i see the owner carrying boxes. i think there are crisps there. some frozen sausages, beans, nothing much. he plants them on the concrete ground just below the saucer and we both look as the crates start flying up, up. then they get inside the saucer through an opening. the insides are very bright and when it opens up, i squint my eyes. it's like looking at the sun but worse. at least the sun is not hovering a few metres above you. just imagine. that would be pretty awful. everyone would be dead, i suppose.
'feeding the aliens?' i joke. the owner looks at me.
'the lads up there must be hungry,' he says and when he does so, a pile of money gets dropped down from the UFO as it opens for a split second. 'plus, they pay some good cash for it!'
i never really understood where they got the cash from. the expertise by the government showed that everything matched up. but the government also said that they will not be accepting it, considering its 'extraterrestrial origin.' i mean, fair enough, but the people still use it. how are the banks going to prove that it came from aliens anyway?
the owner takes the cash and looks at the saucer as he tips his hat. i wonder what the aliens are thinking right now. i mean, if they learned our economy, they probably understand our gestures. probably. not entirely sure.
when it all started, when was it? a year ago? no, i think maybe two? well, anyway, when it was all just happening and everyone was panicking i was staying at my parents' house. well, my parent's house. it was my mum's, since my dad lives in a different city. and that night, maybe a week since the UFOs appeared, one started hovering over our house. well, our apartment, we don't have a house. so it wasn't just us who were worried, it was the entire apartment block.
i was taking out the trash (though my mum tried to convince me that she'd do it instead. i went anyway) and my neighbour also came out onto the landing. she was a woman, i don't know, maybe thirty? early forties? she used to smoke on the balcony of our landing (my mum hated it!). and we didn't normally talk, i wasn't very social and neither was she. but that day, while the saucer was hanging over our house and neither of us got a good night's rest from its humming (it started doing it at night), she turned to me, cigarette in hand, and said:
'do you think it's dangerous?'
i didn't exactly understand her question at first, so i replied:
'what is?'
'the UFO, i mean, that... that thing above our heads,' she made a circling motion with her finger pointing upwards.
'oh, that.'
'yeah, that.'
and then we stood in silence for a bit. i remember forgetting to press the button to call for the lift.
'probably not,' i said. 'i haven't really heard that they were doing anything, apart from... you know, just staying there.'
'yeah, probably not.' she started fiddling with her cigarette, looking into the distance. well, her eyes were directed at the white wall of the landing, but they weren't looking at it. just thinking. hovering.
'i have a child,' she suddenly said. she looked worried and i didn't know what to do. i looked at her but she continued to stare at the wall. no, not at it, but just... in the distance. hovering. she was staring into nothingness. i pressed the lift button.
'mhm,' i replied. we stood in silence. the lift arrived and i got in it. i felt embarrassed, but what was i supposed to do? i barely knew the woman.
then, the next morning the UFO disappeared just as suddenly as it came. my neighbour moved the next day too. i didn't see her any more, nor her child.
my tank is full and i pay for the gas. but i don't get into my car just yet, my body is still aching from the long drive and i decide to walk around. i go into the shop.
it's small and narrow and crowded (the owner and i were the only two there). bare. just some shelves. but clean, it was exceptionally clean. like, really clean. i suppose it isn't that easy keeping that level of cleanliness as a single person. the owner - a middle-aged man with a beard and a beer belly. he looked like a bear, in both senses.
i browse the shelves, not really planning on buying anything, but hey, might as well. the owner seems like a cool guy. i get a packet of crisps and a cola and go to the counter. the man looks up from his crosswords. he notices the badge on my shirt and smirks. he says:
'you know, i sometimes wonder what those aliens think about us.'
'what do you mean?'
'you know, us.'
'oh!'
he scans my two items and then looks at the register for a long time.
'you think those aliens have that kind of thing?' he finally asks. 'being different?'
i don't know what to say, so i say: 'uh... i guess?'
'i hope.'
'yes, me too,' i say a bit flushed. i was never good at social interactions.
'gets difficult here when you live in a small community.' he sighs. 'sometimes i wish i had a UFO like them. just get up there and no one's bothering you.'
he puts my crisps and cola in a plastic bag and hands it to me.
'always nice to see other folks come from the cities. brings a joy to my heart.'
i smile as i take the bag.
'thank you.'
i go to the door but i stop before i leave. i turn to the owner again and say:
'you know, i think the aliens would think that you are a pretty cool guy.'
he gives a hearty laugh and i head back to my car.
back