Chapter 3

We got back to the Jeep and, maybe because it looked more inviting than his van, he just laid down on the back seat. I sat behind the driving wheel and waited for him to speak first. After a few minutes, I realized that BB had fallen asleep and I, too, began to nap. I was having a very strange dream concerning aliens and young girls and, while it was quite erotic, it was also quite disturbing. I woke up to the sound of Billy Bob humming, perhaps in his sleep, perhaps not. “Hey Bubba, you awake?” I guess he meant me.

“Yes, Billy Bob, how are you doing back there?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Seems like every time I start nappin’, I get these strange ideas in my head. I dunno ifin’ they’re dreams or what. This time it was them damn space guys and their girlfriends. Really fucked up, them guys.”

What he said really shook me up. Were we having the same dream or was it somehow real? I felt like I needed to get to the bottom of this. As I started to ask him about it, I tried to look out of the front windscreen but it was covered in some sort of dust. I glanced to my left and there was that same dust as we had seen earlier across the creek. The grass was also flattened in a circular pattern, now I don’t know what to think. This may not be a hoax as I thought earlier. “Tell me about these space guys and their girlfriends. How old do you think they were and did they communicate with you?”

“Well what I guess were the guys looked kinda lookiin’ like you ‘n me but kinda different. And them girlfriends were all young lookin’ but they was tellin’ me somethin’ about how they was gettin’ younger instead of older. They weren’t talking like us but kind of in my head talkin’. Them girls were somethin’ else, sweet young things, real purty too. A guy could get busted with somethin’ that young. They was all over you and me even though it was like they was the space guys womens. Pretty soon they was nakid and tryin’ to get into our pants. Man, it was wild. The things they was doin’, man, we was sure enjoyin’ it. Their mouths was like velvet and not that cheap velvet from Walmart neither. As soon as one was really goin’ at it the next little girly was pushin’ her asides and then climbin’ on top, lordy be. Even when I was their age, I never got nothin’ that good. Did ya hear somethin’ about wantin’ our babies?”

“Do you think it was real or just a dream?”

“Man, I don’t rightly know but it sure seemed real to me.”

“Well I think it was just a dream.” What else could I say but that, not that I was certain. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more sure I was that there was some secrets well hidden in Little Beaver Creek. I tried to talk to him some more about this dream and whether he had other experiences like this but he drifted back to sleep. I tried to open the door but it seemed stuck. Now I am not prone to panic but this whole scenario had set me on edge. With BB in the back asleep, I turned the key in the ignition and fortunately the Jeep started right up. I turned on the windscreen wipers and managed to clear enough of the powder to provide enough visibility to make my way back to the petrol station not knowing where else to go. Travis came running outside as I pulled into the station. He seemed very upset and was waving his arms for me to follow him inside.

I parked the Jeep and now the door was unstuck so, leaving BB asleep, I headed inside. Travis was talking so fast, and with his accent, he was nearly unintelligible. I held up my hands and got Travis to stop talking and start over. He got a funny look on his face and asked me to sit down. I took the chair behind his desk and asked what was wrong. He said he was contacted by the auto hire company and was told that they would be by within a day to pick up the remains of their car. The problem was that they said there would be no replacement as the credit card used for this transaction had be revoked. That did not make any sense to me, so I took out my cellphone to call my editor on his personal cell phone. My cell phone displayed an error message stating that I should contact my carrier.

I needed to head back to the Inn to see if I could contact my editor via email. I went over to the Jeep and realized that BB was still inside. I opened the door and shook him a few seconds to awaken him. He stirred a bit and had the biggest smile on his face as he slowly opened his eyes. I told him that I needed to go over to the Shady Acres and would he please wake up and leave the Jeep. After I got him sorted out, I drove over to the Inn and parked next to the office. There was a closed sign on the door so I headed over to my room to try to sort out this mess.

My first action was to try to log into the private part of the magazine website but the message was that it was no longer a functioning site. The message stated that it had been closed and no further information was forthcoming. I tried using my credit card to place a call but it was denied. I tried contacting several of my colleagues using the company email, to no avail. I was stumped as to what was happening back home. I tried logging into my bank account and, after several errors on my part probably due to my being upset, I was finally able to log on. I guess I really was more upset than I realized. My account seemed quite a bit lower than I anticipated and when I looked at my direct deposits there appeared to be none since the middle of the prior month. I hadn’t been monitoring my finances closely as everything was on the company card with the exception of my personal debit card and ATM transactions. Now I was really upset. With less than a 250 quid balance and my only other credit card maxed out due to their low credit limit, I was sinking fast. Using the on-line assistance only further upset me. I was told that there had been no deposits and there didn’t appear to be any pending. What happened to my employer? Had they closed up shop and disappeared? Who could I contact and where would I begin?