Chapter 1

My name is Tim Michelson. Bet you can’t guess why I am using this name for my story. Well, you’re wrong, then again you could be right. In any case, I will never say because it is not my real name. Can’t be, and you will understand why, at the end of the story. My story begins in the future. Somewhere in my past-future, that is.

Confused? Well, so am I most of the time. Then again, I am not really complaining about it, that much. After all, what I got in trade for what I didn’t have the last time was more than worth any inconvenience.

You see I was seventy-two years old when it happened. By ‘it’ I mean ... oh heck, you’ll just have to figure it out as the story progresses.

So, anyway, picture this:

I was on my fishing boat, engaged in my favorite activity. That’s right, fishing. I mean at the age of seventy-two, my fishing pole was all I could get to rise into the air to give me any excitement in life. Not that it mattered anymore, as I was alone once again.

There is just not any satisfaction when there is no one to share it with. Even fishing is a lonely activity by oneself. I was supposed to be out here with my friend Eddy. However, Eddy had begged off going at the last minute, because of his arthritis. It was the first time I had ever heard him complain about that problem, ever. I mean I had known him since childhood, even if we had never been that close through school. See, Eddie is also one of the few people I knew, that also survived being in the stoner crowd.

So, he said it was acting up too much. Strange that he never had that problem before. And Eddy loved to fish as much as I did. Personally, I think he was more interested in seeing his grandchildren that day.

They were supposed to be coming over ... maybe.

In other words, maybe they would come over and maybe not. Usually, that meant they were not coming. Then again miracles happened once or twice a year for Eddy.

It is a sad fact of life, that when you get old, even your children don’t seem to have time for you. Well, ‘shit happens and then you die’, was a phrase coined by the elderly, after all. Or did the elderly adopt that? It doesn’t matter. I think you get the idea.

So here I am in this boat out in the middle of the Saginaw Bay, about five miles from Bay City. Oddly enough, Saginaw is about ten miles inland. Never have figured out why it is called ‘Saginaw’ Bay.

Anyway, I am by myself with a cooler full of beer and more time on my hands than brains in my head. You see, there was enough beer in that cooler for four people and being out here by myself I was trying to drink for four people. That and catch fish, as well.

Oh, I was catching fish, all right. The other cooler was already almost full of yellow perch. I would have more than enough fish to last me a few months.

But I was in no hurry to get home. I was as alone there as I was here.

My life had been a string of disastrous relationships. Well, the last wife wasn’t a disaster. She was a gem, but I only had a few short years with her before she died of cancer. That had been a horrible loss to me.

Once again, I found myself alone, without anyone to share my life with. Don’t get me wrong here. My wife suffered horrible pain because of the way she died. However, in the end, her pain ended. It was my loss that I was left to deal with. Self-pity? Perhaps, but I had truly loved her.

So, at seventy-two years old, alone in a boat, I began ‘drinking like a fish’. Well, just for today, anyway. I knew I was drunk because I had managed to hook myself three times so far this afternoon. I never do things like that unless I am so drunk that I am not paying attention to what I am doing.

It was late evening, and I was tired. Strange how you feel like a nap so early in the evening, when you get to this age. Well, I pulled in my pole and stretched out in the bottom of the boat for a bit. I figured I would wake up in twenty or thirty minutes, and head back to shore.

You can imagine my surprise at waking up to a full moon at two o’clock in the morning. And that surprise was nothing, in comparison to the sounds I was hearing.

Well, it was the sound that woke me up, after all. I started to look around to see what could be making that noise. I found it, shortly, in the sky above me. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, right there above me, was one of those flying saucer things. I was sure I had not had that much to drink. Besides, I don’t remember ever having had visions when I drank, before. And after more than eight hours of sleep, I couldn’t have been very drunk at the moment.

Anyway, there I was, looking up at this thing approaching my boat. And wouldn’t you know it? The saucer goes and stops right above me. It sounded like a whirlwind, and it hummed at the same time. I briefly wished I had a camera, the old goats I played euchre with would never believe me when I told them about this.

That’s when this blue light came out of the bottom of the thing, right on me. Talk about a weird sensation. What was even stranger was the feeling of being in two places at once. That is the only way to describe it. It only lasted a moment, and then I was standing in front of them. They, were three of the big black-eyed aliens. They looked like, well like aliens. What can I say? That’s what they looked like. Hollywood had them down pat, even to the long arms and grey skin. It was obvious to me that someone really hadn’t used their imagination much to come up with them. All they had to do was see one, and you could describe them to a tee. The fact was, they were so short that they looked like children. Having had a lot of experience with children, you can understand how it would be difficult to be afraid of them.

That’s when I heard voices in my head.

‘Why are you not afraid, like all the others?’

Now that was not the type of question I was expecting. I guess at my age the brain had forgotten to tell me to be afraid yet. I was sure it would remind me when the time came. Then again maybe it really was their child-like size. So, I found my voice somehow and replied.

“Well, to be afraid, I would have to forget my curiosity. At the moment, I am a bit more curious than anything else.”

It seemed to be a fair answer, at the time, anyway. It also had the advantage of being truthful.

The voices then spoke into my head again.

‘We are called The Three Thieves. Are you afraid of us now?’

It was an odd name to give oneself, but it was kind of like your seven-year-old grandson announcing he is the grim reaper, and he has come for your head. It’s just very hard to take something like that as a real threat. However, I realized they were waiting for a response, so I gave them one.

“I’m seventy-two years old. My life is nearly over. So, it makes no difference to me what you do to me next.”

I am sure that is not the answer they were hoping for. Besides, I could move around ... and well, they did look so fragile. Shouldn’t it be them that were afraid of a big monster of my size? Well maybe not a monster but compared to them I was twice their height.

Then again, a voice in my head said, ‘We want to understand why you are not afraid, Tim of Earth.’

“Well, let’s see. I have had a lousy life. I am old, I only have one friend and frankly, I have nothing to live for. So, if you are going to end my life by gutting me like some farm animal or something like that...” I paused to decide if what I was about to say was how I really felt. Then I continued, “well, then I guess you should just get on with it because I really don’t care anymore.”

Did I really say that? Well, yes, and I guess I believed it as well. I mean since my wife, Annette passed away a few years ago what did I really have to live for? Not much, let me assure you.

The three of them looked at each other like they were talking. I didn’t hear anything they said or thought, however.

‘What would make you afraid?’ they asked.

Ok, that was an easy question. Thank God it couldn’t possibly happen. I mean, after all, I had outlived my two ex-wives. So, I guess it would be safe to tell them. Besides I had a feeling they were reading my mind as much as they were reading my thoughts.

So, I said, “Well seeing either of my ex-wives would do it. Then again if you really wanted to make me afraid ... well, seeing my first ex-wife, Jackie would be more than enough.”

They looked at each other again in that conference thing I decided that they were doing.

‘Are you saying that your ex-wives scare you?’