Common Sense

I just had an interesting experience at work. A woman called in asking what this light was in the sky. She specifically asked if it might be a UFO.

She described it as a star that was falling down, then it disappeared.

Why anyone would call a sports clerk to ask about UFO sightings or for meteorological information, I don’t know.

Right after I hung up on her, there was a flash and the power in the newsroom flickered on and off. The TVs were turned off and some of the light bulbs went out. Most of them came back on and I think Dave Doerr was playing with the light switch, but there is always the possibility…

And then it really reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode: The Monsters ar Due on Maple Street. A quiet neighborhood sees a weird light in the sky and all of their power goes out. Then some kid mentions aliens like in his comic books and the next thing you know, everytime the power in someone’s house flickers on or a car starts up, the neighbors start accusing that person of being in cahoots with the monsters.

Before too long, somebody gets their gun and somebody gets shot. The guy who did the shooting asks “How was I supposed to know it was him? How was I supposed to know that it wasn’t one of the monsters?” Like that’ll hold up in court, buddy.

Then there is a pullback to some guys with metal eyebrows standing on a hill overlooking the town. And one guy explains to the other guy that all you have to do is tinker with the power and the humans will kill each other, and its supposed to be an allegory about hunting for Communists during the McCarthy era and turning on your neighbor and stuff.

Weird.

And I still have no idea what that lady saw, but it came back and she called me again.