Alien Abduction

Bill was a regular guy. He was plain and ordinary. You couldn't pick him out of a crowd. He got along with everyone. He lived a simple life, just like everyone else. It was a beautiful day, and he was walking on the beach. A gentle breeze blew through as he walked along checking things out.

There was a strange, loud noise. Bill got a bad feeling and tried to flee, but something grabbed ahold of him! It held on tightly and would not let go no matter how hard he struggled. It was dark. There was something over him. He could not see, and he could not move. He was terrified and struggled harder to free himself.

The covering lifted and Bill could not believe his eyes. He was surrounded by giant creatures. One of the creatures held him so that he could not move and made some kind of noise that Bill did not understand. He pleaded for his freedom with the strange creatures but to no avail. They would not let him go.

The creatures took him into an unfamiliar place. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. There were contraptions everywhere. The creatures put him onto one of the contraptions and held him there. They pulled him this way and that, and poked at him with cold objects. Then, the strangers put their mark on him! He was marked for life. They took Bill back outside and let him go.

Bill went back to his friends as quickly as he could. He had to warn them about these creatures! He gathered everyone around him and told his story. Everyone looked at Bill. They didn't believe him.

"I'm telling you the truth, guys!" Bill insisted. "They were HUGE. They pulled on me and poked at me with strange sticks! Honest!"

"It's okay, Bill. Really." One of his friends tried to reassure him.

"Yeah. It'll never happen again."

One of the other guys laughed. "Come on, Bill. Fess up. You've been drinking seawater again, haven't you?"

"No! I'm telling you. It really happened!" Bill stuck out his leg. "Look! They put this strange mark on me."

One of the girls gasped. "Does it hurt?"

"Come on! That's no mark. It's one of those funny hard things from the beach."

"No. Look. It's shiny and really hard. It's different from the stuff we usually find on the beach!" They gathered closer to Bill.

"I've never seen anything like that before," one of the guys said. They all started whispering.

"See?" Bill said. "I'm telling you. I was abducted. It's the truth. They put this on me." He shook his foot and tried to pull it off. " It won't come off. It will never come off."

"Oh, Bill! I'm sorry we doubted you! I can't believe there is something so horrible out there! It's just a good thing you weren't hurt."

"Man, I wish something cool would happen to me! You have all the fun, Bill."

"Hey, that was not fun! If I were you, I would stay away from those giant creatures. They are dangerous."

"Yeah, besides, you don't want one of those funky things strapped around your leg."

"Does it hurt? I mean, can you still fly?"

Bill stretched out his wings and flapped. He hovered above the ground then settled back down. "It doesn't seem to have affected me at all. It's just ugly."

Soon, everyone lost interest in Bill's story. Bill's abduction was only the first of many to come. They started seeing the creatures more often. No one knew where they came from or what they wanted with them. The abductees were just like everyone else. They soared in the clouds, went fishing, and raised families. The only thing they could figure was, the creatures were jealous because they couldn't fly. The giants wanted to study them to learn how they could fly. That's the story everybody told. They never figured out why the giants put strange marks on their legs. Anytime someone saw one of those marks, they knew that bird had been abducted. They couldn't stop the abductions and never knew when they would happen. They went on about their lives as though nothing happened, nothing but the addition of a strange mark.