After a long day of digging at dung, Joe had finally decided to give it a day and walk home. It was dark, and the only light was the moon, but that night the moon was much bigger than we are used to, no clouds hindered its glow, so it gave Joe the perfect amount of vision to walk home without one of Jerry’s unreliable lanterns. With his spade on his shoulder, he walked down the dirt track homeward bound when he noticed a blue and green flag sticking out of a neighbouring field adjacent to the dirt track Joe was on.
“Curious”, Joe found himself saying out loud. Before approaching the flag, he turned around to be sure he was alone and then began cautiously walking into the field.
Once he arrived at the flag, he assumed there would be some kind of indicator of its origin. He didn’t recognise the colours and there weren’t any markings surrounding it. It stood some 60cm from the floor, but there was no telling how far it went below. So, using the only tool he had available, Joe started to dig around the curious post.
Not 5 seconds had gone when all of a sudden the flag retracted into the earth. Shook, Joe jumped backwards falling onto the ground with a thud.
The ground surrounding Joe began to shake, stones vibrating from some unearthly essence. Then from deep beneath the soil, a loud throbbing sound pulsed. As the throbbing became more intense, the ground underneath Joe seemed to contort and then began to rise in front of him.
Slowly, out of the ground, an alien spaceship hovered in the air, illuminating the field. It had the shape of two dishes on top of each other with all undisclosed contents within.
Joe stared up in unbelief, his eyes wide with terror, mouth agape. He fixed his eyes on the ship, not daring to look down at the huge chasm only 3 feet away from his now trembling legs.
“But that’s…They can’t be…” Joe spluttered, his mouth shaking, a tear forming in one eye and then he whispered, “They’re here”.
Joe caught his breath, picked himself up and ran home half-stumbling.
On that same stretch of road three years earlier, Joe was again walking home. The sun was out, casting long shadows over the overgrown fields, but Joe himself was not shining brightly. With a lot on his mind, he didn’t notice the vibrant fields he walked past or the cheery farmer who waved from a distance.
In front of him stood the humble tin shack Joe had patched together. It had been his home for five years, a fragile sanctuary he shared with his daughter. A slight gust of wind could threaten to topple the makeshift structure, but it was their refuge.
Reaching the front door, Joe took a deep breath and pushed it open, facing the same heartbreaking sight he had seen for the last three months: Lucy, his daughter, pale and scarcely able to open her eyes. Three months, three doctors, and countless hours spent trying to secure more money for treatments had yielded no progress. It seemed only a matter of time.
Joe sat beside his only child on a rickety chair and gently held her hand. Slowly, he brought it to his lips and kissed it, a single tear falling from his eye onto her frail fingers.
"I will do whatever it takes, Lucy. Whatever it takes for you to become well again," he whispered, his voice breaking.
A sudden knock at the door startled Joe, and he nearly dropped Lucy’s hand.
"Who is it?" Joe called out, his voice edged with anxiety as a broad shadow cast itself under the door.
"It’s me, silly!" came the familiar voice of his elderly mother. "Now stop being silly and open the door!"
Joe quickly opened the door to the always-welcome face of his mother. Her presence brought a warm glow to the grim situation.
"I have to be quick, Joe. I’m sorry I can’t stay long, but I have something important to tell you," she said, not giving Joe a chance to speak.
"Okay, Mum, what is it?" Joe asked, puzzled.
"Lucy will be okay," she stated firmly.
Joe blinked, not sure how to take this. "Mum...," he began, but then he saw the conviction in her eyes. "Of course, she will," he said, pulling her into a hug.
"No, you don’t understand," his mother insisted, pulling back slightly. "Last night, on my way home, a young girl walked right up to me and said, 'Your little girl, Lucy, she’s going to be alright, you know?'"
As soon as Joe’s mother uttered the words "She’s going to be alright," Lucy coughed, opened her eyes and sat up with a slowly emerging smile.
"Dad, I’m alright now! I’m alright!" Lucy exclaimed, her voice filled with joy.
Joe stared in disbelief. After so long and with no hope, how was this possible?
"But that wasn’t all the girl said," his mother continued, a tear forming in her eye. "She also said, 'And when she’s alright, prepare yourself for soon they will come.'"