The Extra Visitor

As I said in the last post, I had another visit with fellow author and friend Andrea Jones.

Most of the weekend might be boring for those who aren't Pan-fanatics such as ourselves.  As usual we spent a good portion of our time discussing aspects both grand and minute, attempting to hammer out mysteries in the text and sharing details of our novels-to-be as well as bouncing ideas off each other.  Can you blame us?  Usually we're with those who merely tolerate our obsession and grudgingly listen to our prattle.  To have someone eagerly fine-combing Pan lore along with you?  Ever so glad she's around.

In the last post I promised to tell of the mystifying event which took place.  I'll get to it.

For I must first express my joy to have my copy of Andrea's new novel in the Hook & Jill Saga, Other Oceans.  There it lay, waiting for me on the car seat.  (She picked me up at the train station in her town.)  The next morning, during a simple (best kind) breakfast she prepared,  Andrea signed it for me.  Now it's truly my copy.  Thanks, Andrea!

Another treat had been to finally see her home.  Up until now I could only wonder and speculate.  As I suspected, she had a giant bookshelf taking up an entire wall.  A fairy could be found in nearly every room.  And knick-knacks and curiosities of all kinds vied for attention.  It even has an oddly-placed and shaped angle to the kitchen.  I'm quite the fan of weird angles in architecture. I saw her workspace, where her magic happens.  I had the pleasure of walking in her expansive backyard.   Best of all, I finally saw the swan "fainting couch" she'd told me about which she put into the pages of her novel.  (Yes, I made sure to sit on it.) 

Okay, I shan't wait any longer.  Bear in mind the timing of this event.  It isn't as if we didn't stop for gas or leisurely drive along as Andrea pointed our sights in her town.  So one has to wonder if we weren't actually meant to see this strange phenomenon.  As we walked up the path to her front door, Andrea chanced to look in the sky.  "What IS that?" she wondered aloud.  I looked.  I also didn't know what to make of it.  An orange-like flame of sorts moved in the night, right over Andrea's house.  It flickered, exactly the way a flame does, yet maintained a ball-like shape.  It didn't wobble haphazardly the way a paper bag lantern set adrift might.  Rather it flew horizontally, a near perfect line.  Sure, it could have been a plane.  But it did ever so much look like a wisp of fire.  We kept watching, unable to discern what it could be.  "It's a UFO," I said, "in the literal meaning.  It's an unidentified flying object."

My quick rendering

I wanted to film it.  After all, we live in the age of mini-computers and video recorders tucked into our pockets.  But two things stopped me.  Okay, three.  First, I could barely keep from watching.  Second, I'd been bogged down with items - my bag for my visit, Andrea's satchel, the snacks, etc.  It would have taken me a bit to even get to my phone.  And third, even if I had done so, I realized that there's no way it would have shown up with any sort of justice to how it actually appeared to us.  Too small and the like.  Besides, I didn't want to be one of those people.  ;)

We laughingly decided it HAD to be a fairy, there to bless our long overdue get together.  Maybe it has another explanation.  But I don't want to know.  For in OUR book, there is no other option.  And yes, by Crichton, it really did occur.