SEPTEMBER SKIES
September 2009
“Now do you believe me?”
“No. I don’t. I mean, look at the sky. It’s almost perfect. Perfect blue September skies,” Hannah said, as she rubbed her arms.
She felt chills and she was sure she was trying to convince herself of something. Of what exactly, she wasn't quite sure.
She was glad Douglas didn’t notice. He was still looking up.
But suddenly he looked at her, his eyes serious as they locked on hers.
He had come to visit and had just spent the past hour explaining it all to her.
“Exactly. That’s the point. This isn’t 1970 anymore. Look around you. Something is not right. You can’t deny that.”
Truth was, she didn’t want to see it. She didn’t want to believe it. It was the kind of day that she remembered as a child – a day spent running barefoot through green grass, a day filled with sunshine and laughter. Days of laying on he grass, looking up at the contrails left by jets – wondering where people were going. She liked to make up stories in her head and occasionally traveled to far away exotic places with them.
The contrails – they were as fun to watch as watching the clouds – white, fluffy ones that looked like puppies chasing butterflies and bunnies hopping through rolling hills.
That memory was fading and it scared her. Whenever the sky looked blue, it was easier to believe that those days still existed. There was a certain tranquility about it.
But then the blue disappeared. It was gradual. Not everyone noticed. They were too busy.
For months, word was officially out – the chemtrails were real. And they had several reasons for existing. Most were composed of barium and aluminum oxide and used for the purpose of attempting to affect the climate by reflecting sunlight in the atmosphere. The result would reduce the world temperature and counteract the greenhouse effect.
But some people were not convinced that was their sole purpose. Some believed that the high-altitude spraying was done to affect human beings in populated areas. Others proposed a different chemical composition -- and a purpose unknown to the general public.
“That’s Douglas,” Hannah had thought to herself.
But whatever the reason, and whatever they were, the chemtrails in the prior months had been different and once someone learned to recognize them, they were simple to differentiate from normal contrails.
The chemtrails were thicker and extended across the sky – laid down in varying patterns of Xs, tic-tac-toe grids, cross-hatched and parallel lines. And instead of dissipating into the atmosphere, they expanded and within the hour would open into wispy formations, creating fake cirrus-type clouds.
As strange as days may have been, they remained basically normal – until September 10 of 2008. Then things changed.
That was when the “Big Band” collider – Large Hadron Collider – was fired up in Geneva, Switzerrland, and for the first time proton beams had circulated in the LHC’s main ring.
On September 19, the operations were halted due to what scientists said was a serious fault between two superconducting bending magnets.
At least, that was what was reported.
But many believed that was not the case, and the operations continued as 10,000 of the world’s best scientists and engineers collaborated.
It was confirmed when it caused a nuclear reaction in the center of a supermassive star, causing it to collapse upon itself.
The explosion formed what people had feared – a black hole with a gravity pull so strong it sent scientists scrambling to work together to find answers. They worked together and found the answer to keeping the hole from pulling the world into itself. But not before the darkness had engulfed three fourths of the world’s sky.
And just like that, the sky – or most of it – was gone.
For two weeks the sky had been dark. Gray at first. Gradually turning darker as more and more people held candlelight vigils in parks, churches, and street corners.
“It’s like the eye of a hurricane, isn’t it?” she finally said.
It was calm. And pretty. For a little while anyway. The storm had come through and settled. Or so a few people thought. The smart ones knew it was only a reprise. It wouldn’t last.
“End times” and “the end of the world” – people everywhere were preaching as they searched for answers.
But answers weren’t coming and people were panicking. Oh sure, they had said it before and had panicked before. It was a cycle. They got used to it and they moved on.
This time it was different and even Hannah couldn’t deny it – to herself. To others, she would.
And just as suddenly, a small blue patch appeared against the black sky. And it did not take long for the chemtrails to return.
“It will turn all blue again,” she said. “All of it.”
Douglas looked sadly at her. He wasn’t mad at her for not believing. He knew she was confused. A lot of people were.
“No,” he shook his head. “It won’t. You can’t live with blinders on.”
Hannah knew he was right. She just wouldn’t admit it. And Douglas knew she knew it. Or he thought she did. But every now and then, he wondered. What if she really didn’t know. What if she had really blocked it out. Was that possible?
“Yes. It will,” she said, interrupting his thoughts.
Sometimes you have to believe. When no one else does. You have to believe, she thought. Isn’t that how she survived all these years. Isn’t that what she had been telling herself?
Douglas looked sad as he placed his hands on her shoulders. He pulled her close and wished it weren’t so – but it was. He could feel her heart beating fast. She was scared, that he knew.
He kissed her head before gently turning her around.
“Look. Please,” he said. “Does that look normal to you?”
Hannah knew he was right but she wouldn’t dare admit it.
(This is still only an excerpt - and I recopied this story here because the other had links attached and I did not want to disable those.)
SEATTLE — Porterville’s Fabulous Studio Band continued to entertain young and old alike Monday afternoon when they performed at the Seattle Center in Seattle during the seventh day of their three-state Pacific Northwest tour.
Ernie and Kathy Lassman of Seattle said they could not resist getting up to dance as the band played “Moonlight Serenade.”
The tour is the family’s last opportunity to see her two sons, Kyle and Kory McMaster, perform with the band, she said. The boys, recent graduates of Porterville High and Porterville College, are heading to Azusa Pacific University in the fall.
