THE TRIALS OF AN ANGEL

Part 2, When the Sky Turned Green

June three, twenty-one-hundred was an especially pleasant day with a light westerly breeze keeping the temperature to around twenty-two. Cloudless deep blue skies were getting less common as the years passed. It boded well for my sixty-eight birthday on the fifth.

Clear summer days are long. I didn’t feel like going to bed in twilight so I invited Rachael to go walk-about, an out of context expression for a stroll I’d used since childhood. Our home stood on the edge of what had been a country estate overlooking a shallow valley. It was very still outside. The community had pretty much settled in for the night, only the sound of birds fidgeting in the trees broke the silence. As the light faded Rachael and I pointed out stars as they came into view whispering about how they always seemed to appear from nothing. We stayed until the smear of the Milky Way was visible through the blackness of the Universe before returning home a little after midnight. I fell asleep hoping the weather would hold out for Saturday’s community gathering, planned to acknowledge my birthday rather than a celebrate it.

That night the ‘roo dream visited, but it was different. Instead of offering the coconut she was agitated and pulling on my arm. She seemed to have an aura surrounding her body. I tried to push her away. Then she spoke.

‘Mama wake up. Wake up. Please. Mama. Wake up.’

The animal vanished into blackness, for an instant I felt I was floating. Opening my eyes I saw the dark shape of Rachael silhouetted against an eerie light. As I focussed I felt my heart pumping inside my chest, its sound thumping in my ears.

‘What are you doing in my room?’ I slurred.

‘Wake up, Mama. There’s something strange in the sky. I’m scared.’

‘The sky? What the—‘

‘Mama wake up.’

Sitting up I looked around the room illuminated by a soft greenish light. I reached out to touch the bedside lamp.

‘No don’t—‘

I squealed when a powerful electric jolt shot up my arm leaving it numb for a second. I worried about my heart, but the pain passed quickly.

‘Mine did that too. Something’s wrong with the wiring I think. Look outside, Mama.’

Rachael pulled the curtain back. The vignette offered by the small window filled with green striations against the black sky. It looked familiar, but at that moment I didn’t know why.

‘Give me my house robe, Babe.’

Outside the view across the valley was as chilling as it was spectacular. All along the far-side huge wisps of green light tinged with purple appeared to rise up along the entire length of the ridge. Looking above, great streamers stretched overhead almost to the opposite horizon. The lights seemed motionless, but after watching them for several minutes it was clear they moved very slowly in several directions like drifting smoke. I knew I’d seen this somewhere in books or vids during tutorials. I decided it must be a natural phenomenon. I promised myself I’d visit the mansion in the morning to look it up in my geography tutorials.  I promised Rachael it was a rare but harmless natural event and we should enjoy the show for a while before going back to bed.

How wrong could anyone be?