2012

“You wanna go look for your brother?”

“Do you know where he is?”, G.T. asked.

“I can find him, I put an app on his phone. I’ll pull him up”, I replied.

My oldest son, Eason had just turned 16. It was his first day out on his own. I wasn’t overly protective by any stretch, but I intended on taking precautions. I had just picked up G.T. from baseball practice and decided to ping Eason’s location. I was in luck. He was less than a mile away in a classmate’s subdivision. I opted not to call and embarrass him. Just a quick drive-by would do. I pulled into the subdivision.

“There’s his truck”, G.T. said.

Unfortunately he was just pulling out with a couple of friends in his truck. It was unavoidable now, we were facing each other at opposite ends of a four-way stop sign. I rolled down my window.

“Hey buddy, how’s the truck driving?”

“It’s good, how’d you know where I was?”, Eason asked.

“I’m just good like that”, I smirked.

I was trying really hard not to embarrass him. I immediately sensed he had the urge to just floor it and put some distance between me and his little brother.

“Y’all wear your seat belts… drive safe”, I said as I pulled forward.

In my mirror I could see him exiting the neighborhood. I pulled into someone’s driveway, put it in reverse and then made my way back to the four-way stop sign I had met Eason at just a minute before. I had no idea what was about to transpire.

As I came to a complete stop, I was mesmerized by a cylinder shaped bright neon green object that was hovering in the sky. You could even describe it as “cigar” shaped. I didn’t even speak. I just stared at it with my mouth agape.

It hovered silent in one spot for a second or two, then slowly moved to the right. After a moment of slow motion to the right, it flew up and to the right at an unbelievable speed until it disappeared into the setting sky.

“Dad… we just saw a fucking UFO!”, G.T. said.

Completely ignoring the fact that my son of only 13 just dropped the F-bomb, I replied, “Did you see that too?”

I immediately called Eason on my cell.

“Son, did you guys see that?”

“See what?”, he replied.

It was no use, they were too busy being cool and enjoying their newly found freedom. I explained what G.T. and I had just seen. To my surprise, they didn’t think we were crazy. Instead they acted like they could care less. I hung up the phone and called my wife.

“Hey, you’re not gonna believe this… but G.T. and I just saw a UFO”

“What?”

“Never mind, we’ll tell you when we get home”, I said.

I made one more phone call, to a cop friend of mine who worked for Alabaster Police Department. He somehow did make me feel crazy. In fact, I was embarrassed.

“So no one has called in and reported anything?”, I had asked. I was making one last ditch effort to find reason in what I had just witnessed.

“Nope, apparently you’re the only one”, he had responded.

“Well, G.T. saw it with me. It was freaky!”, I said in an effort to defend myself.

He wasn’t 100% correct though. Almost a year later, I researched the National UFO Reporting Center. Someone in Alabaster, Alabama had reported seeing the exact same thing around the exact same time period. I felt better.

I live in the middle of the wilderness now. The skies are clearer and more visible from my home. Often I gaze up and hope to find a glimpse of whatever G.T. and I witnessed that night. I never have. I find it odd that the only UFO sighting I’ve ever had has been in a crowded suburban neighborhood in a heavily populated area. Oh well.

Below, I’ve actually recreated what G.T. and I saw that late afternoon. This is the actual location as well, although the cloud formation is not the same. Everything else is dead on and is surprisingly a fair representation of what we saw in 2012. Feel free to comment on anything you’ve witnessed!

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