Cindy's Close Encounter

INTRODUCTION & DISCLAIMER - Pretty cheerleaders Cindy, Wendy and Jo along with their handsome football playing boyfriends Steve, Johnny and Phil have a swell time at their Halloween dance, until they see a strange craft in the sky afterwards and investigate, leading them to a whole world of trouble...

All characters having sex are aged 18 and older and the events and characters are fictional, with any similarity to real persons living or dead coincidental and unintentional. Please enjoy the science fiction adventures of Cindy and her friends, and be sure to rate and comment.

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Connecticut, USA, 1959

An early morning breeze blew in from the Atlantic Ocean through the streets of Pine View Cove, the Connecticut town where I had been born and raised. I could smell the sea air, and with it being fall the wind rustled the red, orange and yellow leaves dropping in abundance from the many deciduous trees that grew in the gardens of the houses in these suburban streets.

Although a bright sunny morning, the breeze was cool given the time of year, and I was glad of the blue denim jeans and pink sweater I wore to keep me warm. The leaves rustled in the wind, and it was hard to believe that my younger brother Billy and I had raked up all the leaves in both the front and back yards before breakfast this morning, so many had fallen since then to replace them. Still, it beat what was on its way in a few weeks' time; snow and much colder weather as winter set in over New England covering the bare branches of the trees that shed their leaves, and the dark green foliage of the evergreen conifers, and Mom, Dad, Billy and I always out there clearing the snow from our driveway and the sidewalk.

I stood near the mail box waiting for my friends Wendy and Jo to arrive, looking at my wristwatch hoping Wendy hadn't slept in as there was plenty to do this morning. I heard a car engine, but it was just Mr. Thompson from up the street passing by in his Ford Edsel, and we exchanged a friendly wave.

I looked back at the house in time to see the front door open and my younger brother Billy emerged, making his way down the garden path. Like me, Billy had the same blonde hair, fair complexion and slim body shape, although his eyes were brown like our Mom Joan, while I had blue eyes like our Dad Fred. Now aged 14 Billy had reached the same height as me, after years of me being much taller as the older sibling by four years.

"So Cindy, are you waiting for boyfriend Steve to drive you up to Lovers' Lane?" Billy laughed, clearly in one of his moods to fool around today.

"No Billy," I said.

"Sure you are, Sis," Billy smirked. "Steve, Steve, where for art thou Steve!" He then broke into song. "Cindy and Steven, sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G!"

Billy, laughing at his attempts at comedy, put a stop to the singing. I put a prim look on my face, and brushed my long blonde pony-tail back from my face, the wind blowing my hair into my face. "Billy, when you start high school next year here's a tip - don't try out for drama. And definitely don't try and join the Glee club."

"I wouldn't be seen dead doing drama or being part of a dumb old Glee club anyway," declared Billy

"If you must know Billy, I'm going to school this morning and I'm waiting for Wendy and Jo to come by to pick me up."

"School?" Billy laughed again. "The only reason anyone goes to school is if they get Saturday detention. You haven't got Saturday detention, have you Cindy? In which case, maybe I should tell Mom and Dad and see what they have to say about it."

"No of course not," I said indignantly, thinking that Wendy had arrived again, only this time it was a middle-aged couple driving past in a maroon Chrysler.

"I didn't seriously think so," Billy observed. "You're too much of a square to get Saturday detention, Cindy." He traced the shape of a square with his fingers, laughing again. "You're always at school, like last night you and your friends were there until gone ten."

I rolled my eyes. "Use your brains, Billy. Steve plays football, my friends and I are all cheerleaders, their boyfriends are all on the football team too, football games are played on Friday nights. Do you think you can put the pieces together?"

"Yeah, but going to school on a Saturday morning when you don't have to?" Billy grinned. "That doesn't make you a square. That makes you a cube."

"Look around you Billy, at all the houses in the street," I said. "Notice anything different today? Something that only happens once a year, in late October?"

As usual, Billy decided to be a smart-ass as he looked back at our house and the neighbors' houses in the front street. "No Cindy, I can't see anything different," he smirked. "Nothing out of place at all."

"Use your eyes Billy, its Halloween." I sighed and shook my head, looking at all the houses that sported Halloween decorations -- Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins, cardboard cutouts of black cats, witches, monsters, Egyptian mummies, spiders, skeletons, ghosts and the like. Our house was no exception, only one of the cats in our front living room windows wasn't a cardboard cut-out, she was our pet cat, a black-and-white tuxedo cat named Lucy. And this morning as most cats do Lucy was stretched out catching the rays of sunshine.

The only house not decorated for Halloween was the one diagonally across the street from ours, and my brother laughed and pointed at it, slapping his forehead with the other hand. "Well golly-gee, aren't I a silly? I was looking at the Jehovah's Witness house."

The family who lived at this house -- the Tyler family -- were indeed Jehovah's Witnesses, and their house lacked any sort of Halloween decoration. "You know that Mr. and Mrs. Tyler kept Matthew and Linda home from high school yesterday?" I observed to my brother. "It was just that little bit close to Halloween for their liking."

"Doesn't surprise me," said Billy. "I would hate to be a Jehovah's Witness. You miss out on all these neat things -- Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and even birthdays. So I bet that Matthew and Linda Tyler won't be going to your high school Halloween dance tonight?"

"You've got that right," I said. "And no trick or treating when they were younger."

"Plenty of experience knocking on people's doors and annoying them though," said Billy. "So that's why you're going to school this morning? To set up for the dance tonight?"

"Yes, if Wendy ever gets here," I said, looking for her car again. "How about you? Where are you heading off to this morning?"

"To Chris's place, to study math for our test next week with our friends," said Billy.

I laughed. "Pull the other one, Billy. Since when does that friend of yours study at all, much less invite people around to his house to study? Chris is an even bigger slacker than his brother Ralph. And I should know, I've been to school with Ralph since kindergarten."

Billy obviously didn't want to disclose what he and his friends were really up to, and so changed the subject to prevent me from prying further. "What are you and Steve dressing as tonight for the Halloween dance?"

"Steve is going as the handsome prince," I said. "And I'm going as the good fairy. How about you? Are you dressing up for Halloween this year, or are you too cool for all that now?"

"It's a surprise, you'll have to wait and see tonight."

"Well, I'm sure I'll get a really big surprise," I said.

"I know you will," my brother assured me, before looking up the street. "Well, here comes your ride, so I'd better be going. Catch you later, Cindy."

"See you later too Billy," I said, as my brother headed off to do whatever he and his friends were going to do this morning, which I doubted was study, and Wendy pulled in alongside the kerb, Jo sitting in the passenger seat. I climbed into the back of the car, closed the door and Wendy drove off in the direction of our high school.

"It's pretty swell weather for Halloween," Jo observed as Wendy drove around the corner and onto the road that led to the main center of town.

"That's true," I said, looking at the flawless azure Connecticut skies that sparkled like it was the height of summer. "Often it's wet and cold for Halloween night." I thought back to when I was a little girl, and Mom and Dad would escort me and Billy for trick or treating and often our costumes would be covered by overcoats, and required the cover of an umbrella.

Wendy brought her car to a halt at a stop sign, waiting for a bus and truck to pass. "It's sunny now, but it's supposed to get cloudy after lunch-time and raining with a thunderstorm by tonight. Should look good though, thunder and lightning with a full moon at Halloween, sort of fitting."

"As long as what happened here for Halloween 20 years ago doesn't happen again tonight," said Jo.

I nodded. "Well it was before we were born, but from what I've heard Halloween night 1939 was stormy with a full moon, just like tonight is supposed to be."

"Back in the war a lot of parents wouldn't let their kids go out trick or treating after what happened that night," said Wendy. "And Mom and Dad always warned my brothers and I never to go up there. Although I think there's been a lot of exaggerations to the story over the last 20 years, like people saying they saw strange lights in the sky the night it happened. But how do all those kids and the staff watching them simply vanish into thin air?"

If the police and FBI couldn't solve Pine View Cove's greatest mystery of how all occupants of a special needs children's home and supervising staff vanished without trace on Halloween night 1939, then what chance did three 18-year-old girls who were high school seniors have of solving it? Wendy, Jo and I conferred that our chances of solving our town's and one of the New England region's biggest unsolved mysteries was as remote as the planet Pluto, and our attention went to the car radio as one of our favorite songs -- an upbeat tune by Connie Francis -- came on and we began singing along to it, forgetting all about the lost orphans of 20 years ago.

Wendy, Jo and I always had fun listening to music, be it on the radio, television, playing records, on the juke box at the diner which Wendy drove past and was a hang-out for all the high school kids in town, and live bands. Such a band was providing the music and entertainment for our high school Halloween dance tonight. We were part of the organizing committee, and couldn't believe that this band was available and willing to provide the entertainment for a high school Halloween dance.

"Its swell we got that band from Hartford for tonight, I thought we were no chance," I said as the Connie Francis song came to an end.

"I saw them play once last summer and they were really great," said Wendy.

"And they play all sort of different songs, not just rock and roll," Jo said as the wind blew in through the partially open car window and slightly messed up her long red hair which was tied back in two loose pigtails, her hairstyle suiting the long-sleeved shirt with overalls she wore today.

Wendy was attired in a sweater and Capri-pants on her lower half, and her long dark brown hair that contrasted sharply with my blonde hair and Jo's red hair was loose and not tied back in any way. We were all the same height of 5 feet 6 and had the same slim figures -- although Wendy's C-cup breasts somewhat eclipsed mine and Jo's B-cup breasts -- but didn't look all that similar. In addition to the differing hair color, our eyes and skin tones varied markedly too. Wendy had dark brown eyes to match her hair, my eyes like many blonde girls were blue, while Jo had the green eyes commonly associated with redheads. Jo also had the typical redhead super fair skin, while I had the fairly standard Caucasian skin-tone and Wendy with a darker complexion thanks to some southern European heritage got a pretty nice tan in the summertime. My two best friends were very pretty girls, absolutely stunning, and people such as my boyfriend said the same of me, but I of course never said it of myself.

Another catchy song released just this summer and which we particularly liked came on the radio, this time the all boy group The Four Preps singing about an island off the California coast near Los Angeles, literally the opposite side of the country from where we lived.

The car Wendy was driving was her older brother's car. He had joined the Navy about a year ago, giving his lucky sister use of the vehicle while he was away at sea. Jo and I of course had our driver's licenses as did practically all of our classmates and would drive our parents' cars given a chance, but didn't have a car to use all the time like Wendy did.

Wendy was at times guilty of driving a little too fast, and once two cops pulled her over for speeding. But with Wendy in her cheerleader uniform this day, and with me in the passenger seat and Jo in the back seat along with two of our other friends from school Margaret and Susan, all of us like Wendy in our cheerleader outfits, the two young male cops let Wendy off with a warning, helped by Wendy's flirty nature and fluttering her eyelashes. I doubt it would have worked with a grumpy middle-aged male cop or a female cop and Wendy would have been issued with a speeding ticket.

This morning Wendy was just over the speed limit when an old jalopy containing four young men overtook her at far greater speed, and raced down the road, their car radio blaring rock and roll music. The song playing on the car radio may well have been by the four preps, but the four young men in the beat-up old car that overtook Wendy were hardly prep material.

The driver was Ralph, a tall and somewhat overweight 18-year-old, the older brother of Billy's friend Chris and hardly a good influence on his younger brother. But while Chris was a sulky, surly sort of boy, older brother Ralph considered himself and his three buddies to have a great sense of humor. The only problem was that the principal and teachers at the school didn't find the antics of class clown Ralph or his friends in the slightest bit amusing.

In the front passenger seat of Ralph's car was Roger, who like Ralph was tall and had short, light brown hair, but unlike Ralph was as thin as a pencil. They were kind of like younger versions of Stan Laurel and the late Oliver Hardy, but not as appreciated as comedians.

Sitting in the back of Ralph's automobile were Tony and Simon. Simon was tall and skinny like Ralph, and sported blonde hair cut in a college-boy style, his glasses making him look somewhat studious and square. But looks could be deceiving, Simon was not a square and he was definitely not studious. Well, unless he was studying new ways to annoy teachers and pull pranks along with Ralph and Ralph's right-hand man Roger.

Tony, a trouble-making trickster, was shorter in stature than his three buddies, his dark hair, dark eyes and swarthy skin giving away his Italian heritage. He was the boy half of a set of boy-girl twins in his year, the other half his sister Fran. But while Tony was a trouble-maker in school, his sister Fran -- who herself was often in trouble in class for her loud, smart mouth and chewing gum -- Fran was said to more likely end up a girl in trouble outside of school. That's if the stories about what she allegedly got up to with lots of boys out at Lover's Lane were even partially true.

With exhaust fumes belching from the tailpipe, Ralph's pile of junk on wheels made its way to the intersection, and Ralph as usual slowed down but did not come to a complete stop. There were no other cars coming from the other direction which was a good thing, but there was a tricycle ridden by a septuagenarian whose gray hair was tied back in tight bun and whose face normally showed an expression like she had been sucking raw, unripe lemons. We knew her only too well -- she was an English teacher at our high school -- an elderly spinster schoolteacher by the name of Miss Thorpe.

After Miss Thorpe was cut off by Ralph and his friends -- and would have lost her balance and fallen into the road had she been riding a bicycle rather than a tricycle -- her face took an expression as though she had eaten raw unripe limes as well, and she shook her fist at Ralph and his friends.

Ralph, Roger, Simon and Tony were convulsing in fits of laughter in the car, and Ralph slowed down and waved in apology. "Sorry, Miss Thorpe!" he called back, although he didn't sound very sorry as he drove away, the old car creating an almighty racket.

Miss Thorpe, still trying to compose herself and get her balance back on her tricycle after the near collision with Ralph then looked directly into Wendy's car, and at the three of us, who were all laughing at the scene. She glared at us ferociously, before Wendy put her foot on the gas and accelerated away.

"Stick to your broomstick next time, Miss Thorpe," said Wendy, still giggling. "And isn't it time she retired? For goodness sakes, the year she was born Chester A. Arthur was President."

"Just think, after June 1960 we won't have to put up with her anymore," Jo said.

"June 1960 seems very far away," said Wendy, as she turned into the road that led to the high school. "The stupid old bag has had it in for me from the day I started high school, she's a cruel, cranky old bitch"

"Don't you want her to stay on one more year at least?" I smiled. "So our brothers get a taste of her too when they start high school next year?"

"I hadn't thought of that," said Wendy. "Don't retire just yet Miss Thorpe; Richie, Billy and Andy need to experience your teaching methods."

"Has Mrs. Thorpe ever met Andy when he's had too much sugar?" Jo asked. "And some of the other boys in that class, like Ralph's brother Chris? Some of the girls are no better, like Simon and Roger's sisters. By the end of next September, Miss Thorpe will be begging to be allowed to retire, four years of teaching the Class of 1963 will be too much for her."

Two decades ago, Pine Tree Cove had experienced two baby booms. One was in 1940 and 1941, when it wasn't a matter of if but when America would be drawn into the wars raging in Europe and the Pacific. It seemed that lots of couples were making up for a loss of time for marital relations over the coming years and many babies were born, Jo, Wendy and I among many in September 1940. Our boyfriends Steve, Johnny and Phil were likewise part of the pre-war baby boom in September and October that year, as were lots of other friends in our class. Our extended family were no exception, Billy and I had plenty of cousins on both Mom and Dad's sides the same age due to our aunts and uncles anticipating the start of or celebrating the end of the war.

Four years later, and with Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Japan defeated, there was another baby boom as couples made up for lost time when the men returned from the war, and in late 1945 Jo, Wendy and I became big sisters to Andy, Richie and Billy respectively. Steve, Johnny and Phil's parents had likewise celebrated the end of the war by giving them younger siblings in the second half of 1945, but contrasting with us our boyfriends had all become big brothers to younger sisters. And again in contrast with our brothers who were always able to find mischief, our boyfriends' younger sisters were quiet and studious girls.

Wendy drove into the parking lot of the high school, and I looked across the football fields, thinking about the game last night. Dressed in our maroon, navy blue and gold cheerleader outfits that were the colors of our high school sporting teams the Lions, we had cheered on the football team in which Steve, Johnny and Phil were star players against local rival high school the Tigers, a game that the Lions won with a touchdown in the last minute. Afterwards we had gone into town and celebrated the victory at the diner with our friends.