Watch the Skies in World War 2 Ch. 01

Putting the cooperative cows back into the shed, Kim sang to herself a cheerful Andrews Sisters tune she particularly liked, closed the door and turned to go back to the house when she suddenly found herself in the shade. She was nowhere near the trees that lined the property, there was not a cloud in the sky on this clear Missouri morning, and the shade that covered Kim was a strange one, a perfect circle.

Craning her neck skyward, Kim froze in shock and fear. High in the sky above her was some type of aircraft, but nothing like anything that Kim had ever seen before. The pretty blonde's mouth opened wide and she went to scream, but no sound came out to penetrate the eerie silence and she was unable to do anything but stare at whatever was in the sky above her.

Then a feeling of dizziness swept over Kim as a beam of blue light descended from the underside of the craft, followed by complete blackness as the pretty blonde passed out ...

In the house, Mr. and Mrs. Collins, and Kim's siblings waited for her to return with increasing impatience, before going outside to see what was taking her so long.

"Kim, we're nearly ready to go," her mother called as she approached the shed, seeing the cows eating some hay and swinging their tails back and forward.

"Kim, the wedding is at noon and on the other side of town, we can't be late," called Mr. Collins, looking around the field to see where his daughter could have gotten to.

"George ..." came the voice of his wife, Mr. Collins turning to see his wife kneeling on the ground. Adjusting his hat and tie, Mr. Collins joined Mrs. Collins, the parents exchanging concerned and puzzled expressions at their find. On the ground were Kim's shoes, perfectly spaced as though she was wearing them but had somehow become invisible. Nearby was her hat, but of their daughter was not the slightest trace.

*

MCMINNVILLE, OREGON, USA

Johnny Davis brimmed with pride and accomplishment as he waited with his platoon at the McMinnville railroad station for the early morning train that would take them on their first leg of their journey, which would end thousands of miles away in Sydney, Australia as part of the Pacific campaign.

It had seemed to Johnny that the day of his 18th birthday, when he could finally enlist would never arrive, but it finally had and now he was a soldier. GI Johnny Davis. He looked at his army uniform, scarcely able to believe he was wearing it. Johnny adjusted his hat over his close-cropped dark brown hair and smiled, making the young man's handsome face even better looking. He had found himself thinking that this was all a dream, that he would wake up and be back working at the sawmill or worse at school, learning subjects that were of no interest and no value to him in life, but this was real. He was in the army like his older brother was; and like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather and so on had been throughout the years.

Johnny looked at a nearby clock; still ten minutes until the train arrived and enough time for him to answer the call of nature. Carrying his pack on his shoulder, Johnny walked to the men's room at the rear of the station and stood at the urinal to relieve himself, before zipping up and exiting the bathroom.

The Saturday morning was a fine and clear one throughout the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and Johnny glanced up through the trees to admire the beautiful summer day, when the young GI froze. Glinting in the rays of the sun, high in the sky, was the strangest airplane Johnny had ever seen. It made no sound, was circular in shape and had a turret on the top. Johnny stared at it as it drew closer, and decided to alert the other members of the platoon to see if any of them had seen anything like it before.

However, when Johnny went to move he was unable to shift his feet so much as an inch, the young GI continuing to stare at the object as though transfixed, before a beam of blue light emerged from the aircraft and the soldier's world went blank ...

On the platform, the Captain looked at his platoon and realized one man was missing as the train approached. "Where is GI Davis?" he barked.

"He visited the latrine, Sir," responded one GI.

"Go and get him, the train isn't going to wait for him," said the Captain.

"Yes sir," said the GI, he and two other soldiers going around the back to the men's room, and finding it empty. They looked around outside in case the young soldier was having a sly cigarette, but there was no sign of Johnny Davis except of his pack, lying abandoned on the ground.

*

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO, USA

Ralph Rogers and his best friend Duncan Becker jumped down from the tray of the pick-up truck and waved the driver goodbye as he accelerated away, Ralph and Duncan walking down the street carrying their belongings. They could not be more opposite, like a version of comedy stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Ralph was a slim, blonde 19-year-old with good looks, while any of Duncan's good looks were immediately lost by his severe weight problem, the young man's body covered in one roll of fat after another.

"I've never heard of Roswell before," commented Duncan, looking around the small New Mexican town as they walked down the street.

"Nobody has heard of Roswell, and I don't think anybody will ever hear of Roswell," said Ralph. He lit a cigarette, and gave another cigarette to Duncan. "Still, we might be able to hitch a lift to Phoenix from here."

"If you hadn't gotten us kicked out of army training, we wouldn't be in this mess," said Duncan.

"It's because you couldn't lose a single pound in basic training," said Ralph somewhat unkindly. "Shit Duncan, how can you be in army training six weeks and not lose one pound?"

"You were the one who got us kicked out," said Duncan. "You know, the little thing about sleeping with the Major's daughter?"

"Oh yeah," smirked Ralph. "That's right." The young blonde man grinned at the memory of getting into bed with the Major's 18-year-old daughter Becky, getting her out of her dress, then her bra and finally her panties before the two of them went to town in the marital bed of the Major and his wife. This was until her father - possibly a greater dictator than Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini or Joseph Stalin combined - walked in on the teenagers.

Already tired of the antics of Ralph and his fat friend Duncan around the California army base this was the last straw, and the Major had no hesitation in issuing both boys with dishonorable discharges, accompanied by the stern advice that their country most definitely did not need them.

Ralph continued to smirk at the memory of deflowering Becky, the young man having learned nothing from the experience. He and Duncan had been getting into scrapes and trouble together for years, mainly petty theft in the Los Angeles neighborhood where they had grown up. The good-looking, smooth-talking Ralph had more recently found another interest - women. In fact, Ralph had lost his virginity the day after turning 18 to a 40-year-old married woman, she and her husband friends of Ralph's parents.

"One thing's for sure, I'm not going back home to LA and putting up with the old man's shit," said Ralph. "He'll wear me out when he finds I was kicked out of the army with a war on."

"Yeah, you know my Dad, he's just the same," said Duncan.

Both Ralph and Duncan came from homes run by authoritarian fathers and while their siblings had all fallen into line, the two boys were without doubt the black sheep of their families.

The sound of an automobile's horn was heard, both Ralph and Duncan having strayed into the road. The two boys hastily stepped back as the car sped past. "Get your butts off the road!" called the driver impatiently as he drove away.

"Friendly locals," said Ralph, shaking his head.

"I just hope we can find a place to eat," said Duncan, his expanded stomach growling.

"Great Duncan, you're thinking of food already," said Ralph. He looked at his watch, an item that Ralph had obtained from a store without paying. "It's early, I don't know if there would be any place open so early on a Saturday." He glanced sideways, and his eyes lit up as he spied an apple tree filled with ripe, red fruit in a nearby garden. "Hey, we can save ourselves a buck or two," he said, walking with Duncan to the fence. "Give me a hand over."

Duncan assisted Ralph to climb the fence, and the nimble young man climbed the tree with the ease of a monkey or a cat, picking apples and throwing them into the sack containing his belongings. Seeing some ripe and inviting fruit in a higher branch, Ralph went to grab it but then paused as something came into sight in the sky.

The teenager's face showed his puzzlement as he observed the aircraft fly closer, making no sound. Ralph had never seen an airplane shaped like a disk and with a turret on top and he turned to his friend on the ground. "Hey Duncan, look at this!"

Duncan, who was keeping watch went to turn but a feeling of light-headedness came over him, and before he could look at whatever Ralph was he passed out, his enormous bulk hitting the ground with a thud. In the tree, Ralph was unable to look away from the object, now directly overhead and shining in the early morning light of the New Mexico sun. Like Duncan, Ralph passed out and was only saved from falling out of the tree by the eerie beam of blue light that shone down from the aircraft ...

On the ground, Duncan awoke feeling like he had slept all day, but the pudgy young man checked his watch and realized that less than a minute had gone by. He clambered to his feet to see what Ralph was up to and was shocked to see the tree empty, with no sign of Ralph at all.

Speaking in a soft voice, not wanting to alert the home owner to the fact that he and Ralph were stealing apples, he called out, "Ralph, where are you?"

No response from Ralph. Duncan looked up and down the street, seeing nothing. Glancing over the fence, Duncan froze as his eyes took in the sack containing Ralph's belongings, now on the ground, the stolen apples spilled out ...

*

Doris Carter shivered at the icy wind and light but cold rain that was falling. The pretty redhead blinked awake and her eyes went wide as she took in her surroundings, not the Long Trail in Vermont, but a beach. Disoriented, Doris looked around seeing five other young people on the sand with her, like her waking up and looking around in complete puzzlement.

There was a girl with dark hair and a pretty blonde girl, who must have been cold given she was barefoot and wearing a light dress. Then there were three guys, a young dark-haired man from the army, a red-haired guy in a naval uniform and a blonde guy in civilian clothes.

"Why are we at the beach?" asked Doris, confused as to where the trees and her brother had gone.

"Where are we?" asked the dark-haired girl. "This sure ain't Newark." The girl looked at the gray waters of the ocean in the bay. On the sand were a number of small, brightly colored huts. "We ain't on the Jersey Shore either. And how the hell did we get here."

The blonde girl spoke up next. "It's summer, why is it so cold? And I've never seen the ocean before. Why aren't I in Springfield?"

"Where's my base?" pondered the sailor, getting to his feet.

"I should be on a train with my platoon," said the GI.

"Where's Duncan?" asked the young blonde man.

Further along the beach there appeared two older men on an early morning walk with a dog.

"Sir, can you help us?" called the GI.

The two men ambled across, regarding the sight of six young people on the beach with confusion and suspicion. "May I help you?" asked the first man, his voice carrying an accent that none of the six teenagers recognized immediately.

"I hope so," said the sailor. "Could you please tell us where we are?"

The two elderly men looked puzzled. Was this some sort of prank, or genuine. "You're on Brighton beach," said the second man.

"Brighton Beach?" exclaimed Doris. "The Brighton Beach in England?"

"No Miss, Brighton Beach in Melbourne," said the first man, pondering if this young American girl was drunk. Perhaps all of them were drunk. They had to be, sleeping on the beach like this.

"Wait a minute, I know Melbourne and this is not Florida," said the sailor.

"No, Melbourne Australia," said the second man, he and his friend observing the looks of absolute shock on the faces of the six young Americans and pondering what on Earth was going on here.

END OF CHAPTER 1 - TO BE CONTINUED ...