Black Helicopter

Posted on May 6, 2004 in Neighborhood

I looked up as I got out of my truck because I heard the blades chopping the air. I saw two red lights and guessed that they were near the stars as all the lights of passing aircraft seem to be. The wind scrambling the tops of the eucalyptus and the mimosas disabused me of my illusion. A faintly shining wasp-shape, the color of a bluebottle, passed maybe a hundred, maybe two hundred feet over my head. Direction: northeast, towards Mount Santiago. No spotlights looking for criminals, no letters on the bottom that I could read. It’s purpose and its destination were obscure. I watched it leave like men watched mammoths before they learned the art of the spear.