Auntie Lou and the Alien #1 1994
Auntie Lou was nobody's aunt. She lived by herself after her husband died. Her only neighbor was almost a mile away.


Auntie Lou and her late husband Ernest, built the three room house fitty one years ago. They had never wanted for much.


This day she rocked slowly in the creaky, old rocking chair. Her eyes were half closed as she gazed at the tall grass and trees that surrounded the house. Her knees ached with crippling arthritis.


She looked down at her hands and saw the wrinkles and age spots had never felt quite so old and lonely . Her big black cat, her best friend, slept at her feet. He had shown up one day and stayed.


The cat woke up and stretched. He jumped off the porch and disappeared into the tall grass. When he came back he had a half-dead He deposited it at her feet. She jumped when she saw it.

Auntie Lou, with great effort, got up from the rocker and reached for the broom. She swept the rat off the porch. The cat brought it back. The rat twitched and gazed at her with one good eye. She felt hypnotized. She got dizzy and had to sit back down in the rocker. She dreamed.

She dreamed that she was young again. The sun was high in the sky. The fields were green with the food she and Ernest had planted. Ernest was there pushing her in a swing he had made for her. They made love under a quilt in the shade of an old oak tree. She was happy and full of love.

Here eyes opened slowly. She gazed at the fields and felt a great sadness. The rat continued to twitch as the cat stood watch over it. The cat gazed up at Auntie Lou.

Auntie Lou went into the house and came back with a loaded gun. The shooed the cat off the porch. With as steady a hand as she could manage, she shot at the rat, three times. The rat disappeared into the old floor boards.

She went back into the house and emptied all the cat food into the dish. She opened the door and the cat went in. She left the door ajar. She looked back one last time. Her strength was ebbing.


Auntie Lou painfully and slowly went down the steps. She moved slowly toward the grass that was taller than her bent figure. Maybe, she thought, there were more dreams to be found that were like the last one.