A CLOSE ENCOUNTER

Stars twinkled brightly in a moonless sky, reflecting in the calm waters of Lake George in the Adirondack mountains of upstate New York. It was a warm August night, as we laid back in the boat, marveling at the magnificent Milky Way. Dark skies made the stars more brilliant at this time of year, especially during a new moon, causing wonder and enchantment. We never tired of stargazing while floating on water, a truly immersive experience.

The lake was quite tranquil at the moment. It was just before midnight, when in the distance we heard a small motorboat putting along. Seconds later, its sound faded as it disappeared behind an island. Quiet enveloped us once again. I wanted to slow time down, a futile attempt to make this moment last.

Drifting near Gull Island, we were facing south, relaxing on our reclined seats with the bow to the north. Refreshments were close at hand. Just as I thought, how perfect a moment this was, the unexpected startled us out of our tranquil complacency. A meteor suddenly appeared, screaming over the ridge on the north side of Black Mountain, about five miles away.

It was moving fast, very fast. This flaming rock from outer space was the size of a VW Beetle, probably larger. We saw its flames licking the red-hot, glowing stone as it streaked past, directly overhead at about 3,500 feet, sounding like a fighter-jet on fire. Black Mountain is 2,641 feet above sea level, so this was a pretty close encounter! (An impact from an object of this size, moving faster than the speed of sound would have been catastrophic.)

The flaming, speed-demon meteor rapidly disappeared over the northwest horizon and the campsites at Rogers Rock. It all just happened so fast, I was left breathless. This was the fastest thing either one of us had ever seen moving through the air.

There was no instant replay button available, leaving my brother and I stunned as we stared at each other in amazement. Then, in unison and slow motion, we said, “Wow!”

(It brought to mind the times we have seen the jet-jockeys from out of Plattsburgh flying their F-16’s below the radar and the speed of sound on a joyride, thundering down the lake. The jets fly at a snail’s pace compared to what we had just witnessed.)

It’s possible the fireball never hit earth and just skipped through the atmosphere and back into space. I took a map out of my pack hoping to determine its course. The line of trajectory of the extraterrestrial object–from where we first saw the unidentified flaming object to its vanishing point over the mountains to the north–appeared to have crossed over Hudson’s Bay, in Canada.

Then I reached into the cooler, pulling out a couple of brews, opening them, and handing one to my brother. We clinked the bottles together in celebration of this unforgettable moment, a close encounter that happened so many moons ago.

The End

Shortly after writing this, I found a news flash about a fireball reported over New Jersey, it was seen from many locations in the northeast on April 10th, at 3:45 am. This kind of synchronicity seems to be happening with more frequency, and it makes me wonder, what’s going to happen next?