Summer Without Sunlight

When summer break from school approached and all of the neighborhood kids were outside playing with her siblings, it never seemed fair that Layla could not do the same. She knew other kids that had allergies, who could take medicine and still play outside, but her allergy was different. There was no medicine that she could take, because her allergy was to sunlight. Layla was born with a rare illness known as xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP as she told people, because pronouncing it wasn’t so easy. She had to protect her skin not only from the sun, but from anything that emitted ultraviolet light, including some lightbulbs, which could harm her skin very quickly.

When Layla went outdoors during daylight, she had to wear a special suit that reminded her of what astronauts wore, so she called this her “space suit”. She didn't mind wearing it, as she often fantasized about being an astronaut with the ability to go into outer space where she could swim through the anti-gravity universe, without sunlight harming her body. However, it was just too hot to wear her suit outdoors in the summer since she lived in Texas, and it was because of this that she was forced to spend all of her summers stuck inside during the day.

During the summer of her third-grade year, Layla was lying in bed one night and noticed lights flickering outside of her window. She got out of bed and peered outside, where she saw sparks of light coming from the old barn that was on the property her family lived on. She watched in curiosity as flickers of light splashed out of the barn and onto the ground. As she stood wondering what the lights could be, her mind was instantly sparked with the idea that it might possibly be a being from outer space that was in the old barn. She wondered if its ship had crashed, and it was using the barn to repair the space craft.

The next morning, she said to her mother, "I saw flashing sparks of light in the old barn last night. Do you know what it could be? I think we should investigate tonight.”

"Your silly sweetheart," her mother replied. "No one has been out to that barn in years."

"But I saw light flickering out there! I think it’s possible that there’s an extraterrestrial being,” Layla exclaimed. She had just learned about extraterrestrials in her outer space books she had been studying, and she felt smart being able to use that word.

“They might need our help if their spaceship is broken.” Layla expressed, dramatically raising her hands in the air. “I know I saw lights out there!"

“Honey, there are no extraterrestrial beings out there,” her mother said patting her hands on Layla’s head. Then she continued, “You were probably just dreaming,” and she gently placed Layla’s arms down to her side and squeezed her shoulders. Then she continued, “Or maybe it was fireflies!” Her mother’s face lit up, “I’m sure that’s what you saw!”

But Layla knew that it could not be fireflies. She spent many nights catching fireflies outside, and these lights were way too bright. They were even a different color than the fireflies she was used to catching. She was also certain that she was not dreaming, and that she was awake when she saw the lights. Layla knew that what she saw was real, but her mother seemed to just brush it off, telling her to find something to do to keep busy.

Layla stomped off, knowing that she couldn’t possibly concentrate on anything with this on her mind, and as the day progressed, she would glance out the window at the old barn to see if any of the lights flickered during the day, but they did not. The thought of the sparking lights consumed her, and she couldn’t do much of anything without thinking about them. She decided that she would sneak out that night to see if her extraterrestrial theory was correct. She didn’t even care that she might get caught doing it, because she was certain that she would prove that she was right. It might even need her help to fix the space craft, and even come back to the house so that she could introduce it to the family, proving to her mother that she was right!

At bedtime she once again saw the flickering lights and began to put on her space suit to greet her soon to be friend from another planet. She didn’t know if the lights would affect her XP, plus she felt that her space suit might be more familiar to the alien. The suit would be like the astronauts which it probably saw from time to time in outer space. She also considered that it might be hungry, and since it had such a long way to travel to get back home, she would pack some cookies.

After putting on her space suit, Layla snuck down to the kitchen, wrapped up some of the cookies her mother had made that day, and quietly snuck out the back door. She trudged through the tall grass and out to the barn in her space suit where the illuminating flickers of light got bigger and brighter as she approached.

Hiding behind the entrance of the giant barn doors she would get her first glimpse of the spaceship, but what she found was not as she had expected. There was no spacecraft, and no extraterrestrial to be found. What she did see was someone the size of her father in a suit similar to hers, working with some sort of gun that emitted light like fire while it moved around a large piece of metal.

Layla hid behind the large wooden doors and wondered who this could be, and why they would be wearing another version of her space suit. As she stood hiding, the figure raised up its helmet to reveal that in fact it was her father! She knew that he did not have XP like her, so why was he wearing this suit? She also knew that whatever he was doing must have been a secret, because if her mother knew he was in the barn at night, then she would have said so. Layla’s dad rarely got mad at her, and she knew he would tell her what he was doing, so when he stopped using the fire-light gun, she jumped out from behind the barn door and yelled, "Dad! What are you doing out here in that space suit?"

Layla’s father was so startled that he dropped his tools and tripped over them, falling to the ground.

"Layla, you scared the ba-geezus outta me!" He sat on the ground startled. "I think the question is what are YOU doing out here? Not what am I doing!"

"I saw the flickering lights in the barn, and I wanted to see what they were,” Layla explained as she walked toward her father and helped him up. “I thought an extraterrestrial being was repairing its ship, so I was bringing it cookies since it would take a long time to get back to its home in outer space."

Layla’s dad laughed and then said, “Well, I’m no extraterrestrial but I do like cookies!” He took off his helmet and gloves then moved to an old lawn chair, motioning her to come sit next to him. She opened the napkin of cookies she had brought and handed him one, while she began to nibble on the other.

"Why are you in a space suit like mine? What are you doing?"

He chuckled and then replied, "This isn’t a space suit honey. I’m welding."

"Are you mad that I saw you?"

"No not at all, but you did scare me!"

"Why did mom lie to me and tell me no one comes out here?"

"Well, we didn’t want you kids getting hurt with all of my equipment, so we just told you the barn was abandoned and to stay out of it." He broke his cookie in half and started chewing on one side then explained, "Welding is a hobby of mine. I haven’t worked out here in years. Just got my tools together the other day so I could work again."

"What’s welding?" Layla questioned again with a mouthful of cookie crammed into her mouth.

"Come over here and I’ll show you." Her father got up and brushed the cookie crumbs away, motioning for her to do the same. "We both have to wear space suits out here because welding creates bright light that could blind the both of us!"

They both put their gloves and helmets back on and walked over to the large clumps of metal he had been working with. Her father grabbed the torch from the ground and pointed, "The light is made from tungsten, the same thing that’s in light bulbs, but instead of creating light, it creates heat, and it gets hot enough to melt metal! Isn’t that cool?"

Layla nodded her head up and down under her helmet.

He continued explaining, "There is a grounding cable that clips on to the welding table." He pointed to a clip that was on the table he had been working on and explained, "It acts just like the lighting rod on the roof of this barn." Pointing up to the roof of the barn, then down to a cable he said, "It takes the excess electricity, conducts it down the cable to the frame and neutralizes it." He moved his hand down the cable, then pointed over to a tank and said, "There’s gas in that tank and it’s pumped through to the tip of the torch. The electricity creates thousands of degrees of heat and light. It’s so bright it could blind anyone. Not just you!"

Then he pointed to his helmet, "This welding mask protects my eyes from the flashes of light." He held up his hands with his oversized gloves and continued, "I also need to protect my hands and arms by wearing these gloves and a welding jacket. This is important because the bright light can actually burn anyone just like a sunburn. So out here in the barn I’m just like you when I'm welding. We both have to wear special suits!"

He then put his helmet down over his face and fired up the welder, motioning for her to stand back. He ran the hot torch along the sides of two large pieces of metal, then turned the machine off and pushed his helmet up.

"Would you like to learn how to do this one day?" Layla took her helmet off to show that her face had lit up with a smile, showing the space of her missing front tooth she had just lost only a few days before. Her father continued, "Well, when you are a little bigger, I can teach you how to do it. But for now, you can help me and watch."

"Why did mom tell me no one comes out here? Is it a secret?" Layla asked.

"No baby doll, we just don't want you kids out here because you might get hurt." He put his hand with the giant glove onto her shoulder and said, "But if you promise not to come out here unless you’re with me, I will teach you."

Layla was very intrigued and excitedly said, "I would love to learn!"

"Ok, well keep your helmet on and stand back, you can watch me work tonight."

Layla adjusted her helmet and moved so that her father had room to work. As she watched her father, she thought about how she now had a reason to come outside, and because it was cooler in the night, she didn’t mind wearing her space suit. She also realized that from now on her summer breaks wouldn’t be so bad after all.