Silvery Figure

Running late Friday morning, still needing to deliver the Dayton Valley Dispatch to the farther reaches of Lyon County, I was merrily speeding along U.S. 50, coming to the hill that drops into Stagecoach, when I saw it. That ‘it’ was a bright, silvery figure running across the sagebrush-strewn landscape.

Stepping hard on my old truck’s brakes, I swerved off the road and stopped. I fumbled for my cellphone, wanting to take a video of it, but because of my unsafe maneuver, it had fallen and slipped under the passenger seat. Instead, I sat there and watched as it raced behind a bush, squatted down, and vanished.

At first, I thought that maybe I saw a dust devil that had picked up a piece of aluminum foil or some metal flashing used in roofing construction. Then I looked around me, finding two other vehicles had stopped, and each driver was out of the car and truck, looking in the same direction I had been looking.

Getting out of my truck, I looked in the direction of the silver thing and found it nowhere. Then I looked again at the two who had also seen what I had.

The expressions on their faces were of disbelief, and I could tell neither one wanted to compare notes as each was quick to get in their vehicle and drive away. I sat there another 20 minutes or so, hoping to see it again.

Such an odd thing to happen in the middle of the day, on a busy highway, and only three person’s taking notice. Wishing my phone hadn’t gone under the seat.