Alien Invasion: and the origins of mankind
Page 7
tape recorder. I accidently pressed the play button only. Hard to record someone talking when you fail to press the record button. Lets start again” he took the recorder and pushed record. He pointed it at Sam.
“Ok” Sam said as he got himself ready. He put on his professional sounding deep voice. The type of voice someone has when leaving a message on a doctor’s answering machine. “My name is Sam…”
Before Sam could say another word a little girl with long blonde hair at the top of Main Street pointed and yelled out “I see a military jeep mommy. Their here, there here”
The announcement shot lighting through the crowd; everyone young and old locked their eyes towards Forest Road, holding their breath.
For a brief moment there was silence.
Within a few seconds the first military jeep pulled onto Main Street honking its horn. Everyone eyes lit up and started to cheer. One by one, more jeeps and armored vehicles pulled into town, honking their horns as the soldiers waved.
Charles quickly turned away from Sam and looked towards Main Street to see what was happening “Hot dog! Would you look at that, the military has arrived. Why am I not over there getting pictures?” He turned and took off running in the blink of an eye.
Sam was left standing in mid sentence. He turned back towards the others “How do you like that? One moment away from our big break and we missed it”
The kids all looked at each in disappointment.
“Not a problem” Timmy said “We’ll get a another interview. I’m sure of it”
“Yeah, your right” Bobby said, “Our time will come. I bet by the time the weekend events are over with Charles will want the interview. That’s when we’ll get our break”
Timmy nodded “I agree”
“So, until then, “Kyle said “Lets enjoy the military shall we” He yelled out and started to cheer as the first jeep rolled by.
The other boys laughed and quickly agreed. They turned towards the road and started cheering just as loud. They waved as the first hunter green jeeps slowly rolling by.
The General was inside the lead jeep sitting in the passenger side wearing his silver sunglasses. His dark green military suit was as perfect fit, with his polished black shoes to match. He kindly waved back to everyone on the sidewalk. He never told anyone, but he always like small towns. It was places like this he wanted to defend. In his mind the big cities were filled with weirdos with wild haircuts and ripped jeeps. Listening to their loud disco music. If you didn’t fit into a small town you moved to the city.
The Mayor of Springbrook Gardens stood on the newly construed two-story wooden podium seven blocks up Main Street. It stood a few feet back from the sidewalk and had a massive crowd standing around it. Everyone wanting the best spot possible knowing the General would be stopping in front to greet the Mayor.
He watched as the first jeep with the General inside made its way towards him. He thought back to the Monday morning when he was sitting in his office with the sun shining in reading over some documents when his secretary told him someone from the military was on line one. He at first thought he heard wrong. There was no reason for the military to be contacting him. Sure enough it turned out to be the General telling him about the emergency dusting that needed to be done to stop the insects from spreading through the forest near his town. The mayor felt some relief hearing the news from the General, for the past few weeks he’d been freaking out when he heard the dangerous insect was close to his town. He watched the news almost every second to keep up with the whereabouts of the insect and how dangerous the flying insect could be. When the General told him he could take care of the insect for him all in one evening, the Mayor was overjoyed and said yes to him right away. However he was caught off guard when the General who in a nice friendly voice requested his whole military platoon come into town for a nice meet and greet with the town’s people. The mayor sat back in his leather chair and wasn’t sure what to say. He was surprised anyone cared about the town or even heard of it for that matter to make such a request. Most people hadn’t a clue of Springbrook Gardens existence to start with much less care about bring a whole military platoon for a visit. In fact the town was so hard to find the majority of drivers who were looking for the cutoff to Forest Road missed it. Everyone else on the highway simply drove by unaware of the cutoff that lead to his town.
The Mayor said yes with a smile and the next morning announced the military’s arrival on the front page of the town’s paper. Word of the event went around the entire town in less then an hour. It had to be a record; most gossip took two or three hours.
Since the annual variety talent show was schedule for the same weekend everyone decided to hold the two at the same time. Making one massive event, the likes the town had never seen.
Everyone in town spent weeks getting ready for the weekend event. Kids from the town’s grade schools colored little pictures of army men smiling while standing next to their army vehicles and hung them around town on street lamps and mail boxes. High school kids created a massive banner, which hung over the middle of Main Street. The words “Welcome To Springbrook Gardens” were displayed in bright letters. The town was abuzz over the weekend events, from every grade school classroom to dinning rooms in each of the houses right on down to the local barbershop. Everyone talked.
Jeeps and armored vehicles slowly rolled along. Kindergarten kids stood with their parents waving as the military men waved back. Rock music played somewhere in the background, either from the military trucks themselves or someone in town had large speakers.
The General’s jeep came to a stop at the newly constructed two-story podium. Decorticated in red ribbons and streamers.
The mayor stood at the top in front of a microphone waiting for the General to walk on up the steps as countless people of all ages stood around it cheering as the jeep door opened.
The General stepped out of the jeep and waved to the citizens as they cheered and waved back. He walked up the podium steps and over to the mayor and greeted him with a handshake.
The mayor turned to the microphone “Welcome General to the town of Springbrook Gardens.”
The crowd erupted in a loud cheer.
The Mayor let them cheer for a few moments and went back to speaking “Were very honored to have you and the military visit our small friendly town,” his voice echoed through the speakers as the crowd cheered more.
The General smiled for the Mayor and walked towards the microphone “The army loves you”. He called out to everyone standing on the sidewalk below him.
Before he could say another word, the crowd erupted in a louder cheered.
The General waited for a moment for the cheering to die down “On behave of all the soldiers, let me say it’s our honor to be here. I have the upmost respect for small towns. This is where hard workingmen and woman live. Good old family values are found in a place like this. This is the type of town where the grass grows green on both sides of the street. Where you walk the dog on a bright sunny morning and kids play innocently in the playgrounds and ballparks. This is why brave men join the military, to protect good people like you. It’s small towns like this that make our country great. Somehow the sun shines brighter on a town like this. This is a place of peace, were neighbors know and care about each other. I look at a place like this and I’m proud to be in the military knowing I will defend a place as beautiful as this one. You should be proud to call this place home. I look forward to meeting the people here over the next few days and hope to answer any questions you might have. We’re here to make the world a better place, a safer place. I want everyone here to approach and talk to the soldiers throughout the weekend. See what we have to offer. You’ll love it, it’s better then any video game.” The crowd laughed “Why sit at home playing games when you can have the army in your life. We’ll protect you from the evil. We’ll protect you from the visitors. Anyone wants to harm you the military will be there to stop them. Tomorrow we can have a better future.”
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bsp; The Mayor moved towards the podium “General, on behalf of everyone in town we would like to invite you to our variety show this Saturday at the town hall. The theme of this years show will be to honor the military”
The crowd erupted in a loud cheer as the applauded.
The General smiled and turned to the Mayor “I would love to be there. It would be an honor to see everyone in this town put on skits for the military.” He turned and waved to the crowd. “This is the greatest small town in the world. You should be proud to live here. I looked forward to the weekend events. Now I want everyone here to get close to the vehicles and talk to the soldiers. Get as many pictures as you like and ask all the questions you have. Were here today to make this the best weekend ever for all of you and ourselves”
The crowd applauded loudly as the General walked back down the steps and moved back towards his jeep, shaking hands with the residences along the way.
Timmy turned to the other boys. “This is amazing. What a cool guy. You can see why he’s a leader. He would do anything to protect this town” his voice was almost drowned out by the cheering,
Bobby called out, trying to be heard. “He is the coolest guy this town has ever seen. Just look at how everyone is cheering for him”
Timmy nodded “And