Encounter in Blanco

 We often drive to Blanco to get outdoors and seek a cure for our cabin fever, to enjoy the local barbeque, and to hunt for books at the library.  We could get addicted to this if it weren't for some concern that this routine would lead to just another form of cabin fever.

This time, we stopped for some gasoline and found the local people all in a buzz about the sighting of an extraterrestrial ship.  The first accounts were that it was all a hoax and then others came forward and told of the sighting which made us think that a mysterious ship did make a visit.  Nobody witnessed the craft's landing, but most sensed that there was some form of transport of a group of beings that somehow made the craft exit and then, without any commotion, they just melded into the mix of people of the area.

Now that was a problem because we had always thought that ETs would not look and dress like us but instead have exaggerated bodies and some dress that suggested space travel.  We were assured that these who emerged from the extraterrestrial ship and by some mechanism arrived on the ground right here in our own Blanco and were now incognito.  We had heard from reports years ago that the ETs had this ability to take on our appearance, even our mannerisms, and blend right in with us.  We looked at each other with some questions about each other.

Well, we decided that there was nothing more to this event than maybe some science fiction writers at a convention trying to drum up a story, so we decided to go on to our lunch destination.

Looking around at the usual crowd of barbecue aficionados, everything and everybody appeared as normal as we would expect for this small town that is often visited by the more urban types from central Texas.  There were men of all ages dressed in shorts and their gardening crocs with mud still on the edges and women with sandals and painted toenails chipped at the edge.  Certainly, we amused ourselves these must be real people as ETs could never duplicate this crowd that never looks at their appearance in the mirror.

The barbeque was so good that it drove us next door to have a cup of coffee and a lemony Snickerdoodle cookie. Yes, this is our routine in Blanco.

We saw the same kind of crowd here, not barbecue fans but those who apparently prefer more sophisticated food, or at least common food presented in a more sophisticated way.  The sophistication included a price proportionate to the level of sophistication.

Here the crowd seemed a bit different from those at the barbeque joint.   There was an air of being rather synthetic.  Grammas looking more like Grammas than any we have known; men in the latest import of sneakers from China and even some young ladies dressed in cowgirl attire. No one in Texas does that anymore as it quickly lays on the label of a tourist.  On top of all this, we noticed something so strange that it had us speechless.  While we looked off in one direction or the other, people appeared in the line waiting to order their lunch in spots where they had not been just a second ago.  When we looked back, there they were--out of nowhere.

Well, this was a series of unusual observations for sure.   

We decided to dig deeper into this situation and managed to strike up a conversation with two people who seemed to be together.  Nothing to see here as the phrase goes, and we had a lively discussion about the good food and atmosphere of the place.

Then we asked them where they were from and they said they were from the planet AUSTIN.  We knew it!   We had been invaded by some ETs.