Chapter V

Seeing Aliens in the Fields

Getting out of my bed the following morning proved to be rather excruciating. Technically I didn’t have anything to do, it was summer break for still a few more weeks and obviously I didn’t have any plans at the moment, so there really was no reason for me to get out. And the mattress was so friggin’ comfortable! I might have been too keyed up yesterday to fully understand just how comfortable it was. It felt like my bed was wrapping its arms around me telling me to just stay there for the rest of the day—or life.

            But I liked to get up early, I didn’t like to lose too much precious minutes in a day and maybe I could get familiar with my new environment. I still hadn’t taken a grand tour of the house and there was also my grandfather’s barn close by that I could see if I went in the stairs at a certain point, looked out the window and angle myself right to see between the thin outskirt of trees. And for some odd reason, running around in the fields sounded kind of tempting. We didn’t have a lot of those in Beverly Hills.

            And maybe later I could text Jared…

            Yummy.

            Reluctantly, I hauled myself out of the bed after hugging the pillow and wrapping myself in the cover for a few too many unnecessary minutes. I slipped in my robe and dragged my feet downstairs.

            It was eight in the morning so from what I had gathered, my mother was probably gone to the clinic—she was a veterinarian—and my grandfather must already be in the fields, or doing paper work in his study or meeting with investor or whatever people with farms did. My grandmother must still be lying in her bed, recovering from the one too many martinis she had last night—actually I doubted that one, she was too fancy to pull something like that off.

            When I got in the kitchen, I felt the need to make myself a tea—last time I had one I was still in California—but I couldn’t find anything in the friggin’ cupboards. All I got my hands on was coffee.

            At least it’s a warm beverage…

            I ate an apple while waiting for my coffee to be ready and down two cups afterwards adding a lot of sugar and milk to lose the bitter taste.

            That might have been a bad idea…

            By eight thirty I was giddy and jumpy. Maybe that running around the field was a good idea…

            I ran back to my room, but right before I could even start picking what outfit I would wear my gaze feel on something outside.

            I hadn’t realized that when I stood right in front of the window I could see the field between the trees and right now I could see the fields. And some guy was walking around in them—tall dark and definitely not my grandfather… it just screamed trouble maker walking around the fields to set them on fire! That could totally happen right?

            Oh my god! That could happen!

            It wasn’t my grandfather, so that guy obviously wasn’t supposed to be there! I had to tell someone.

            My grandmother wasn’t my favourite option, so instead I ran to the room I knew was my brother’s and practically kicked the door open.

            Noah was sleeping on his stomach, his back to me, his arms wrapped around his pillow, obviously still sound asleep.

            I rushed to him and shook his shoulder. “Noah! Get up!”

            My brother groaned, moving his shoulders a bit. “What do you want…” he mumbled almost incoherently against his pillow.

            He rolled in his bed. Friggin’ hell, wait!

            Reporter tip one-oh-one; don’t dismiss the obvious facts.

            I should have thought before rushing in his room like that. Friggin’ perfect. He was a boy, I wasn’t use to living with a boy other than my father. He didn’t have a shirt. Maybe he didn’t have anything else on! That was not something I wanted to see. EVER!

            I covered my eyes and backed away, “Oh crap, wait, oh darn, are you naked underneath there, sorry I don’t know your sleeping habits, oh friggin’ hell, I’m sorry, forget about this.”

            The back of my heel caught in something—I don’t know what because I had my eyes closed—and I tripped a bit, but steadied myself quickly.

            Noah sighed heavily. “Naomi, breathe, I’m not naked,” he informed me, exasperate.

            I opened one eye. Oops, my bad… “Oh okay, good…” Well as long as he wasn’t naked… “Then get UP!” I rushed back to his bed, grabbing him by the arm, “Come on, come on, let’s go,” I urged him, leading him back towards my room.

            “What is it,” Noah groaned again, following me grudgingly.

            I towed him straight to my window and almost shove his face against the glass, pointing at the guy that was still in the fields. “Who is that? Is he stealing our crops? Oh! Is he an alien! Oh my god, he’s an alien, isn’t he? Did we ever have crop circles around? I’m sure we did! Oh my god, he’s an alien!”

            “Jesus Christ, are you always like this in the morning,” Noah whined.

             I might be a little bit hyper. “I couldn’t find tea… I had coffee,” with a lot of sugar.

            “Don’t make coffee again, ever. Look more carefully. Grandma drinks tea. A lot of it,” he said in broken speech. Poor thing, he obviously wasn’t the early bird.

            Reporter tip-one-oh-one; use important information to your advantage in the future.

            “And that’s not an alien,” he added, “that’s Caleb.”

            Huh? I frowned. “What’s a Caleb?”

            “Oh we find them in the wild, it’s their natural habitat.” My brother suddenly grinned. “Their reproductive system is very complex, they latch eggs and then they eat the eggs and bare the young ones for three decades. If you catch one and train it right then it works around your field to freak out the blondes, it’s the best way to entertain them, right after making them change the light bulb.”

            I rolled my eyes.

            “I know you think you’re funny right now, but you’re really not.” I refrained myself from asking “And did you mean to entertain the blonde or the Caleb?” And okay maybe I had kind of badly interpreted his answer and I might not be exactly coherent, but I was in friggin’ Moose Jaw, don’t expect too much from me for dear-almost-Swedish-looking-Christ’s sake.

            “Caleb works in the morning on the farm.” Noah explained more properly. “Grandpa hired him. If you sit by the window who knows, you might see another one. We have all sorts of other specimens running around and their reproductive system is just as colourful.” He was mocking me. I wasn’t amused. How was I supposed to know that?

            I pushed him away from the window and towards the door. “Goodbye.”

            “Let me tell you about the birds and the bees,” he sang happily, his mood definitely lifted.

            “And the flower and the trees, yada yada yada, yes I know,” I shot back and closed the door behind me.

            Well, at least I knew the crops were safe… How blonde was I right now? Ugh.

            I walked back to my window, but then I narrowed my eyes, staring at the guy, Caleb, again. He had brown hair, and the broadness of his shoulders kind of fitted…

            I walked out of my room again and went back to my brother’s room, not bothering to knock.

            When I walked in, Noah lifted his head but then let it fall back on his pillow, breathing out an almost-cry-of-despair. “Seriously? If I take my boxers off right now are you going to stop interrupting my beauty sleep? I’m meeting two very hot girls today; I need all the help I can get!”

            “True to that,” I grinned at him mischievously. “You also need a healthy dose of punches in the guts, that’s what you need.”

            Noah sat up in his bed. I was starting to enjoy this bickering… “Did you just came here to say that and wake me up or you had a higher purpose, like I don’t know, throw a horse head in my bed?”

            I shrugged. “I don’t think you’d understand the hidden message behind the act, and I doubt you cherish a horse… do you cherish a horse? Do you have a horse?”

            “Naomi, the point, get to it,” my brother pressed, rolling his hands in a “let’s get to it” motion.

            Oops. I had gotten sidetracked here. “Oh right, well, that guy, Caleb out there,” I nodded with my chin towards his window “did you see him yesterday?”

            Noah frowned, confused. “What?”

            I shrugged again. “I just saw you nodding at someone last night and I just got the back of his head and I thought he kind of matched the mental picture I had taken of him.”

            I didn’t like mysteries left unresolved for too long. That was the reporter in me speaking.

            “Yeah, it was Caleb actually,” Noah answered, running his hands through his hair.

            “Are you friends with him?”

            “What’s with the interrogatory Miss Reporter?” he chuckled.

            “Just trying to understand the mechanic of your relationships with everyone in this town,” I explained.

            My brother rolled his eyes at me, and I made a face at him. “Well Caleb is a bit strange.”

            “Coming from you, that’s obviously not a compliment,” I cut him cheerfully, so it could be obvious that I was making fun of him right now.

            Yes, I was seriously enjoying this bickering…

            Noah sighed. “And by that I meant that he doesn’t exactly have friends.”

            Huh, okay I hadn’t expected that, not exactly. “Do you mean he’s a dork?”

            “No, I mean he’s a serial killer,” he smirked.

            “Interesting stories I would like to know about? The guy is walking around in the fields by the house,” I trailed.

            And just like that, Noah looked at me in a weird way. It was like he had just unravelled one of my deepest darkest secrets—not that I really had any of those. “You don’t say “our”,” he breathed, thoughtfully, like he was talking to himself.

            “Excuse me?”

            “Or even “my” for that matter,” he continued “Or “home”. You say “the house”, “the field”, “the bed”, “the room”.”

            I huffed in annoyance. “You’re blond; you have no idea what you’re talking about”

            “Oh, I think I know exactly what I’m talking about, and you do too.”

            What was his problem?

            “Friggin’ hell, I just got here, would you give me a break,” I hissed in frustration.

            “You looked for it,” my brother informed me smugly and I was seriously annoyed by him right now. “Now get out of my room and don’t ever wake me up in the morning, that’s a house rule, well start making some of those.”

            I turned around waving my hand at him like I couldn’t give a crap.

            That’s why I didn’t spend time with my twin brother; he was unbearably annoying.

            I went back to my room, and the idea of going to walk in the fields was still appealing. And the alien-Caleb-apparently-strange-friendless-and-a-serial-killer was nowhere to be seen anymore, so that ought to be a good thing.

            I put on my Girl by Band of Outsiders printed silk dress. It was had thin straps, was white, with what looked like little plant pots printed on it. It was a lovely dress. Usually I would have worn it with a cardigan over it but it seemed warm enough outside. I put on my Ancient Greek sandals. I braided my blond hair.

            When I stepped out of my room, Tank was sitting right in front of me, looking up at me with her puppy eyes. My heart nearly gave out. She was such a cute dog.

            I bent down to her and patted her head. “Do you want to come and walk with me outside?” Of course, I wasn’t expecting and answer but the way she wiggled her tail energetically was enough of and answer for me.

            I straightened up and walked out of the big house, Tank on my heels.

            I had been right about the weather when putting my dress on—it was nice. Maybe Saskatchewan wasn’t always a complete freezing wasteland…

            Tank seemed overly happy to be outside and kept running around my legs, her little paws pressing on them from now to then. I picked her up in my arms, smiling, patted her head and set her down again, letting her run away.

            For some reason she seemed to know where I wanted to go because I followed her and ended up in a little trail that lead to the fields.

            I walked slowly after her, while she sprinted, and then came back to me, and then sprinted away again. It was nice to have a companion during my walk.

            I walked for a little while, enjoying the sun on my face and the wind on my skin, until I got to a patch where the crop was lower than the rest of the field.

            Tank had stopped sprinting away and was staying close. I crouched again to pat her, and decided that I might as well sit. I took off my shoes and sat on them in order to not dirty up my white dress on the ground and patted the happy dog beside me.

            It was a nice day and the caffeine in my system was wearing down. I was getting just a little bit sleepy from the low. It might have been nice to lie down on the ground but it was already close to a miracle for me to sit down on the ground, so lying on it was a whole other story.

            The landscape was definitely different from anything I ever looked at in Beverly Hills. Everything was so empty. I was used to every possible bit of space being crowded up. Emptiness felt a bit unsettling to be honest.

            I couldn’t see any workers on the field close by so that was a good thing. I didn’t want to have to chat with anyone and explain who I was and what I was doing here.

            I didn’t see any kind of big farming trucks either. Good thing those big harvesting machines weren’t out yet. I didn’t like anything with big blades.

            Dad had told me the story once, about his father’s friend when they were kids. They were playing by the side of the roads in winter and were building snow castles. The man driving one of the big snowblowers that cleared the street with big spinning blades hadn’t seen them. My father’s father, my grandfather, had gotten away. His friend had turned into ground meat.

            What kind of headline were you supposed to put to such a story?

            Thinking about my father’s father made me realize I needed to go see him, see them, my other grandparents. I owed them that much since I was here. This city was also my father’s hometown after all.

            After a few more minutes of patting Tank’s head I got back on my feet, slipping in my sandals and headed back to the house.

            I followed Tank again, and ended up close to the barn. I saw a man, maybe my father’s age walk in the barn, oblivious to me.

            My eyes fell on the daisies in the little garden. I picked a few.

            A pick-up truck left the parking. It was old and it definitely needed to have its muffler fix with the sound it made.

            When I got back to the house, Noah was up, sitting lazily in front of the television, flipping through the channels.

            Why was he changing so fast when he got to the news one? I liked the news and I hadn’t watched them in two days now.

            “Anything good?” I asked, closing the door beside me—it had taken longer for Tank to get back inside. I think she liked to be outside and free better.

            Noah turned around, taking me in, and then gazed back to the big screen, continuing his zapping. “Where were you?”

            “Outside in the fields,” I answered him, walking towards the recliner.

            Noah smirked, not looking my way. “Doing research on the workers different reproductive systems?”

            My eyes narrowed. “Ha ha, very funny, I’m doubling with fits of laughter,” I said in a flat tone.

            “You know what,” Noah inquired, finally looking my way, “I was probably wrong, they’re not the aliens, you are.” He pointed at me with the remote control “You’re from Vulcan, aren’t you? Interesting mating drive your little specie has.” His usual smirk widened. “Don’t want to be around you during pon farr,” he shuddered in disgust.

            I rolled my eyes and tried not to glare. “Do you feel intelligent right now?”

            “Only just a little,” he kept smirking.

            “Whatever.” I huffed. “I just wanted to ask you if you could drive me to our grandparents, you know, Flinch?”

            My brother suddenly closed the television. Well that had gotten his attention… “You don’t have to do this right now you know,” he trailed softly.

            I shrugged. “I feel like it today.”

            “Alright, sure, no problem,” he answered, getting up on his feet. “Let me just get my keys and put something on.”

            I followed him upstairs too, to grab my light brown Malene Birger cardigan.

            I waited for him at the top of the stairs. He joined me a minute later, wearing jeans and a simple t-shirt, his keys in hands.

            “Does it interfere with your three-some,” I teased him, while we headed to the door.

            “Ha ha, very funny,” He rolled his eyes at me and I realized I had probably sounded just like him a few minutes ago when I had said the same words. “And no, it doesn’t, unless you plan on staying there all night.”

            I shook my head. “Not in my plans no.”

            We were outside now, I was on the passenger side of my brother’s car, waiting for him to unlock the doors. He was leaning over the top of his car looking at me with his always mischievous and up to no good face. “Hey, it’s a nice place to hang out at night.”

            I breathe out a disbelieving breathe. “I think I’ll pass. Can we go?”

            I heard the clicking sound of doors unlocking. “Yep!”

            We drove silently, the radio playing one of Noah’s CD of an old mullet rock band. Did he really like this or was it only because modern bands hadn’t reached Moose Jaw’s playlists yet?

            I refrained myself from asking.

            We had to drive to the other side of the city to get to our grandparents. Noah turned in the little driveway—with a dozen big trucks parked on the field on the other side of the road  with white columns on both side for the gates and parked on the side. Aside from a few trees here and there the landscape was pretty empty—big surprise there.

            Noah and I both got out of the car.

            I was reluctant about leading the way. I hadn’t been in a cemetery in a while. Luckily, Noah headed straight for their headstone.

            It was still at the same place as last time—big surprise again—their death only a few months apart. Pancreatic cancer for my grandmother. Heart stroke for my grandfather. I had known both of them before they died. They were good people. I think part of why my father had a hard time staying in this city for too long was because it brought him too many memories of them…

            I put the daisies I had picked up earlier—Grandma Flinch’s favourite—on their graves.

            “Hi grandpa, hi grandma” I whispered, and suddenly Noah was holding my hand. I don’t know why. It’s not like I needed comfort. They had both been dead for over two years, and he had obviously been closer to them then I had since he saw them more often.

            It occurred to me though that maybe I wasn’t the one that needed comfort, maybe he was.

            I looked at my brother’s face fixed on the grave, squeezed his hand, surprise with the thought of someone actually looking for comfort from me, and stayed there silent for endless minutes, with my brother, the wind blowing the loose strands out of my braid.