Red State
an excerpt

The sun shone off the fresh blanket of midwinter snow across the backyard and out into their fallow cornfield. A dog barked in the distance. The cold breeze played across the porch. He shut the door and returned to the kitchen.
"Well? Anything?" asked his wife, Helen.
"Nope. Nothing. Just as I thought," he said.
"Maybe we missed it," she said.
"If we did, then it was smaller and farther away than we need to worry about." As George began to sit back down in his chair, a loud, screaming roar scorched past overhead. The house shook and the old windows rattled in their frames. George missed the chair and fell on the floor, quickly followed by scrambling to his feet, running toward the front door of the house.
He threw open the door and saw an exhaust trail streaking due south about fifty feet above their house. At the end of the trail was an orange glow, receding rapidly into the distance.