Excerpt: Scrambled Eggs

NaNoWriMo Project
Untitled
By J.R Murdock
1
On Halloween two-thousand-and-nine in San Diego those who weren't awake at four in the morning were awoken by a high-pitched scream that split the sky. The lucky few who managed to get outside or peek out their windows in time saw night become day as a meteor blasted through the air. Traveling at nearly twenty miles per second and miles overhead the glowing fireball ripped the air as it traveled inland from Mission Bay over the residential area and into the desert near El Centro, showering flaming sparks as it went.
One of those stray sparks drifted south, past downtown San Diego, and into South Bay. It crashed in front of a house in the Eastlake community of Chula Vista. No one paid any attention to this small piece of the large meteor. Little note was taken of any of the smaller pieces for the main body of the meteor smashed into the desert, not like a regular meteor that would smash into the ground at its angle of arrival leaving a crater. This one instead was tracked by cameras at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro. Other than the few farmers awake at the time getting ready to tend to their crops and herds, the Navy personnel were the only ones awake and prepared for the event to pass overhead.
The video, almost immediately leaked to friends and family, showed the meteor cruising along and headed for Arizona and possibly ready to impact somewhere in the deserts of New Mexico. Instead the object seemed to halt its flight dead and drop straight downward. This caught everyone unprepared for the impact or the shock as it collided with the ground with such force that it knocked out all power for thirty square miles. The resulting impact was viewed by those sleeping as a minor earthquake that could be felt from Tempe Arizona back to the Coast. It was the morning after that people realized what had happened and curiosity would get the better of some folk.
2
"... a meteor has crashed into the desert just outside of El Centro. The military has already secured a perimeter around the crash sight claiming it is of military interest. 'Why?' you may ask? I'll tell you why. Because it's a cover up. Get up this morning and log onto youtube dot com and you'll see what I'm talking about. This is evidence of intelligent life if I ever saw it. This will not be on your television on the internet for much longer as I've already gotten word that several sites have been instructed to take the video of this crash down. George Noory and Art Bell will be all over this story I'm sure. There's only so much the government can cover up and they can't shut up everyone. Stay tuned to KOGO AM 600 for updates on this breaking story..."
His hand couldn't hit the snooze button quickly enough. It was five in the morning and it was time to get into his morning routine. He didn't have time to listen to the conspiracy theory babble just yet. He needed a chance for his brain to wake up at least. Jeremiah Resnor got up, took care of his morning bodily functions, splashed some water on his face, and heading into this workout room. It was a room with a treadmill and small television mounted on the wall, but it was his workout room all the same. After some quick stretches and a few deep knee bends, it was time to do thirty minutes of cardio.
As he started his run, Jeremiah flipped on the television to CNN. Some quick morning news is what he needed to help his mind wake up. This was the only time during the day he would allow himself to watch anything. His father always had read the morning paper or sat at the kitchen table eating his breakfast listening to talk radio and watched his television at night. This was Jeremiah's way of reading the morning paper without having to read. There were only so many hours in the day and so much that needed to be done.
"...and reports have confirmed that a meteor has smashed into the desert near the Arizona border. I'm now twenty miles away from the impact sight and as you can see, the military has set up a perimeter around it and is not allowing anyone to go near the sight. All video that was on the internet this morning has been taken down and later today the president is supposed to give a talk about what is happening. At this time we have no word, but eye witnesses who came forward earlier to give an on camera account are no longer around to give those accounts. We suspect they have been pulled aside by military or government personnel for questioning regarding the event.
I think you can see in the distance there, can you focus on that? There in the distance there is still smoke drifting off into Arizona. No word from anyone here if it's radio active or not, but many communities in the direct path of that smoke have been evacuated. For a Sunday morning, the day after Halloween, this isn’t what people in the area were expecting to wake up to I'm sure. I'll stay on location here and as soon as we're able to get nearer to the impact sight, we'll do so, but for now..."
Jeremiah turned off the television and started running again. He'd become so engrossed in what was happening that he had stopped working out. He had to stay on his routine. It did give him something to think about as he pounded out the miles. He'd never been the superstitious type, but considered himself more logical and curious about the possibility of all the conspiracy talk. Just hearing that the government was preventing people from getting into an area screamed of conspiracy. He loved it. Like many people, he was certain, he felt the urge to drive out to the desert. It was only a couple hours away and it would be fun to be part of all the excitement.
Today was Sunday though and there were errands to run, supplies to get, and his weekly trip to Fry's. He loved his weekly trip to his geek paradise. Even though it was slightly rainy and foggy this morning, it wasn't going to stop him from going out. The last few days of October were always cold and ugly. Even though he'd grown up in the Midwest and was used to winter, there was something about the bone-biting cold of a San Diego evening that always made him feel like he'd lost his ability to handle cold weather. But then a chilly, damp night anywhere was cold.
The thirty minutes and five miles were over before he knew it. Thoughts of meteors, craters, and Fry's filled his head. A quick shower and putting on his Sunday clothes, jeans, a T-shirt with a haiku that ended in refrigerator, and light jacket and it was time to head out and get some coffee. It was his one weakness. The pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks was some of the only coffee he'd drink. The rest of the year he'd drink green tea, but for now, it was pumpkin spice.
It was nearly six by the time he got outside and due to daylight savings time, the sun had started to rise and warm the morning air. Even so, it was still slightly foggy and only in the low fifties. He shivered and pulled his jacket tighter.
In the driveway, covered in morning dew, sat his nineteen-seventy-three, canary-yellow Ford F150. He didn't know what it was about the truck, but he loved having an old truck under him. He'd given up his leased Audi when the lease came due and was thankful that his restoring efforts had gone well with the truck and now it was his main source of transportation. Manual everything. He loved it.
Walking across the lawn of his East Lake home he stopped. In the morning light he could see, yet again, one of his neighbor's kid's toys in his yard. It looked like a football, but it's somehow embedded itself in the grass, tearing up a long section of grass.
"How'd the kids do that?"
He walked over to the football and saw the rut it's dug in the yard. It'd broken off one of the sprinkler heads. Now he'd have to make a trip to Dixieline and pickup some PVC pipe and a new sprinkler head. He hadn't wanted to spend time today working on yard work. He had a podcast to get out today.
Perhaps he'd be able to talk about the meteor that had crashed out by El Centro. That fifty or so people that listened to his podcast may enjoy that. He usually talked about whatever he'd bought at Fry's that day and talked about the deals they had there.
He shook his head. It was only a half hour job to fix the sprinkler head. He'd done worse as a kid; throwing toilet paper into trees and forking lawns with hundreds of plastic forks. This was just a football and a broken sprinkler head. Nothing too serious.
Jeremiah reached down to pick up the football and pulled his hand back. It wasn't a football at all. It was oblong and roughly football shaped, but it wasn't a football. Its knobby surface reflected the morning light as if constructed of metal. At least the portions that weren't covered in black. He held his hand near the object. Its warmth startled him. If it'd been sitting out all night, it should be cold and wet.
The surface felt as smooth as it looked and the black fell away like soot. He assumed it may be soot, but what would something like this be in his front yard? It took him a minute to dig it out of the soil and found it to be surprisingly light. Knocking on its side told him whatever it was it was hollow which would explain why it was so light. He was almost tempted to leave it where it was or to toss it in the trash, but found it to be a curiosity and instead put it behind the seat of his truck.
The keys in the ignition and Old Yeller fired to life. He'd have later in the day to ponder the strange object from his front yard. For now, he was content to head out and get his coffee.
3
Dancing naked after getting out of the shower was one of Paisley Benninford favorite things to do in the morning. Sure it was early. Sure it was dark. Sure it was Sunday morning and she had to go to work, but what did that matter? She only had to go in for a couple of hours and the rest of the day was hers. She didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to go, but that never stopped her from getting out and doing something.
Kids hadn’t kept her up all night ringing her doorbell. In fact it was the quietest Halloween nights she could remember. She had spent the night watching Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride. She had started Erin Brockovitch but had fallen asleep with a bowl of popcorn on her lap. Mr. Sprinkles, her flame-point Persian, had hopped into her lap for some love and was surprised by the big bowl and had knocked it all over the floor. She’d clean it up later. At least she hadn’t needed to set an alarm to get up and she was up far earlier than normal.
She pulled her thick, blonde hair back into a pony tail and dried the rest of her soft body off. She never liked to think of her self as overweight, but instead she was soft and besides twenty or thirty pounds wasn’t really overweight and forty wasn’t that bad either. She dropped the towel to the floor. She dug through a basket of clean clothes that sat on the edge of the dresser. She’d put the clothes away later today. Looking out the window and seeing the thick marine layer still hanging in the air and knowing it would burn off and be hot she decided on a pair of Capri jeans and a pink top. She dug her shoes out from under the bed, the pink ones with the white little bow, and her jean jacket from off the lamp and she was ready to go. She’d be able to put on her make up on the bus.
The clock on the stove, partially blocked by last night’s dinner dishes that she’d wash later, read five-fifty-five. She had just enough time to run out to the corner to catch the bus, if she was lucky. Sometimes they ran early on their schedule in the morning. If she hurried she would make it. She took a couple spare seconds to dump some more food into Mr. Sprinkles’ food dish and to refill his water dish and she was out the door.
Twenty seconds later she was back inside the door grabbing her purse, frowning that its brown didn’t match her outfit, and fetched her keys off the counter from under the pile of bills, and was back out the door, making sure to lock it this time. She stashed the keys in her purse and trotted down the slippery walk.
Something in her front yard gave her pause. It looked like someone had dug a big hole in her yard, but beyond that several branches from her tree had been knocked down. She walked slowly past the hole and look at it. Dirt wasn’t mounded up around the hole like a dog had dug it, but instead was sprayed all over the place and into the neighbor’s yard and there was a hole right through the middle of the shrub that separated their yards. In the morning mist she saw him, she couldn’t remember his name, pick up something and carry it to his truck. Obviously it wasn’t him that had done it. Perhaps she’d have time later to ask him about it.
To her dismay, she looked up to the street and saw the morning bus drive by. She waved her hand in the air and started to run after the bus and slipped and took a hard spill to the sidewalk. The bus continued along without even slowing down. Getting to her feet she started walking toward the street. She gave some thought to just gong back inside, but there’d be another bus coming by in fifteen minutes and with her luck she’d miss that one too. Paisley wiped off her face and walked to the street and started toward the bus stop near the corner.
Glad that she put her hair up as the mist had soaked it and nearly soaked through her jacket, she walked and rummaged through her purse fro her iPod. At least she’d be able to listen to the latest episode of the Nathan Lowell’s Captain’s Share, a tale of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper. She couldn’t explain what it was about his story, but it engrossed her and she needed to hear more. As she dug, paying little attention to anything around her, a horn honked next to her. Startled she looked over.
“Hey, could you use a ride? It’s a little damp to be waiting for a bus out here.”
Stupidly she opened and closed her mouth several times before any sound came out. He was cute. She hadn’t noticed that about his before. Not just cute in a boyish kind of way, but really cute. Clean shaven, strong face. She closed her purse and pulled at her hair.
“No, really. I’m wet enough already.”
“I insist.” He smiled and she felt her heart nearly stop.
It wasn’t every day that a man would talk to her let alone offer her anything. Perhaps he was just being neighborly and she didn’t want to impose on his kindness. She was, after all, wet and a little muddy after her fall. He always took such good care of his truck. She’d watched him more than once over the summer washing it. With his shirt off. She bit her lip at the memory and tried to push it our her mid, but all she could think about was him sitting in his truck with his shirt off. She snorted a little laugh.
He leaned across the seat and opened up the door for her. It looked like she wasn’t going to be able to turn down a ride now. She looked up and down the street, a little embarrassed to be getting into his truck. She stepped off the curb and into a puddle of water and shook her head. He didn’t miss a beat, he took the newspaper that sat on the seat next to him and spread it out the floor for her.
The truck was a little high and took her a couple tries to get inside. The last thing she wanted him to do was get out and help her to get in. She sat down, leaned out side and shook her hair off, the sat back and closed the door.
“Um... Thank you. You really don’t have to give me a ride.”
“It’s my pleasure, Paisley.”
Oh crap! He knew her name and she didn’t have the slightest clue as to what his name could be. This was going to be a really awkward ride. Suddenly she just wanted the ride to be over and it’d only begun. She didn’t even have her makeup on yet!