Blue Moon

Short Story: Arrival

"Carrots! I want carrots." He shouted from the counter. 

"I know baby, but you ate them all yesterday." She tried to explain. "You can have cucumbers or grapes."

"No!" He pouted. He flicked a grape across the counter at her.

She handed him a plate of cucumber slices with a little plop of Ranch dressing, "We'll get more carrots the next time we go to the store." She said picking up the grape and popping it into her mouth.

"Yay!" He raised his Ranch-covered fists into the air as he yelled. 

In the background, the weatherman spoke softly about the mostly clear skies expected over the weekend. She had planned on taking her son, Ryder, to the park. Her husband was supposed to be home that weekend, but his job was unpredictable and had demanded he come into work. 

She sighed, wishing he was home more often. He had worked so hard to provide for their little home. It was small but nice. She was thankful, she just missed him. It was exhausting handling a child on her own and Ryder had her hands full.

"Mom, look!" Ryder yelled.

She took a deep breath and torn off a paper towel to wipe off his hands and face. 

"Mom! Look!" He yelled again, pointing at the TV.

She took his hand and began cleaning off it.

He jerked his hand away slinging Ranch all over the table, "Ship!" 

"Ryder!" She scolded, "There's Ranch everywhere now!"

He stared past her, his little hand pointing at something behind her. She turned and glanced at the TV expecting to see a commercial or cartoon. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the strange vessel in the sky. A shaky video recorded from a smartphone showed a gray oblong shape hovering amidst the white clouds.

The word LIVE flashed in red in the top corner of the screen. She felt her heart begin to speed up. 

The screen switched back to the newsroom, "It appears that several unidentified ships are hovering over Southern California. At this time the U.S. Government has not commented on what...."

The TV screen suddenly cut off along with the rest of the power in their house. 

She jumped up from her chair and ran to the dining room window, straining to see the strange ship. Her hydrangea bushes blocked her view. 

She grabbed Ryder, Ranch-covered hand wrapped around her neck causing the dressing to stick in her hair. 

She opened her front door and stepped onto the small front porch. Her neighbors across the street were already outside gazing and pointing into the sky. 

She turned, holding Ryder close. There it was, in the distance; the long gray ship looked like a fortress in the sky. Her breath caught in her throat. She squeezed Ryder tight.

He squirmed away from her, "Let me see!" He turned, seeing the ship he smiled, "I wanna see!" He yelled, fighting her grip.

Her phone began beeping with the distinct tone of an emergency alert. She pulled her phone from her pocket, a notification read: 

WARNING UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT HAS BEEN SPOTTED OVER VARIOUS AREAS AROUND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA. PLEASE REMAIN INDOORS OR SEEK UNDERGROUND SHELTER UNTIL FURTHER UPDATES

The family across the street suddenly ran inside, the mother was sobbing as she stumbled inside. 

What should she do? She thought of her husband, he was at least an hour away. She knew traffic would be absolute chaos. She stared at the gray mass floating in the sky. She had to trust that he would make it home safely to her and Ryder.