A REST STOP

As I drove south on route I-70, I wondered how many car crashes had occurred due to the driver being tired and falling asleep at the wheel. Must be plenty, I thought as I guessed without facts. I travel often on routes I-70, I-75, and I-95. I know how difficult it is to stay awake on a long, monotonous drive, especially when you are alone and all you see are other moving cars, the road disappearing under your wheels, the whine of those wheels, the air passing over the car and the constant view of trees, shrubs, and weeds in the median or on the side of the road. It is all mesmerizing as if an invisible force has added weight to your eyelids.

I felt unusually tired. My loud radio normally keeps me awake. But I’m a cautious driver, so I knew that I needed a rest stop. I was in no hurry to get through Florida. I still had a long way to go to get to Tampa for tomorrow’s opening season football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New York Giants.

I noticed myself squinting through watery eyes as the sun’s rays reflected off the car’s hood and into my eyes. I pulled down the sun visor, but lost a good enough view of the road, especially up ahead of me. My sunglasses finally gave me some relief. My biggest problem, however, was that my air conditioner wasn’t working, and I hadn’t had time to have it fixed yet. So, the car warmed up and the sun beat on the metal parts of the car.

I turned the music up louder, then beat my hands, one at a time, on the steering wheel to see if I could shock myself awake. Frustrated and still growing more tired, I dug my right thumb fingernail into the web of my left hand with little effect, so I forced my thumb into the web creating a deep indentation, and blood. Now I was alert, if only temporarily. That was lucky because I suddenly saw a sign that simply said, REST – 2 miles. After a mile, there was another sign saying, REST–1 mile. Then the half-mile sign came pointing right. I traveled the half-mile and easily saw a pull-off area onto a dirt road. I was suspicious but took a chance. The road had sharp twists and nearly ninety-degree turns, but after a quarter mile through swampish areas, the road opened up to show a large, mowed lawn and a circular cabin with what looked like a bar and grill restaurant, plus individual rooms laid out circularly. I couldn’t see the rooms since I couldn’t see in the rear cabins, but I guessed that there may be eight or ten in total.

The cabin motel looked surprisingly new as if recently made out of the tall, telephone pole type of pine trees. I counted a dozen parking spaces. I parked in the closest one. There were no other cars. I sat there a minute admiring the lush lawn and the unrecognized, but brightly colored flower beds that made a crescent shape facing the motel.

A jolly, smiling grandma-type woman exited the front door as I exited my car. She yelled, “Welcome. Please join us. It’s so nice to get company, but I’m sure others will show up soon.”

I walked to her, all the while feeling as if I were floating a half-inch above the ground. That feeling confirmed that I was tired. I followed Grandma into the restaurant bar and grill, then walked to the front counter which was simply the liquor/beer bar. Grandma disappeared into the kitchen and the bartender, whom I assumed was her husband, slid a sign-in sheet to record my presence. I picked up the pen and it felt heavy. I scribbled my name, and I could hardly read my signature.

“I’m Dwyer, my wife is Sally, and my daughter is in the kitchen. Her name is Sharon. She helps her mom get dinner started. Sir, I hope I’m not being rude, but you look exhausted. Would you care for a room to take a nap before dinner? How about a Southern Comfort and ginger ale to bring to your room where you can relax and nap before dinner at six?”

I leaned forward and placed my elbows on the bar to take the weight off my body. I’ll take the So-Co and ginger now. I need a drink. Make it a

double, and pour it into a “Rocks” glass, not the dainty stemmed glasses.

As he was making my drink, I watched him in the mirror. I thought I saw his reflection flicker from blurry to clear, and then in a micro-second, his head changed shape. I blinked and he went about his business. I have a weird imagination. Beam me up Scotty from Star Trek came to my mind. I shook my head and laughed at my silliness until I thought, “How did he know that the drink he offered was one of my favorites?” He brought the drink to me and set it down in front of me. I added ice for you. You know how this tumbler-type glass got the name Rocks Glass?”

“No. Not really.”

“Well, drinks poured into this tumbler-type glass often made ‘on the rocks’ Rocks being the name given the ice cubes, thus came the name ‘rocks glass.’”

Before he had finished his instruction, I had gulped down my drink. I’ll take that room. Number and key, please. He gave them to me, and I shuffled to the room, unlocked the door, fell into bed, and immediately fell asleep. I dreamed of cars, loud talking, and voices ordering alcoholic beverages. When I woke, I realized that that was what was happening at the bar, and I had incorporated it into my dreams. My room happened to be one that was closest to the bar area. I exited my room and walked a few feet to the bar’s front entrance. On the way, I saw that the parking spaces were full, except for two of them. I counted ten cars, including mine. Dwyer saw me enter and said all the guests would be eating at one long table. I took a seat at the long table and at once felt Dwyer’s arm reach in front of me. He placed my So-Co and ginger in front of me so quickly that I had a blurred vision of his arm as if his arm had been so fast that my eyes only detected a blur. I thought it was just me still being tired. I rubbed my eyes. The drink tasted heavenly, the best So-Co I’d ever had. I introduced myself to the other men and, in turn, they introduced themselves to me. All ten of us were sniffing the air. To no one in particular, I said, “Is that stew I’m smelling?” The guy across the table from me pointed at a sign that said, DINNER AT 6. BRUNSWICK STEW. CRACKERS AND BUNS PROVIDED. It smelled delicious.

Dwyer approached me and said, “You didn’t hear my announcement, but the dinner costs twenty bucks. Your bar bill will be added to that, as well as the price of the room, which is fifty bucks if you stay overnight. These gents decided to stay overnight due to our local weather report which calls for high winds, heavy rain, along with lightning. Folks are being asked to stay inside and off the roads. Will you also be staying overnight?”

“I guess so. I don’t want to get caught on the road during a serious storm. Hopefully, tomorrow will be clear.”

“In that case, your room bill will also be added to your drinks and dinner prices. Thanks.”

Then Dwyer addressed the others, saying, “My daughter will be bringing your dinners to you soon. Her name is Sharon. Please be polite to her. Just graduated from high school and is off to college in the fall.”

“Did your wife plant and care for all the different colored flowers? They are beautiful. It’s like seeing Dorothy walk through that field of flowers on her way to getting on the yellow-brick road,” I asked, being curious.

Dwyer looked at me as if I were an alien. “Who?” he asked.

“In the movie, THE WIZARD OF OZ.”

“Haven’t seen it,” he told me, showing me a confused expression.

When Sharon and Sally appeared with trays holding large, pewter bowls of stew, the entire crew of men, including me, stared at her. She was beautiful and had a figure that was Miss America shapely. I caught myself continuing to stare and soon felt embarrassed. The other men stared until Sharon and her mom disappeared into the kitchen.

While cleaning the table of the stew bowls, Sharon whispered to me, with a flirty smile, “See you about midnight.” That confused me. I wasn’t going to have an affair with a teenager, no matter how beautiful. I doubted that she meant anything sexual by it. When she said it, she paused, I had had a couple of So-Cos, but Southern Comfort is a mild whiskey, so I wondered why her ears looked blurry, and then her face appeared to have no ears.

It was about nine when I went to bed, still feeling tired and weak. I couldn’t sleep quickly and in half an hour I started hearing the doors of the other rooms open and close. The other men had gone to bed. I wondered if they also felt as if they were getting weak. I tried to get out of bed but couldn’t do it. Was I paralyzed?

Around midnight Sharon and her mom appeared in my dark room. I was awakened yet couldn’t move. I felt paralyzed. They removed my pants and underwear. Sharon smiled and started stroking my penis until I was hard. I was jolted when she removed her teeth because she was so young-looking. She proceeded to gently suck on me until I ejaculated into her mouth. Sally held out a clear container so Sharon could spit my semen into it. Sally saw my startled look, then said, “There is a chemical in this liquid that keeps your sperm alive and vigorous, indefinitely. When I was erect, Sharon, cold-heartedly and with an unquestionably threatening expression said, “If you refuse to cooperate and try not to get an erection, or if you try not to ejaculate, my mom will remove your sperm reservoir from each testicle using a needle which, I assure you will not be pleasurable.” Sally showed me the long, silver, terrifying needle. “It’s best to cooperate,” she said with a teasing smile. “We know that the no-needle method of draining your sperm feels wonderful to male human males species, so why fight it? Accept it and enjoy the pleasure that it offers to your inferior species. No harm will come to you if you cooperate.”

Then Sally added, “You will constantly be sedated and each night you and the other men will be pleasurably drained of your semen, in this same manner by Sharon. It’s for our experimental use. The more we can become like you, especially in the way we look, the easier it will be to pass as average human beings. At present, we can only appear as humans for short periods, and even then, our shapes sometimes give us away when our false human shape flickers for a microsecond.

Sally whispered, “You know of course that no one will ever believe you if you talk about this experience. There will be no proof; nothing at all. Every trace of evidence of our earthly presence, or your physical evidence that you were here will be removed by our vastly superior technology. You will be seen as fools, lose whatever good reputations you have, and you may eventually be sent to get involuntary psychiatric therapy, or worse, hospitalization in a psychiatric ward. You haven’t been hurt, so you shouldn’t mention any of this alien activity. We will provide you with an excuse for being gone a week by orchestrating minor car accidents for all of you, but which develop into an infection where large doses of antibiotics are needed so that you must remain in the hospital. Or you can make your own. All the guests will be told the same things and will be subject to the same method of human sperm drainage.”

Sally placed a glass of water on my parched lips. I gulped it down, then fell asleep quickly. I knew the water was drugged, but I was so thirsty with a parched mouth and throat that I accepted the minor risk of being sedated and bedridden.

One morning, over each room’s loudspeaker, Dwyer announced, “Listen, humans. You will be set free today. When that happens, you are to instantly get into your car and leave this area. As soon as you are gone, we will also be gone. Thank you for your generous donations.”

I heard him laugh before the speakers went quiet. About twenty minutes later, I could hear all the door locks disengage. The sound of the locks disengaging one at a time, but quickly, sounded like a semi-auto, handgun rapidly firing bullets a half second apart. The circular hallway echoed with the sound. Naturally, we exited the hallway hurriedly, pushing, shoving, and jamming together in our escape. I paused, for safety, not wanting to fall and die while having fallen during the panicked, human stampede. Luckily, no one fell. We were all unmarried males and were of all different ages. I guess they wanted me as “the older” guy to see how virile I was and whether or not my sperm donation would be good enough to use in their laboratory. I don’t know what the others thought, but this event was not a coincidence. We had all been drawn to this REST area by the same sign. However, there was no trauma and, except for being held captive and confined to our beds, the experience had a pleasurable side to it.

We all rushed to our cars, started them, then backed up into the nicely mowed lawn and flower beds to gain extra room, then took off fast, with spinning tires and dirt being thrown around. Some of the tardy guys winced as if stung by a bee when small stones or clumps of hard dirt struck them. I got into my car but stayed parked and out of the way of the other crazed drivers. Since my car was still facing the motel, I looked through my rear-view and side-view mirrors, seeing the calamity of cars banging into one another as they hurriedly exited the cabin area. When all the cars departed, I backed up, turned onto the dirt road, and slowly exited. I put on the brakes wondering what would happen. That’s when I saw them in my rearview mirror. All three of them standing in front of the cabin staring in my direction, but not in human form. They stood ridged displaying their real, alien shapes. Sharon was the shortest, Sally taller, and Dwyer much taller than the other two. Unexpectedly, I projectile vomited into the windshield of my car.

When I looked into the rear-view mirror. I saw three figures, in ascending order from small Sharon, then Sally, and tall Mr. Dwyer. When my jaw dropped at this sight, I felt a wetness in my groin. I squeezed unknown muscles to stop the drops of urine. My anal sphincter involuntarily and rapidly squeezed so tightly that I seriously believed that the only way I could shit was if I shit B-B-sized turds.

Those three figures looked the same except for the sizes. The largest was Dwyer showing his true form. A slightly deformed, triangular head, only slightly domed at the top. There appeared to be flexible horn-shaped ears, probably all cartilage or soft, flexible bone about six inches high, but curving slightly toward each other and ending in blunt points. The tips of these horn shapes were forward-facing nickel-sized eyes. No eyelids, but it looked like a clear glaze covered them. Since I saw no blinking, I guessed the glaze was moisture and meant that no eyelids were necessary to supply moisture to the eyes. Then at the base of these horn shapes, facing forward, were what appeared to be golf-ball-sized holes for hearing. In the middle of the triangular head was a large oval mouth having an elongated tongue with hundreds of tiny spots, not taste buds, but miniature suction cups. The large lips were rubbery to seal the mouth closed even with the tongue protruding (I couldn’t help cringing at the memory of the oral sex that had been performed on me nightly for a week). The torso was more gross. The massive, muscular shoulders of Dwyer started at the top of the head, at the base of the horns. They spread out with a rippling motion that extended to the waist. These disjointed arms were thickly muscled, ending in about three-inch, hooked claws. Those shoulders curved into the waist, then bulged out into huge thighs, which elongated into spear-like feet. At the waist there were two flexible, rubber arms like octopus arms with suction cups running the length of each of them. Each arm ended in a much larger suction cup. The apex of the leg structures, for Dwyer, was a large, soft-ball sized bulge. This bulge was absent in the female figures, though there did appear to be a closed opening. Suddenly, Sharon opened her mouth and released her longish tongue. It appeared to wriggle, similar to a long, fat worm.

It only took a few seconds more to see the whole cabin/motel/grill start to dissolve in the background. It was a surreal sight that frightened me. But then I saw an amazing, unearthly, and incredible scene. The circular, cabin motel was disappearing, piece by piece. In its place was an octagonal, blue, metal object, the size of the whole cabin-motel complex. It was similar in color to the light blue color of the sky on a

sunny and cloudless day. All three figures turned and walked into the UFO through some opening I could not see.

The huge UFO rose into the sky slowly, seemingly without some form of propulsion. It rose, in slow-motion, without disturbing any vegetation in that area. Shrubbery, weeds, seedlings, and infant trees began growing until the whole area showed no sign of the aliens' presence. Then the whole area grew into mature vegetation.

Suddenly I saw the dirt road, starting where the cabin was, disappearing. I floored the accelerator, not wanting to be left there with no road to escape. I raced along the road, throwing a cloud so thick behind me that I couldn’t see if the disappearing road had reached my car’s rear end. I was going too slow in second gear, so I shifted into third gear and burst up the road, the bumps forcing my head to hit the roof a few times, as my left shoulder crashed against the door several times. When I reached the blacktop highway, I was still in third gear, so my back tires skidded along the highway. When I got traction, I was going sixty miles an hour in just a few seconds. In thirty seconds, I was traveling at one hundred miles an hour. I scared myself and slowed down to the seventy-mph speed limit.

This was a business trip for me, so I missed my meeting. I called my CEO and explained myself. I told him I was willing to use the week I was missing as one of my yearly, four weeks’ vacation time. He was delighted. However, I did stop in Tampa at the meeting building to get an update from the highest-ranking person there. He invited me to lunch where I started to relax, especially when I could order breakfast during lunchtime. I had missed my usual scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit for a week. Orange juice filled out the order. After lunch, I started to go home to Jacksonville. I pulled off to the side of the road when I came to that REST area. There were no signs and no dirt road. That whole area was overgrown with all sorts of vegetation.

I continued to my business office in Jacksonville, not having to explain to anybody where I had been. In this building, I was the boss, but the employees looked at me strangely due to my week’s absence. My assistant rushed out of my office, hugging me excitedly. “Oh God!” he exclaimed, “I’m so glad you are back. I need to talk to you about business decisions that I didn’t feel that I should make without your permission.”

“That’s fine with me. How about you and I going to Carrabba’s for lunch, and you can bring me up to date?”

“Sorry, boss. The wife and kids are expecting me home for dinner. So how about you coming to our house for dinner? I am grilling hot dogs,

 hamburgers and chicken. What do you think?”

“I’m hungry already. You have any Southern Comfort?”

“No. Sorry.”

“How about beer?”

“Absolutely.”

“I’ll be glad to accept your offer of an outdoor grilled dinner, Art. How is the wife? Kids?”

“Candy and the kids are doing well. They’ll be glad to see their adopted uncle. About six OK for you?”

“That’s great. That’ll give me time to shower, shave, and get dressed in clothes that I haven’t changed for a week. See you then.”

“You do look like you fought a bear in a pond of mud.”

“It’s a UFO story.

“OK, OK. Jesus! A UFO story. Give me a break.”

“Sure. I won’t mention it again. See you at six.”

“Yeah. At six. Everyone has secrets, so your fantasy UFO story can be one of yours. I don’t believe in Unbelievable Fantasy Objects.”