It was night. George looked up into the night sky. it looked like they were being invaded. For the third night in a row, there they were. He didn’t know any other way to describe them but as streaks in the night sky. He had no idea what was causing them. Old Man Winthrop said they were an omen of something bad getting ready to happen. Superstitious old man.
George lived by himself in rural Montana. There was nothing where he lived, and he liked it that way. He lived about 25 miles outside of Butte, so whenever he needed groceries, and other supplies, that’s where he went. He liked being out in the open space, and he didn’t like being around a lot of people. Butte had about 35,000 people, and there is no way he’d want to be around that many people all of the time. He had grown up in Great Falls, and had felt claustrophobic with so many people. He never liked that big city life. Here though, in the middle of nowhere, that’s what he loved.
Old Man Winthrop came knocking on his door a couple of nights ago. He lived about two miles down the road from George. There had been something different about that night. George couldn’t have told you what is was in particular. It was just a feeling. Something strange. He had just finished washing the dishes from his dinner, and was getting ready to sit down and listen to the radio. He didn’t have a TV. If he didn’t care that much for people, why would he want to watch them on TV? On the radio though, he could listen to his music, classic rock.
Well, he was just getting ready to settle down in his favorite chair when he hears a knock at the door. He knew it was Old Man Winthrop, because that’s the only person who ever came to visit him. “There’s trouble brewing.” The elderly man said as George opened the door. “Up in the sky. Have you seen it?” Old Man Winthrop has finally lost his mind, George thought to himself. “What are you talking about? I don’t see anything.” George responded as he looked up to the sky. “Not that way.” Winthrop responded. “To the east.” He said, pointing his finger to the eastern sky. “To the east!”
George stepped outside, and looked to the eastern sky, and there he saw it. “Wow!” He exclaimed. “Wow nothing.” Winthrop replied. “It’s an omen. Something bad is about to happen.” George didn’t know about anything bad happening, but what he saw was quite a sight. He had never seen anything like it before. Up in the sky it looked like streaks of light falling to the earth. The phenomena lasted about thirty more minutes, and then died out.
He was amazed. He had no idea what it was. Old Man Winthrop said he was going home and lock his doors before something happened. Winthrop was always good company, but he was so superstitious, to the point of it being annoying. Anyway, George said goodbye to the elderly man, and then went inside and tried to figure out what he had just seen. When he went into Butte the next day to pick up groceries there was no talk in the town about it, and there was nothing in the newspaper either. He thought that was odd. Surely someone must have seen it.
For the next two nights, it was the exact same thing. The light show lasted about thirty minutes, and then died out. On the third night though, there was nothing. There was nothing on the next night either, or the night after that. In fact the light show didn’t happen again. George never did find out what that was all about. He figured it had to be the military, or something. Old Man Winthrop still thought it was some kind of omen, but what did he know. Over time, they referred to it as the mystery of the lights. Maybe one day the mystery would be solved.