As I watched my two sons run among colorful punching bags and crawl over rope bridges, my attention began to wander. It skipped across the blue surface of Lake Ontario and dove deep within its watery realm. My physical body remained sitting on a step at Children's Village on the East Island of Ontario Place in Toronto while my mind explored the depths in search of the rumored UFO base.
It was natural to play mental 'hooky' so close to the lake where I had often watched orange-glowing lights dance in the sky and exchanged stories of strange encounters with UFO researcher Tom Grey.
If the base is really there, I told myself, then I want them to know, telepathically at least, that I am here.
Closing my eyes, I concentrated on my image being projected into the underwater installation. I was determined to shock the base's occupants with a dramatically sudden and glorious appearance.
Just as I materialized (in my mind) in radiant splendor before my rapt alien audience, I felt a slight tug on my sleeve. Shaking it off, I envisioned everyone in the base making a 'mad dash' for their saucers and creating the first underwater 'traffic jam' trying to get out. I felt a stronger tug.
"Mom!" a small voice piped up, amid the scattering spaceships.
Opening my eyes, I saw my younger son standing in front of me, pulling on my arm.
"Come on!" he whined impatiently. "Dad's ready to go."
"Okay," I sighed. The mental projection-turned-daydream had completely shattered anyway, so it was time to return to the real world. I still had aliens on my mind, though, as I followed him to where my husband and older son waited for us.
It had been a long and tiring day. Attending the Canadian National Exhibition and Ontario Place, the Children's Village was the last stop on our to-do list. Planning to cross at the Cinesphere Bridge and exit out the West Entrance, my husband led us past the South Marina toward the West Island. As we approached the ramp to the structure, he suddenly stopped.
"There's too many people," he complained, eyeing the crowd. "Let's walk around and go out by the other bridge."
As I turned to follow my family, I saw a handsome, young man stroll down the ramp in a casual, relaxed manner. His lightly-tanned face, framed by thick, well-groomed brown hair, was turned skyward, giving him a detached, disinterested appearance.
The gold-colored T-shirt and brown pants he wore outlined his trim yet muscular physique quite nicely, and I found my gaze trailing after him as he disappeared in the direction we had just come. He had a knapsack on his back, opened at the top with a curled-up poster-like object protruding from it.
I felt a strong attraction to him. Was it just physical and nothing more? No, there was something else - a subtle stirring mentally, but I couldn't quite figure it out.
That's crazy! I thought, I've never even seen this man before now. Still...
I caught up with my family, already partially around the Cinesphere's pond. With the sun sinking in the western sky amid wisps of pink and gold clouds, we hurried along, hoping to get out of the parking lot before too many other visitors decided to leave for the day.
Navigating a bend in the path, I looked up and saw a familiar face approaching. With the same look of detachment, the young man leisurely walked by, veered off and disappeared down a descending trail behind us. I quickly checked him out: gold T-shirt, brown pants, open knapsack with a curled-up poster-like object protruding from it.
"It's him!" I stammered.
"Him who?" my husband asked, looking back at the man.
"The guy I saw at the Cinesphere!"
"So?"
"He walked off in the opposite direction - toward the Children's Village!"
My husband just stared at me. "So?" he repeated.
"How did he get ahead of us?" I asked, knowing that I wasn't getting through to him. "How can he come walking toward us from the West Island when he's supposed to be on the East Island? There wasn't enough time for him to double back, plus why would he?"
"You're babbling," my husband said simply.
"I know," I replied, "I always babble when I'm confused."
"Come on," he urged. "We don't have much time before everyone leaves this place and we're stuck bumper to bumper."
Nodding, I followed his lead, and we all set out again for the bridge. Okay, I reasoned inwardly, maybe the guy did double back. I guess it's possible, but how did he get ahead of us in the short amount of time it took to walk around the pond? He would have had to run, and he wasn't even breathing hard so...
I looked up and nearly fainted on the spot. Walking toward me once again was the same man I had watched disappear in the other direction just a few moments ago. Stopping as if I had collided with an invisible brick wall, I stared at him as he passed. The mental checklist operated automatically: gold T-shirt, brown pants, open knapsack with a curled up poster-like object protruding from it.
Even my husband noticed him this time. "Isn't that the guy you were talking about?" he asked, coming back to find out why I had fallen behind.
"Yeah," was all I said. Inside, I was resisting the impulse to tackle the man to the ground and sit on him until I got some answers.
"That's weird," I heard my husband mumble, then I felt a light jerk on my arm. "Come on. We've got to go."
I took a few halting steps backward, reluctant to take my eyes off the strange, young man. Just before I turned to leave, I saw him stop and look back at me. At that instant, I knew what it was that I had felt at the Cinesphere: an awareness of where he was from, and I knew that it wasn't any city on the surface of this planet. As I smiled at him, I thought once more of the cold, darkened depths of Lake Ontario.
by Patricia Hayes
