Daddy sat down next to me on Sunday and said: "Have I ever told you about Tyrone and the FBI?"
"Nopers! Bootlegging?"
"No, aliens."
Tyrone owned the local TV repair shop and was well known as a prankster. He got the best of his high school shop teacher when he got Daddy and his peeps to disassemble the shop teacher's Volkswagon and reassemble it in his classroom. Classic.
Well, it seems that during the 1940s there was a lot of concern about aliens in this part of the world. Folks would see blinking lights all hours of the night and were scared to death.
"Aliens," they would whisper in the grocery store. "The government knows all about it, but won't tell because they don't want panic in the streets." And then they would go home, draw their shades, and lock their doors.
Tyrone had enough of this silliness and decided to get the best of the folks in town. Late one night, after spending three weeks working on a super secret project in his basement, he called his buddies and confided his plan. It was cunning. He was going to have a space ship crash near Bannertown. They were going to help.
Quickly they loaded the mock space ship on the back of his truck. Constructed of old TV parts and wires, the contraption resembled something that surely would come from outer space. The plan was simple, Tyrone would drive down Bannertown road and, at some point, the other guys would push the ship off the truck bed. Never did they consider the outcome.
Early the next morning the milkman was making his morning rounds and came upon the "crash site." In mere minutes, the town police and sheriff's department were on the scene. Within hours, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were there. They measured, tracked, disassembled, sampled, and photographed the "crash." The area was cordioned off and no one was allowed within two miles of the site for fear of radiation. After two days, the wreck was "cleaned up" and taken to another site for further study. Nothing was published after the initial report. "It didn't happen," the officials declared.
And what about Tyrone and his buddies? He and the fellas agreed that the tale couldn't be told until only one was left. And now, you know, too.
I would have loved to have known Tyrone. What a character!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny. When I was little, I remember my grandparents talking about those "lights" and aliens. They'd watch the sky at night with suspicion.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet Tyrone and his buddies didn't imagine the extent of action their prank would take.
I remember my parents talking about aliens.. and they were Southerners who usually don't go for such things.
ReplyDeleteI just remember the talk even being on the evening news (late 1960-ish).
The Truth is out there. ;)
I love that story, thanks for sharing it...what a classic! Tyrone and his friends were very ingenious!
ReplyDeleteXOXO
Ma
What a great story Matty! I'm so glad your Dad told it to you. Sounds like this Tyrone was quite a character. I love characters, I come from a whole family of them. Delisa :)
ReplyDelete