President John studied the cards in my hand, and nodded. "Right."
I turned them over, and held them out. "Please choose the middle card."
He slid the middle card out, and turned it over. It had the Piper Aviation logo on it, and was an ad for the airplanes. I grinned.
"A card trick," I said. "It came in with the big collection we're accessioning upstairs. I've seen a bunch of Piper promo items, but never this one before."
President John laughed. "You know, when the Grasshoppers were shipped overseas during World War Two, each one had a pack of cards in it. These days, those are pretty valuable."
"Well, if anyone walks into the Fly-In this week and offers to donate one, John, I'll grab it up."
The annual Piper Fly-In is always busy. It's held by a separate organization at the airport, but the museum is open for it, and we do a lot of business. The museum is packed with visitors, the archives get donations, and there's a C-54 in the parking lot. It gets insanely busy. Not so busy I couldn't pause to show John the cool card trick I found in a donation shipment, though.
"Gotta run out to Wal-Mart, Stacy," I said, walking across the museum floor. "We're almost out of acid-free pens. Be right back."
"We'll be here," said Stacy.
Kara and I went downstairs in the elevator to her vehicle, and pulled out of the parking lot. There was a huge silver plane there, a C-54, and we passed it on our way out.
"Any chance we can stop at the Mill Hall Fire Department on the way?" I asked.
"Sure. How come?"
"There's been a UFO sighting around there."
"Okay. How do you find these things out?"
"You know how you can subscribe to websites that send you weather warnings? It's like that."
"What kind of UFO?"
"It was described as an orange light, moving in the sky and turning at ninety-degree angles."
"Hmm. Drone?"
"Could be. I found a drone last year around this time."
Kara drove to the fire department, and stopped in the parking lot. I stepped out, and looked around at the sky and the landscape. Then I climbed back into the car.
"You see what you needed?" Kara asked.
"So far. More or less."
"So. Acid-free pens?"
"Acid-free pens."
I smiled as I watched the small red plane taxi across the runway and take off. "There goes our Tri-Pacer," I said.
Kara, standing next to me by the fence, watched it go. "You know, I've never seen that thing actually fly before."
"It's neat, isn't it?" We watched as two Cubs, a Comanche, and a Colt also lifted off, rising into the sky toward the eastern mountains. "It's fun to watch. There's just something about it."
"You okay?" Kara asked. "You seem a little down."
"Busy week," I said. "I don't know, maybe I'm falling out of love with this place. I got a problem employee, everybody and their goddamn grandmother seems to want to tell me how to do my job, and we just put that asshole Glenn on the board."
"You're not thinking about leaving, are you? You love this place. I've seen your eyes light up when you walk through it."
"Maybe it's time," I said. "I been here almost three years. There are other things that will make my eyes light up. Maybe I need to see what else is out there."
I turned and started walking toward the building across the parking lot, Kara following. I glanced at the sticker on a pickup truck's back window. I laughed. "Bigfoot. Cool."
We walked through the lobby and into the hangar. As I walked toward the Primary Trainer, I saw the Bigfoot symbol on the T-shirt of the guy passing me the other way. I asked,"Is that your truck out there, with the Bigfoot sticker on it?"
He grinned. "Yeah. My daughter saw Bigfoot along the Renovo Road."
"That'd be the place, allright."
"I do some Bigfoot hunting."
Kara was behind me, grinning. I said."We're paranormal investigators. Mostly ghost hunting."
"Yeah, I've read your columns."
"I got my UFO on shirt today. I do have some Bigfoot shirts, though. I'm always at the local library, if you ever want to network."
He grinned. "Okay. Keep finding UFOs!"
As we walked toward the stairs, Kara asked,"How is the UFO investigation coming, anyway?"
"Ah, getting there. Last year, I figured out one was a drone. Sat in the Cheyenne trying to call the local drone guy, when he was right in the conference room here."
"I remember that. So what else do you have to do?"
"Ask about drones, call around a bit and check on flight patterns, check for other witnesses. The original report was anonymous, so that does me no good. What I need is to find a few other people who might have been around at that same time."
"You'll figure it out," said Kara.
"Or I won't," I said. "And that's fine. I like a little mystery, too."
I walked out onto Main Street after talking about Piper planes and UFOs on the radio. I may be the only person who is able to use those words in that order. I walked down the street to the print shop, where I was greeted by the owner.
"I realize I only stop in here to ask weird questions," I said. "My co-worker Joe told me that you guys had a shipment of reprinted books about the local railroad that you got stuck with."
He grinned. "We do. I was going to call you about that. Would you like one?"
"That's why I'm here. How much do you want for it?"
"I was going to give you one for free. Come on back." We walked into the back room. When you're me, people wind up inviting you into all sorts of private, employees-only spaces. "I mainly want to get rid of them, and I thought you'd be interested."
"You thought right. I have a big collection at home."
He handed me one of the books. "Here you go. Enjoy it."
"Thank you." I flipped through. "Hey, this has some ghost towns in it that I didn't know about. I'll give it a good home."
When I got back to the library, our maintenance guy was out in the shed. I stopped my bike for a minute.
"Morning, Bill. Question---Since we moved my desk, is it okay if we change out that picture with the shells hanging over in the PA Room? I mean, I'm the one that's gotta stare at it."
"I don't see why not," said Bill. "Did you have something more historic in mind?"
"We have a picture of Ole Bull's castle in the attic that I like," I said. "It was donated by Henry Shoemaker, my big hero. I can measure it to see if it'll fit."
"Okay," said Bill. "That's a plan."
My new desk was right across from the Henry Shoemaker books, which was fitting. I was next to the side door, which would make a handy escape if I was bored, which I actually was, a little.
I looked at the listing for the Mill Hall UFO sighting. It read the same as it had: Orange light in the sky, making funny turns. I searched the site for similar sightings, to see if there was anything to compare it to. I ran a search for the words orange, light, and turns.
Several entries came up, all throughout the county. Mill Hall, Beech Creek, Castanea, Lock Haven. I read through them, getting a sinking feeling.
Every single one of them was the same. Not just the description, but exactly the same wording. They were all submitted anonymously, claiming to be several locations in the middle part of the county, and could have been cut and pasted. Each one read exactly the same.
Damn it. Doesn't anyone ever edit these websites?
A hoax.
The exact same entry for several locations meant the whole thing was most likely a hoax, someone making up a story for attention. I sat back in my chair and sighed.
With nothing better to do, I checked my e-mail. There was a note from my editor with the PA Wilds, suggesting a possible column. I read it through. At the end, she asked me if I'd be interested in a paid contract with the PA Wilds Center.
My eyes lit up. I mean, I didn't see that. But I felt it.
I sent back an e-mail accepting.
Then I got to work on an article about a man who had saved wolves from extinction.
"When I checked," I said,"There were identical UFO sightings all over the neighborhood, clearly just cut and pasted. They didn't even change the phrasing. So, almost certainly a hoax. And right down the road from the first sighting?"
Kara nodded. "The fake haunted attraction owned by the Inspector."
I looked around the picnic table at the LHPS team, meeting on the library's patio. "You got it. I've dealt with her before; she makes up crap stories to get publicity. This is probably another one."
"Most like we'll see a UFO theme this year," said Theresa.
"There were also a couple of meth-heads high on drugs the other night," I said,"Who began shooting at fireflies thinking they were alien lasers. That could have caused some sightings, too."
Lacy shook her head. "Jesus."
"In other news," I said,"I'll be able to get us some more publicity soon. I've been offered a contract with the PA Wilds. So I'll be doing some more writing for them."
"And Piper?" asked Kara.
"You know," I said,"I can't leave Piper, or at least not yet. I'm gonna stick around for a while more, see how it goes. But I can take a step back, stop obsessing over it all the time. Take some time for myself."
"I think that's a good idea," she said.
I nodded.
"Yeah. Me too." I looked at my notes. "Now, how about that haunted house down in Centre County?...."
