The Ghost Lights of Marfa Read Free

“Damn.” She smacked the steering wheel, pushed the gearshift to park, clicked off the headlights, and switched on the emergency blinkers. ”We’re out of gas.” She trembled as shrill, yipping howls of coyotes sliced through the night air. “Don’t worry, Cody, it will be okay.”
    “Mommy, if the car won’t go, we get to stay with the light.”
    “Yes, the light’s still here. Just like us.” She gazed at the orange ball hovering above them. “You’re no help at all. Some magic you are.”
    Suddenly, the ghost light descended, drawing closer and closer to earth, like a paper kite that lost its wind. “Cody, jump out, now!” Kristy shoved the car door open.
    She leapt out as did Cody and she pulled him to the side of the road with her. The orange light surrounded the stranded car.
    “Mommy, the light’s coming to ride with us.”
    “That car is out of gas, it’s not going anywhere, not even for a ghost light.” She bit her lip to hold back a scream.
    The orange dome enveloped the old clunker. Just like that, the headlights popped on. The car honked by itself, repeatedly. Windows rolled up and down on their own. The trunk flapped open and closed, like a bird’s wing. An old Sinatra song about flying away blared on the car radio.
    “No!” Her heart beat so hard it nearly leapt out of her chest. “This can’t be happening.” She grabbed Cody’s hand and yanked him further away from the car and the light. “It’s not right, we’ve got to get away.” Her foot slid on a rock in the ground. As she fell, his fingers slipped out of her grasp. “Cody, no!”
    As he rushed to the light, Kristy let out a terrified scream, “Cody!”
    Petrified with fear, she watched her small, wiry son, dart into the dome of light. She managed to push herself up. “Help! Someone help!”
    Cody went still. “The light loves us, Mommy.” His whole face beamed with pure joy. “I want to stay with it.”
    “Cody, get away. Come to me, now.”
    Caught in the light, glowing with happiness, he didn’t seem to hear his mother.
    She reached out her arms, intent on grabbing her son and pulling him free of the freaky ghost light. “Cody, please.” She dashed into the light to save her baby.
    The moment her foot slid into the light, complete, utter peace flooded her. She’d never felt such deep joy, even at the happiest moment of her life, when Cody was born. Kristy didn’t want to leave the light. Instead of grabbing Cody, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.
    “I want to stay.” His beaming smile echoed in his exuberant voice.
    She squeezed him tighter. “Yes, of course we’re staying in the light.”
    Mother and child lovingly embraced, standing beside the car in the center of the radiant glow, basking in its rapt warmth. The light blinked, then it vanished with Kristy and Cody.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Kristy squeezed Cody’s hand and gasped with shock as blue-skinned beings strolled past, on a street paved in a gleaming silver material.
    “Cody, I think you’re dreaming or I’m dreaming or we’re both dreaming.” Now daylight, a yellow orb, like the sun, along with two white moons, one small, one huge, hung in the pale green sky. “This can’t be real.”
    As she squeezed Cody’s hand, he reached out with his other and pinched her.
    Kristy yelped. “Cody, stop it!”
    “You’re not dreaming, Mommy.” He placed his hand on his hip. “Why are they blue?”
    Blue people with wide, square heads clustered around, jabbering in an unfamiliar language.
    “Where are we?” She slapped her hand below her throat. “Another planet?”
    “Actually, another dimension, our world is called In.” A blue man, whose head took up a third of his body size, smiled. “Are you from the Lipan Apache Band? I not only speakEnglish, I also know Apache, as well as thirty-five other terrestriallanguages. I am a professor of Earth Studies.” He bobbed his flat, turquoise head. “My name is Yog.”
    “What?” A