Robots And A Python (Part 1)
My thin, blue sheets had cartoon robots printed on them and I pulled them up and over my head. My heart raced as my legs were paralyzed under the weight of whatever was laying on top of them. In my mind's eye, I could see a giant python as it slithered from under my bed to its current location, laying across my feet.
My eyes squeezed shut and every muscle in my body tensed under the grip of fear. I wanted to scream but nothing would move. It seemed like forever, but the weight finally lifted from my legs then I was able to scurry out from under the covers and sprint to the safety of my parents bedroom.
I have never been able to figure out exactly what happened to me that night, but I can still remember the paralyzing fear some forty years later. My parents thought that I had a nightmare, but I really did not know what to say when I was so young. Thankfully, I never had that particular experience again, and the other paranormal events were not nearly as scary.
That was the first of a series of paranormal incidents that happened to me when I was a child. We lived in a small farm house in the West Texas desert. The year was 1973 and my parents had purchased the house in neighboring, Jal, New Mexico. They had it moved to a five acre lot outside of Odessa, Texas.
The lot where we lived was less than nine miles from the Odessa Meteor crater. There had been a number of UFO sightings that year, all near the southwest area of Odessa. That is exactly where my experiences took place. If you do an internet search, you can find out more information concerning those UFO sightings near Odessa in 1973.
The stars at night are truly big and bright, especially when you are far from the lights of a big city. Even though I was only seven years old at the time, I can still remember looking up at that desert sky with wonder and delight. My curiosity for the stars was insatiable.
Maybe it was my imagination or maybe something else, but I clearly remember seeing something like stars floating around in my bedroom on more than one occasion. I remember that I was afraid, but I could not keep from watching as the lights zipped around my room. My mind has always found creative ways to explain the things I could not understand.
Many nights I would lay my head on the pillow. I could hear my pulse as my heart was beating in the quietness of that little farmhouse. I imagined a little man with a hammer inside my head busy building toys. That little man helped me go to sleep almost every night during my preschool and elementary years. These unusual events only increased my curiosity about the unexplained and paranormal.
My parents were wonderful and took me and my little sister on many outdoor adventures and vacations. On every trip I would encounter stories of aliens, bigfoot or some other strange and unexplained thing.
I loved reading Tarzan books and other stories about unusual people living in strange and exciting environments. Fast forward through high school, college, marriage, career, to a point in my life where things had become somewhat stagnate. My curiosity for the paranormal seemed to be satiated with the occasional Sci-fi movie and watching the syfy channel on television every Sunday afternoon.
In 2011, when we were living in Austin TX, it was a hot summer night, just like every other night in Texas. I crawled in bed, read a few pages from the bible and turned the light off for another night's sleep. Something happened that night that began a whole new chapter in my life.
I had a dream that was so vivid. I witnessed everything that was going on like I was sitting on the front row of of a 3D movie. One scene in particular still plays clearly in my mind. It was when one of the college kids saw first saw the creatures moving around in the green forest.
Abby is one of the main characters and when she encountered the monstrous creature I wanted to scream at her to run, but I could only watch what was happening without the ability to get involved.
The next morning when I woke up, I told my wife Debra what had happened and I knew that I had to write it down. At first I wanted to write it like a movie script, but I did not know the proper format for writing a screenplay, so I decided to write the story just like I remembered it in my dream.
Over the next few weeks, I searched for everything that I could find on the subject of writing a novel. I began writing a little each day and set a schedule to try and write at least 500 words per night. It was not easy finding time to write when I had three jobs. At that time in my life, I was driving a school bus, planting a church, working as an apartment community event planner and driving a charter bus part time. To say that I was busy was definitely an understatement.
The apartment community job was ending due to a change in management so it was very clear that we would need to move soon. Coincidentally, a job in Alabama opened up and we decided that we would take the opportunity and move closer to Debra’ family. We loaded up the uhaul and moved to Birmingham, Alabama.
I continued to write during the stress of the move and sometimes I would come to an impasse in the story. When that happened I would go to sleep, ang the new scene would reveal itself. Now that I think back on that process, it was really amazing. It was like I was being prompted and encouraged all along the way.
I have often wondered why did I get such a crazy dream? My diet had not changed. I have not been able to pinpoint any natural variables that might have led to my nighttime experience. The answer has slowly unfolded before me as I have contemplated these strange happenings.