Father and Son Hear a Noise

There was a loud noise.

"Hey, son," Allen said, leaning back from his computer's screen. "Go to the window and find out what that was."

His son Wallace, grumbling, obeyed. "I don't see anything," the teenaged son said, letting the window-curtains fall back in place. "The sky is clear and blue, so I don't think it was thunder. Construction, maybe? The elm in the yard isn't letting me see much."

"Would have to be some pretty loud construction," Allen said skeptically.

Both father and son heard the same noise, perhaps slightly louder.

"Go outside, maybe you'll be able to see it from the front door," Allen suggested.

Wally, eyes rolling, left the room.

The noise happened several times more. Allen checked the windows himself; but the elm, as Wally had suggested, blocked his view. He waited.

A cry came from downstairs. "Dad? Dad, I think you should come down."

Allen did so, his curiosity now thoroughly piqued. He met his son at the door, a curious expression on the latter's face, and looked outside.

Allen waited a moment. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and closed them for a moment before reopening them. None of this changed what he saw.

Without looking at him, Allen spoke to Wally. "Son, I'm seeing something pretty strange right now. I know you saw something strange, too, because of the way you called for me and all. But this is really quite fantastically strange, so I'm going to have to confirm with you, by speech, that we're seeing the same thing. Is that all right?"

"Okay, dad," Wally agreed.

Allen cleared his throat. "What I'm seeing could be described as a sort of a naval destroyer. A war-ship, gunmetal grey, with what looks like red decorative edging on some parts. Also, it's about ten miles from the nearest body of water large enough to hold it, and it's walking towards the town on six enormous, articulated metal legs."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm seeing," Wally answered. "Except I'd call the edging more of a salmon color."

"And whenever one of the legs comes down," Allen continued, "it makes that very loud noise."

"Yeah," Allen agreed. "Wonder what the view's like from up there...?"

Allen shook his head slowly. "What is it?" he asked. "Why is it here?"

"Dunno," Wally said. "Probably some kind of secret weapon."

"One of ours or one of theirs?"

"Dunno. It's coming up on the town, though. If it stops before then, it's might be one of ours. If it starts crushing houses and all, it's probably one of theirs."

They watched for a minute.

A cloud of dust and smoke rose.

"Was that the grocery store next to the town hall?"

Wally squinted. "No, I think it was the town hall."

"Huh," Allen said.

"Probably one of theirs, then."

Then came another noise - higher pitched, coming from the east.

"What's that?" Wally asked. Then he covered his eyes with one hand, pointing with the other - "Oh, look-!"

To Be Continued!