Artifact Part 34: An Embarrassing Conspiracy

Sheri seemed to hit on a sensitive subject with Josh when she implied he had laser-guided missiles, a death ray, and a black hole inducer on his car.

 

 

           

            Everyone seemed to stiffen with eyes flicking back and forth unsure what might transpire with the implied insinuation. Uncertain on how to take this revelation that Sheri seemed to blunder into as a joke, they sat there silently waiting for the other shoe to drop. To the others, Josh definitely didn’t think that it was a joke because he appeared quite serious and perhaps downright angry.

“So, you’ve been looking at my car very closely haven’t you, Sheri?” Josh said serious as all get out. His eyes flicked over to Tommy who wore a mixture of amusement and disbelief. Sheri and the others sat there rather flabbergasted.

            “Ah, ah w-what do y-you m-m-ean?” Sheri stammered. “I did no such thing.” She held her hands up in surrender. “I wouldn’t do such a thing.” She paused to look at Tommy who had taken on an expression like he was either going to cry or burst out laughing. “Why would you have those things on your car? Those things really exist? For what real purpose would you use them�"on a car?”

            Josh maintained his straight face despite the agony in doing so.

            “I can’t have anyone know about those things on my car,” Josh said in a serious tone. “Now what am I supposed to do with you who knows my dark secret capabilities?”

            “No. Please. No. You can’t have any of those things on your car!” She looked to the others for support. “You’re kidding�"aren’t you?

            “Why not Sheri?” Tommy said in all feigned seriousness. “Why wouldn’t he have those things? Like John said, he added a lot of features to his car that are controlled and sought by�"powers�"that could use them for their own underhanded purposes.”

            Tom Senior and Joan had sat through this exchange entirely unsure on how to take the interchange and the seemingly impossible information that had been revealed. They weren’t going to get involved it seemed.

            Suddenly, Tommy let out a burst of laughter. “I can’t hold it back anymore! You deserved to sweat a little, Sheri!”          

            “You two were letting me sweat it out? You were sooo serious. How could you?” She started slapping Tommy on the shoulder and arm.

            “You’ve been giving me a hard time all night,” Tommy said cringing from her attacks. “You needed to get some pay back. Using some impossible features on John’s car that you happened to bring up seemed an opportunity that he took full advantage of to exploit.”

            Josh still hadn’t cracked a smile. “What do you mean exploit, Tommy? I can’t let you people know about those things I have�"and my intense interest in that strange event? I wanted to find out who had another black hole inducer.”  

            “Whaaaaaaat?” Tommy drew out suddenly aghast but then burst out laughing. “Wow you really have that serious expression down�"” Josh still didn’t smile. “Whaaaat? You really do have�"”

            “Naaaaa!” Josh suddenly let loose with a laugh and a dismissing gesture. “Nothing I have can be considered offensive in any way. As you can figure out from all the features I named off shows that everything I added is either safety or passive defensive.”

            Everyone digested this revelation in silence, but Sheri still seemed on edge. Tommy noticed as did Josh. It was quiet enough to hear the crunching of popcorn with the intermittent blub, blub of beer being drunk. Sheri stared at the floor without making eye contact with anyone. Tommy elbowed her a couple times to break her mood, but she didn’t respond. She took an abrupt sharp intake of breath.

            “ALL RIGHT, ALREADY!” Sheri exclaimed. “I�"we looked at your car. That’s why I took it so seriously after sticking my feet in my mouth.” She took another breath. “I looked it all over, but I can’t say I knew what I was looking at. Tommy explained most of what he recognized but�"zump! It went right over my head. And you played along you creep!” 

            Everyone sat around quietly in a kind of stupor, not quite sure what the heck had just happened. After a few minutes the room relaxed, and the popcorn was passed around again. But still not a word was said for several minutes later because all levity had evaporated from the room.

Josh directed his thoughts inward to analyze the situation and determined that he may have overplayed his hand. He only knew these people for the daylight hours of one day, basically strangers on a first name basis, and so he realized that he really didn’t know this family well enough to push the limits of personal interactions. He felt that he had gone too far especially considering that even Tommy had gone quiet during his pointed severe response though on the plus side Tommy and Sheri had seemed to make up as they sat cheek to cheek and attached at the hip. Maybe it took a little blatant teasing by an outsider to smooth things out between the couple. Tommy and Sheri gazed at the phone whispering about what they saw.

            “Hey John�"well everyone for that matter,” Tommy said facing the phone. “All the reports on the EMP slash black hole have been rescinded. The media outlets said that they had reported the anomaly news in error. They said it was�"get this�"ball lightning! Can you believe that bunch of crap? My conspiracy site says that ball lightning is the most overused explanation by the government to cover up everything from UFOs to Bigfoot! And of course, because of the storm, it was a rather convenient explanation at that.”

            They all digested that little revelation and soon, the conversation drifted into more mundane subject areas as more beers were passed about and another batch of popcorn popped.

            As the evening lingered, Josh groaned, yawned and stretched. “Well, I think on top of all the work in the garden, the excitement we had, and these beers that I have thoroughly enjoyed, thank you very much, I’m going to turn in. I’ve got to get my beauty sleep before fixing that tire and hitting the road again.” He gazed about and took a few steps toward the door. “So thanks so much for your hospitality, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

            “Where do you think you’re going?” Asked Joan.

            Josh pointed to where he thought his car was located outside. “To my car.”

            “Oh, c’mon John,” Tom senior said getting to his feet. “We’re not about to have our guest sleep in his car.”

            “Not to mention it must be terribly uncomfortable,” Sheri said with a smile. “Unless there’s some special added sleeping facilities inside your car.”

            “Well, no, nothing like that,” Josh said. “But I’ve slept in it before and�"it isn’t all that bad. I’ve slept in worse places, I suppose.”

            “Well, we won’t have it,” Joan said. “How about we just make up a pallet on the couch?  We have plenty of sheets and blankets that’ll make it comfortable and you can stretch right out compared to your car where you’re probably cramped.”

            “Believe me, the couch is pretty comfortable,” Tom senior said with smirk. Joan gave him a look.

            “Well, sure. It’ll definitely be more restful than the car by a long shot. Again

thanks so much.”

            “Okay then,” Tommy said. “We’re heading out ourselves. So John, I’ll be back bright and early to pick you up to get your tire.”

            “Great! Just don’t put yourself out by getting up too early,” Josh said. “My window of opportunity closed up so I’m in no hurry. Oh, and Sheri,” she turned back, “I’m sorry for what I pulled on you. I over did it.”

            “Oh no, John. No hard feelings. In fact, it was kind of, hmmm, thrilling to think for a little while that you had those things on your car.”

            “Okay then. Well, have a good evening you two.”

Joan set Josh up on the couch as she promised, and he found it quite comfortable just as Tom had promised. Josh’s own words about being in a hurry or more precisely not being in a hurry rang in his ears as he lay down on the couch. He wished he could have investigated right after they heard the report of the anomaly. He really had the feeling that something otherworldly had occurred and was quickly covered up--again.

 Thinking of Dawn again, he wondered if in fact she had taken the cigar box. Why would she have been drawn to it? Then again, what else could’ve happened to it? Josh pondered the possibility that Dawn had handled the artifact in his cargo, and why wouldn’t she be drawn to do so if she had it in her possession? A shock coursed through his consciousness. He had been warned early in his journey that certain persons would do almost anything to get their hands on his mysterious cargo. Could Dawn be part of the opposition seeking the artifact? Questions with no answers.

Well for one thing, if he can actually discover that Dawn had caused the reported anomaly it would at least prove the inconceivable stories that seem illogically associated with the artifact.

But who knows what kind of condition Dawn might be in now or even if she was on Earth anymore.