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Show 52. IX Hank Corrigan waited in his car in front of the Anderson's house, going through the papers in his brief case. He'd wanted to get back to Denver Saturday - h e ' d promised Robbie a hockey game - but now he'd have to wait and make the drive Sunday morning. He hoped the story that led him here would be worth investigating. Corrigan had picked up a copy of the Red Butte Times yesterday in Rock Springs. Like many geologists, he spent his share of Friday nights in motels away from his family and he usually ended up reading the kind of junk to be found around motel offices. He'd supposed the local newspaper he bought for a quarter wouldn't be any different. Then he'd seen the header, lower right on the front page: Red Butte Kids See UFO. The item was written by the teen-age boy himself with an earnestness that convinced Corrigan he might find a real sighting here and not another hoax. It was Hank's business-and he frankly enjoyed it more than the job that paid him a salary-to investigate UFO reports for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, known generally as NICAP. Normally his investigations were made with a subcommittee, but while he was in the "neighborhood," he thought he might as well check this one out. Besides, the account had excited him. There were two witnesses, there was little chance on Skull Mountain for confusing what they'd seen with aircraft, Venus had been in its evening cycle, and the close range encounter was still enough of a rarity to be provocative. Mr. Corrigan looked up from the Times account, which he'd been re-reading, to see a slender blonde girl in a red parka and blue jeans hurrying along the sidewalk about a block away. He wondered if this could be Stephanie. She swung a purse at her side and studied the ground intently as she walked. She didn't seem at all self-conscious. She'd be easy to talk to-if she was the one. Seconds later as she turned up the drive with only a sideways glance at his car, he knew he'd been right. He gave the girl andher mother a few seconds alone, then straightened his tie and got out of the car. Mrs. Anderson met him at the door and invited him in. This time, when she offered coffee, he accepted. |
