From The Seduction of Emy and Other Stories

Copyright 2023 A. R. Gregory

 

Last Try

Washington in August! Could it get any stickier? Ellie blew through her pursed lips, even flapped her arms, anything to beat the heat. She barely stopped herself from pronouncing the word damn in her mind. Naturally the bureau chief would assign her, the station’s one-and-only evangelical Christian, to cover the Blessing of America Rally.

“Dear Lord, just a breeze,” she whispered as a trickle of perspiration inched down her ribs. She fingered the little gold cross clinging to the moist skin beneath her throat, thanked God for giving her the sense to wear her lightest sleeveless blouse today.

She scanned the crowd of dripping, sunburned evangelicals again. Who to interview next? According to the Park Police estimate, the throng was over a million strong, everyone listening to one preacher after another bellow from the steps of the Capitol.
A gasp suddenly rolled across the crowd. Ellie swung, saw everyone staring and pointing in the direction of the Washington Monument. Then she spotted it too, something falling from the sky. No, wait, now it slowed, then hovered in midair for several seconds before it gently settled down on the Mall near the Monument. It looked like a huge gleaming ball resting on a glowing donut.

She caught her breath, shouted into her mic, “Nick, are you seeing this? Suck in the antennas. We gotta get to it, now...!“