Our Minds Got Expanded

The Santa Ana winds were blowing and so was my father. My brother, Bret, and I mounted our bikes and headed for the Santa Ana River and bike trail.

We got on the path at Edinger and headed west with the winds pushing us towards the beach. The night was clear and warm, even for fall. 

We noticed a little parklet off to the side of the bike path and a trail leading down to a bench lighted by an overhead lamp. In the park was the standard gym equipment for a playground circa 1971, a jungle gym, a slide and swings. It was situated next to a condo complex.

As we stared into the cobalt sky, there were two stars above us, one brighter than the other. I wondered to Bret if one was the North Star which would account for its briliance. Was the smaller star a far off planet caught in the North Star's shine? As we wondered, both stars shot due west at a speed not possible by 1971 standards. Or today's, actually. 

There was an abrupt 90° change of direction, with the two "stars" going southward. Then they were gone.

While we may have had the wind pushing us forward, now we had to fight a battle against the wind to get home. It was not a problem.

What we had witnessed was beyond our understanding of the realities of the cosmos, whatever that includes. We were afraid and not of our father at home. We arrived home pretty sharpish and to the safey of our seperate bedrooms with their closed doors. But that's another story.