He was reading the newspaper when his friend joined him in the bar.
He folded his paper and said, “Just reading about my missing neighbour. I must say I’m worried.”
“Yes. That’s right, you know him, don’t you?”
“I do, or I did; not very well, but a nice guy. Somehow the press have got hold of his theories.” He pointed to the paper. “Of course, now people will think he’s cuckoo.”
“Do you?”
The man frowned. “Not sure. He had some pretty wild ideas about his favourite topic, but I always found him a straight sort of guy.”
“What topic was that?”
“Oh! He was always going on about the Hollinwell incident.” He looked down at the paper. “It’s all laid out in this latest edition.”
“Hollinwell?”
“Yes, this was in England. I think it was some time back in the eighties, they had this big gathering of kids’ marching bands. It was held in a showground at this place called Hollinwell. Never heard of it?”
The other shrugged. “Rings a bit of a bell, but go on.”
The man was lost in thought or a moment. “Oh! Yes. It was the real thing alright. Fascinating business really.”
The other said, “Do go on.”
“Well, according to the reports published at the time, right out of the blue kids just started dropping like flies. They were fainting, vomiting and generally all getting really sick at the same time, around three hundred of them. This was the case with some adults and young babies as well. Over two hundred of them were carted off to four local hospitals. Of course, the newspapers just loved it!”
The other smiled. “I bet! Did they ever find out what caused it?”
“No. The local authorities looked into it, of course. I think it was pretty thorough. They looked at food poisoning, water contamination, radio waves; the lot. Never figured it out though. There was later speculation that local fields being sprayed with a chemical may have been responsible, but who knows.”
“Fascinating,” said the other, obviously enjoying the story.
“Anyway, this guy is a reporter, working for a London paper. He was obsessed with the whole thing. He spent literally decades researching it, looking for an answer. Anyway, like I said, he was obsessed. Whatever you or I might think, he was convinced that the whole thing was an alien encounter.
He reckoned that similar things had happened before, but with fewer people. He said something went wrong with whatever the visitors were trying to do.”
The other was pulling a face.
“I know, but I have to say, this was a very level headed guy. Respected in his profession, and he was good to the local school.”
“How’s that?”
“Well, as you know, he’s a neighbour and he often does a bit for our local school’s newsletter. Like, attending a meeting, then writing a piece for the next issue. I was due to meet up with him last week, but he didn’t show. I’ve since found out he went missing several weeks ago. His brother-in-law was apparently the last person to see him. They happened to be coming home on the same bus and got chatting. His brother-in-law told the police he’d been told that he was on the cusp of getting an answer to the mystery, but it meant that he would have to go away for a while.”
“So, what exactly do you think has happened to him?”
“I think he’s been taken. Well, not taken exactly, more like he found a way to make some kind of request, and went!”
“So, you obviously fear for the man’s safety.”
With a shake of his head, he replied, “Well, no, it’s not that.”
“What then?”
“I’m concerned that he won’t be back in time for the next issue!”