The man was in the changing room, running late as usual.
The game was over and he was the last player to shower and change. It was late and everybody had gone home. Then, sitting on one of the benches, he got carried away checking all his text messages, especially dealing with a long one from his uncle. That’s why he was surprised to hear someone coming in. He couldn’t imagine who it could be, so he instinctively ducked into a stall and left a crack in the door. He watched as the stranger tentatively made his way to one of the basins, and after searching around found the tap and turned it on. He obviously had poor eyesight. The watcher didn’t recognise him at all. He would have remembered seeing him before. The man was a strange-looking character, there was no doubt about that.
He was quite tiny and was wearing a peculiar looking tracksuit, so only his hands and face were visible. There seemed to be a pale green tinge to his skin, as though he had some sort of rare medical condition. He appeared to be washing his hands. From his hiding place he could see the man’s face reflected in the mirror. He was definitely ugly. He, or it, had no hair, just a large greenish dome. Its eyes were huge, being at least twice the normal size. It didn’t seem to have eyelashes or eyelids. It was hard enough looking at the creature, but what came next would stay with him for the rest of his days.
Fumbling about, the thing manage to turn the tap on full. It turned down the roll neck part of his upper suit. Some kind of metal neck collar could be seen. With skinny looking fingers it seemed to be massaging its neck, but it wasn’t. With a sudden jerking movement, the head rotated slightly and came off! The thing proceeded to hold it under the tap, turning it around. It was washing its head! As he watched in disbelief, the creature peeled a thick washer off from the opening of the neck and scrubbed it under the tap. This was replaced, and so was the head. It snapped back into place with a slight twist. Then, still looking as though it was half blind, the thing turned and stumbled its way out.
Still in a complete state of shock he followed it out, and sitting on an outside bench, he watched as the thing entered a small porthole on the side of an enormous flying saucer that almost filled the rugby field. The aperture closed and within seconds the craft began to rise in complete silence. It moved slowly up at first, then with a barely audible swish, disappeared into the night sky.
He tumbled off the bench. Hitting the tiled floor of the changing room shook him awake. He looked around, thinking that he really should get more sleep. What he had just seen was still vividly buzzing around in his head. Although he couldn’t be sure, the fact that his uncle was going to help him fit a new head gasket on his car tomorrow just might have something to do with it.