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Chase looked up at the jet trail in the light blue sky as it suddenly, but expectedly, ended. Captain Churd was gone; the silver jet flashed in the sunlight one last time and blinked out of existence. It was true. Cap was dead; as if never born, the world was safe for now, and humankind was free to pursue its own appetites for the time being.

"Chase!" Audrey shouted as she had before, her blue eyes seeming to melt the grief Chase had in his heart for his friend, Cap. He said nothing but held out his hand in the frigid air as her blue with large-white-snowflake-covered mitten clad hand found its way inside his much larger hand, prompting him to look down into her blue eyes and golden face, framed by a dark blue hood that contrasted perfectly with her light blonde hair. Like everyone else, except Chase it was clear, she had forgotten Cap. But that wasn't quite the right word now, was it? She had in a sense never known Cap ever existed.

"Chase Aughter!" she scolded, "It is impolite not to even say anything in a situation like this. I mean, a, 'Hi Hon! How was your day!' would work wonders for me right now. What's got you looking so… (?) What is that look all about, anyway?"

"I can't tell you without undoing everything Cap did by his incredible sacrifice, and even just mentioning him might do that very thing too, so let's just drop it, Okay, Audrey? It's a work type thing."

"Okay," Audrey said and snuggled against his soft woolen coat enjoying the uncharacteristically warmer temperatures of this December as hoar frost adrift on a slightly more than gentle breeze fell like fresh falling snow from the naked limbs of a nearby tree, filling her with awe but hardly noticed by Chase at all.

The pair walked now as Audrey prattled on about her day, fully aware Chase was not engaged in what they were doing at all, but completely at a loss as to what might be going on in his mind.

However, in Chase's mind, he and his friend, Cap, had experienced the same jet, at exactly the same time, before. Chase had looked up while pondering the beauty of the sky, and the beauty of the word, azure, when suddenly he saw the jet trail end in a bright flash and a cloud of dark smoke, a second flash, and then nothing. As people, everywhere, began to pronounce their amazement, Chase simply pulled out his camera and, began taking pictures of looks on the faces of the people in the astonished throng, wanting to preserve this moment in his memory.

"What happened?" a man asked. "It just simply blew up! You don't imagine it was terrorists, or something, do you?"

"My God! It happened just as I looked up. What a coincidence!" a woman said.

"Coincidence? Is that all you have to say? There's a guy flying that jet too, you know," the man said.

The woman looked down in shame, and was suddenly overpowered by sadness.

"He's too high for terrorists!" another man said, "either something went wrong with the plane or...?"

"Or it was aliens!" the woman shouted and walked away, looking anxiously at everyone she met.

"What's with her?" the second man said to the first. "Aliens? I guess it could be, but I didn't really see anything else besides that jet up there. Did you?"

"No. She must just be one of them crazy alien conspiracy nuts."

Chase stepped up to the two, clicking the button on his camera to review all of his many shots, but suddenly seemed to freeze in his position.

The two other men looked at each other, before the first man made an effort to see Chase's photos.

Chase turned the camera to him so that he could view it more accurately, but said nothing.

"What the...?" the first man puzzled. "What was that?"

"What was what?" the second man asked as his curiosity got the better of him.

"There was some sort of craft in the sky in one of his photos!" the first man said as if he were announcing there was indeed cause for alarm.

"Chase!" Audrey shouted from behind, and he turned to see her coming towards him; her eyes red and puffy, as if she had been crying awhile!

"What is wrong?" Chase asked, turning away from the two men and, taking her blue and white, mitten clad hands in his bare hands, slipping the camera into his coat pocket along with the Enterprise toy, as he did so.

"It's Cap!" she cried. "He... He's the one in the jet!"

"You mean, he's... (?)" Chase said and fell silent as she motioned to a news flash on her iPhone.

"... The jet was completely destroyed but Captain Rich Churd managed to eject and is resting in a trauma unit in North Country Hospital. It is an incredible turn of events, but it seems that Captain Churd was completely uninjured, landing safely in an undisclosed place, just moments after the jet exploded..."

"We have to go see him. Now!" Audrey said.

Chase just nodded. Now was no time to be considering the fact that, he and Cap, had nearly come to blows over Audrey just yesterday, so he directed her toward his Kia, and they hurried toward the waiting black SUV he used to carry his junk when he went, reluctantly, on the road in an effort to sell his self-published books; always hoping for a break.

Midway between the Midway, where the Winter Wonderland Festival was going on, and North Country Hospital, Audrey suddenly spoke, "He's lucky to be alive!" she said, her voice seeming strange from all the crying she had been doing.

"More than you think," Chase said.

Then they were silent again, but at least Audrey had stopped crying.

"How could he?" she asked. "How can it be?"

Chase just shrugged; glad it was so, he hoped.

In silence the rest of the way there, Chase finally pulled into the parking lot and, dropping Audrey at the front door, proceeded back into the parking area, and parked next to a new, red Cadillac, and got out, making sure his door did not touch the bright red finish, eying it with jealousy, as he did.

"Are you Chase Aughter, Captain Churd's friend?" a man asked from the far side of the Caddy.

Surprised, Chase thought he might have expected this. Cap was sure to be a curiosity if not a celebrity with what had happened today. "Yes," he said therefore. "I am! And, I am sure glad he's alive!"

"Alive! He's more than just alive, he's perfectly fine; scared as hell, but completely uninjured."

"Haven't you seen him, yet?" a second man asked as he carefully got out of the red Caddy, watching the other man intensely.

Chase shook his head.

"The alien ship scared the living daylights out of him, which reminds me, we were told, you took some photos of the scene at the Midway a few minutes ago. Mind if we take a look?" the driver said, flopping open an official-looking badge.

Chase put his hand in his pocket. The camera was still there with the toy, where they should be. But, he wasn't ready to share the pictures of the Midway and the craft that appeared in, as it turned out, several of the photos that included sky in the background.

"I think you had better let us take a look," the driver said as both men stepped in close, but not too close. Thus, when Chase turned, and walked to the entrance, both men walked beside him; one on each side, and when they reached the lobby where Audrey waited, she looked upon Chase's situation, in fear. "It's okay, Hon," Chase assured her, "they just want to see the pictures I took after the crash. You just go ahead. I'll catch up with you guys later. Okay? Hon," she nodded, and walked toward the charge nurse's desk as Chase finally fished out the camera, and handed it to the driver of the red Caddy, who in a moment handed it back to Chase without looking at any of the photos, and then walked away, with the other passenger who got out of the red Caddy following him, like a lost puppy.

Chase took the camera, and snapped a couple of shots of the men as they disappeared through the sliding door, out into a rush of people, who were mostly members of Cap's family, as it turned out, a fact Chase missed entirely at first, as he turned, and addressed the charge nurse, who asked if she could help him. Chase asked her directions to Cap's room, and walked down the hall toward the Intensive Care Unit, coming to a place where he had to turn and, there, was joined by a strange-looking young man in baggy pants, and a bald head.

"You related to Cap too?" Chase asked the young man.

"You?" he nodded while he asked.

"No. He's just a friend."

"Some friend!"

"What do you mean?" Chase asked as he stopped, and let the young man continue by himself.

"He's making moves on your girl right this minute!" the lad snickered, but never so much as looked back.

'Aw, that's just, Cap. He means it, but I have faith in Audrey, she would never... Or, would she?' Chase thought, and quickened his pace, still failing to catch the young man. "It doesn't really matter anyway. She'll see that in the end," he added to his thoughts verbally, as he became conscious of what Audrey had been saying and caught up with the present time, and was no longer in the past, that he alone recalled now.





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