Galactic Wingdings

“It’s my third season,” said Cosmic Dave in his thick English accent while he rolled another cigarette. “The first time I was in one, it was like, wow, man. Unbelievable. No way a bunch of drunks with boards could make something like that.”

“Is that how you met Rainbow?” I asked, referring to our other companion.

“We met in the number eight circle last year near Milk Hill.” He stole a quick glance at her. “It was August 8, 2008. 08/08/08. I’ll never forget that.” He licked the Rizla paper and smoothed out the cigarette. “It was 800 feet long, too.”

“Huh,” I grunted in response, battling fatigue. Sitting on top of an artificial mountain in the English countryside at two in the morning with the intention of staring at barley fields all night wasn’t doing much for my energy. The sheep grazing nearby didn’t help much, either, tempting me to count until I fell asleep.

I regarded my new friends. They both looked like they had stepped out of a time machine from the 1960s. Rainbow sat in the lotus position with her eyes closed, elbows on knees, index finger and thumb pressed together, focusing all her energy on creating a crop circle near us. I decided not to bother her, lest the lack of any circles in the morning be blamed on me.

To pass the time, Cosmic Dave explained how to tell if a crop circle is the real thing. “Look for blown nodes,” he advised. We had first met inside the yin yang circle, then later again at Avebury walking among the stones. I told him I preferred it over Stonehenge, and he invited me to join their stakeout at Silbury Hill that night. I agreed, not because I expected to see aliens, but because they seemed like fascinating company.

As dawn crept up on us, I stood up to stretch and noticed lines in a distant field. They were perpendicular to the tramlines, and I knew what it was immediately. “Was that there yesterday?” I said, pointing at the crop circle.

Rainbow opened her eyes and shot up to her feet, screaming, “I did it! I summoned one!”

I couldn’t believe it. I looked at Cosmic Dave, who just gave me a knowing smile as he got to his feet. The two of them ran off into the circle. He kneeled down in the center as Rainbow took off her shoes and socks. They treated the circle as if it was a holy site.

“Blown nodes!” Cosmic Dave yelled in my direction.

I stood at the edge of the crop circle and laughed. I didn’t know whether it was made by humans or aliens or meditation, but one thing was for sure. It felt miraculous.