The Ghost Lights of Marfa (2 page)

“Mommy, they’re big boxes.”

“Yes . . . art.”

As Cody ran in and out of the square sculptures, brandishing his pirate sword, Kristy waded through knee-high grass, past a stand of green, prickly-pear cactus. Her eyes drank in the panorama of the mountains, sloping against ribbons of pink and amber, rippling across the vast sky. She tilted her head back, gazing at the sinking sun. As she breathed in the fresh desert air, the weight of a thousand tons pressed against the pit of her stomach, then vanished, leaving her refreshed and hopeful. Surely if there was any place where her luck could turn around, it was this tiny, enchanting town.

She glanced at Cody, sword-fighting with a cluster of juniper trees. “Look at the sunset, punkin.”

The glowing orb floated over the gentle curve of the distant tanzanite-tinted mountains. “I wish this day would last forever.” The clouds changed from white to bright pink, like clumps of cotton candy. “I love you, Cody.”

“I love you too, Mommy.”

“It's dark enough now. Let’s go see those lights. I’ll race you.”

He reached the car first. She was still panting as she buckled him in, then she drove toward the observation deck.

* * * * *

On the way to the observation deck, her son sang an original Cody tune. “We’re going to the lights. We’re going to see the lights. We’re going to see the magic lights, the magic lights of Marfa.”

She rubbed her teeth against her lower lip as she glanced at the gauge, so close to empty. Kristy hoped she’d make it to the observation deck and back into town. Getting stranded on Highway 90 could ruin this vacation or what she called a vacation. But as the road stretched out before her, the observation deck seemed farther away than she anticipated.

“Mommy, where are the lights? I don’t see them. Are they coming? I want to see the lights.”

“I promise you, Cody, you’ll see them. Bright, glowing lights in the sky. Like magic.”

Kristy’s body hummed with excitement. An orange light, the size of a basketball, appeared out of the darkness, then as if animated, the sphere zipped and zagged across the sky. “Cody, look.” Suddenly, another light popped up. It blinked away as quickly as it appeared.

"Mommy, the lights turned on!”

"Yes they did, Cody. They sure did.” Out of nowhere, multi-colored flashes of red, white, green, and yellow rollicked in the sky. “I don’t have to drive to the observation deck. We can see them right here.”

The glowing balls drew her like a lodestone. Kristy longed to be closer to them, to leap and dance in the night sky. She pulled the car to the side of the road. With her fingers flying against the buckle, she tore out of her seatbelt. Cody rushed out as well.

“Stay on this side of the car, punkin. It’s dark and someone might run over you if you get out on that road.”

“Mommy, look.” His eyes grew wide with wonder as he pointed at the glowing lights, changing color and size. “Hello light, hello.” Cody leapt up and down. “Look, Mommy, I can jump high enough to touch the lights.” He stretched his arms over his head, reaching up with his fingers splayed, and bounced like a yo-yo.

“This is weird.” Kristy watched the lights line up like a strand of beads and then scatter across the sky, as if they burst loose from a broken necklace. A beam of green popped off, then suddenly flashed back on. A blinking red orb whizzed back and forth across the fudge-colored sky.

Cody spread his skinny arms and spun like an airplane propeller. “Look, Mommy, the lights and I are dancing together, them in the sky and me on the ground.”

"Yes, I see. Look at you dance, just like the ghost lights.” Kristy twirled like Cody, until she grew dizzy and stumbled.

“I used to do this as a little girl. I’d forgotten how much fun it is.” Bubbling warmth filed her as she bounced and whirled, playing with Cody, dancing with the lights. As she gazed at a red light, it grew brighter and changed to yellow. One of the green lights split into two. “How do they do that?”

“Mommy, I don’t want to leave. Can’t we stay with the lights forever?”

“They have to go back to where they came from. It’s late, it’ll be morning soon.”

A brilliant orange light captured her gaze, expanding as it stalked toward them, looming closer and closer. She realized now, not a single car had driven past them.

“We need to head back. I’ll let you leave the seatbelt off, just this once, so you can look out the rear window and watch the lights.”

“No, I want to stay with the lights.”

“You’re tired. It’s been a long day. You need to go to bed, punkin.” She held the door to the back seat open as he protested, scuffing his feet against the dirt.

Finally, Cody climbed in. Kristy turned the key in the ignition, shifted the old clunker into drive. She originally planned to camp out in the car at the observation deck since they had restrooms there, but now she realized they’d never make it on the gas she had left, so she decided to go back to town and find a good place to park for the night. She made a U-turn, but the eerie, orange light shadowed them.

Kneeling, facing the rear window, Cody watched the orange orb hovering above the car. “Mommy, the light likes me. It’s going to camp out with us.”

“It‘s not following us, Cody, it can’t. It just looks like it is.”

“It is so following us. Mommy, I see it.”

With no other cars on the highway, Kristy braked to a stop. “Let me show you.” She threw the car into reverse and drove backwards. “See, Cody. If it was following us, it would move back just like it moved forward, but–” She noticed the light stayed directly above them. “Oh no! Shit! It is following us.” She pulled to a stop.

Her hands shook on the steering wheel. “This can’t be happening.”

“The light likes me, Mommy. Can it come home with us?” Cody shook his plastic sword at the light. “To play with me.”

“No, punkin, it’s a light in the sky. It can’t go anywhere with us. And it can’t hurt us. Whether it follows us or not, it’s only a bright light. It can’t do anything.” Her breathing grew shallow. She shifted back into drive and sped forward.

“Look, Mommy, it stays with us. When you go fast, it goes fast, and when you go slow, it goes slow. Mommy, why are you stopping?”

“Oh no.” The fuel gauge pointed past the E. The car came to a complete stop. “Damn.” She smacked the steering wheel, pushed the gearshift to park, clicked off the headlights, and switched on the emergency blinkers. ”We’re out of gas.” She trembled as shrill, yipping howls of coyotes sliced through the night air. “Don’t worry, Cody, it will be okay.”

“Mommy, if the car won’t go, we get to stay with the light.”

“Yes, the light’s still here. Just like us.” She gazed at the orange ball hovering above them. “You’re no help at all. Some magic you are.”

Suddenly, the ghost light descended, drawing closer and closer to earth, like a paper kite that lost its wind. “Cody, jump out, now!” Kristy shoved the car door open.

She leapt out as did Cody and she pulled him to the side of the road with her. The orange light surrounded the stranded car.

“Mommy, the light’s coming to ride with us.”

“That car is out of gas, it’s not going anywhere, not even for a ghost light.” She bit her lip to hold back a scream.

The orange dome enveloped the old clunker. Just like that, the headlights popped on. The car honked by itself, repeatedly. Windows rolled up and down on their own. The trunk flapped open and closed, like a bird’s wing. An old Sinatra song about flying away blared on the car radio.

“No!” Her heart beat so hard it nearly leapt out of her chest. “This can’t be happening.” She grabbed Cody’s hand and yanked him further away from the car and the light. “It’s not right, we’ve got to get away.” Her foot slid on a rock in the ground. As she fell, his fingers slipped out of her grasp. “Cody, no!”

As he rushed to the light, Kristy let out a terrified scream, “Cody!”

Petrified with fear, she watched her small, wiry son, dart into the dome of light. She managed to push herself up. “Help! Someone help!”

Cody went still. “The light loves us, Mommy.” His whole face beamed with pure joy. “I want to stay with it.”

“Cody, get away. Come to me, now.”

Caught in the light, glowing with happiness, he didn’t seem to hear his mother.

She reached out her arms, intent on grabbing her son and pulling him free of the freaky ghost light. “Cody, please.” She dashed into the light to save her baby.

The moment her foot slid into the light, complete, utter peace flooded her. She’d never felt such deep joy, even at the happiest moment of her life, when Cody was born. Kristy didn’t want to leave the light. Instead of grabbing Cody, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

“I want to stay.” His beaming smile echoed in his exuberant voice.

She squeezed him tighter. “Yes, of course we’re staying in the light.”

Mother and child lovingly embraced, standing beside the car in the center of the radiant glow, basking in its rapt warmth. The light blinked, then it vanished with Kristy and Cody.

* * * * *

Kristy squeezed Cody’s hand and gasped with shock as blue-skinned beings strolled past, on a street paved in a gleaming silver material.

“Cody, I think you’re dreaming or I’m dreaming or we’re both dreaming.” Now daylight, a yellow orb, like the sun, along with two white moons, one small, one huge, hung in the pale green sky. “This can’t be real.”

As she squeezed Cody’s hand, he reached out with his other and pinched her.

Kristy yelped. “Cody, stop it!”

“You’re not dreaming, Mommy.” He placed his hand on his hip. “Why are they blue?”

Blue people with wide, square heads clustered around, jabbering in an unfamiliar language.

“Where are we?” She slapped her hand below her throat. “Another planet?”

“Actually, another dimension, our world is called In.” A blue man, whose head took up a third of his body size, smiled. “Are you from the Lipan Apache Band? I not only speak
English, I also know Apache, as well as thirty-five other terrestrial
languages. I am a professor of Earth Studies.” He bobbed his flat, turquoise head. “My name is Yog.”

“What?” A surge of ice-crusted fear shot through Kristy. “I’m not an Apache and I just speak English.”

“Not Apache? Then you may not know the Hactcin are the creators of both In and Earth. You must have fallen on hard times. The Hactcin send the lights to help anyone in that area, in the Apache territory, who have bad luck.”

Even the lights have it in for me.
“What happens here? Is it some kind of purgatory, I’m to be punished for having bad luck?” Her body shook and her legs went as limp as boiled pasta. “And why is Cody here? He hasn’t done anything wrong.” She pushed Cody behind her. She wasn’t about to let that blue stranger touch her child.

“Oh no, what happens is your luck turns around, of course. That’s the whole purpose, to give you and your son a second chance here on In.”

Kristy’s fingers shook as she tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. “The orange light beamed us up?”

“Yes, the lights are portals and porters all in one, finding those who are worthy of good luck.” His rectangular lips spread into a wide, toothy smile. “If you go to the council office, they will help you with everything you need.”

“Mommy, this place is cool. How did you bring us here?”

“I don’t know, even though Yog explained it.” She shrugged to hide her shock and fear from Cody and shifted her gaze back to the blue professor. “You’re not human.”

“No, in this dimension we are called Inids.” Yog pointed to a one-story, flat-roofed building. “They will explain all.”

“I can’t go in there. I left my purse in the car with my ID and our birth certificates.” Kristy knew of the long list of documents you had to bring. She’d heard stories about people who’d spent all day in the immigration office only to be told to come back and bring more paperwork. The building looked just like one on Earth, so surely the procedures wouldn’t be too different.

Yog blinked his black eyes. “If the light brought you, the council has already given their permission and approval.”

“Okay, that’s convenient.” Kristy took Cody’s hand. “Come on, punkin.” They strolled into the white, stone building and up to the counter, where a blue-skinned woman worked. She glanced down at Cody. “Stay next to me and don’t let go of my hand. I don’t know anything about these blue people… or beings…whatever they are.”

The square-headed lady babbled something, but paused when Kristy didn’t answer. “Oh, you don’t speak Inish. That will have to be corrected,” she said in English and pointed to a box on the counter, gesturing for Kristy to peer into it.

“What is this, a vision test machine like the ones at the department of motor vehicles?” Kristy pressed her eyes against the lens in the box, a bright light flashed and her scalp tingled. “What was that?”

“A language upgrade. It’s a type of mind enhancement.” Instantly, she could speak and understand Inish.

The large-headed woman pulled two turquoise necklaces out of a drawer.

“You both need to wear one of these, unless you want to have your flesh dyed blue, like ours. You see, the color will bring you luck.” The woman glared at her. “Your skin is very pink, isn’t it? That’s odd.” The lady reached out her long blue fingers to touch Kristy’s skin.

Kristy jumped back. “Yes, it is and no, we don’t want to dye our skin. We’ll wear the necklaces.” Kristy slipped one of the silver chains, dangling a wire-wrapped apache tear, around her neck and the other around Cody’s.

She shifted her gaze back to the blue woman. “Since I’m new here, I’ll need a place to stay until I can find a job, is there a family shelter for my son and me?”

“The council will provide housing for you. We consider you a very important person. The accommodations provided do not require any financial compensation on your part, you will be allotted full citizenship and a monthly allowance.”

“Government housing, I don’t know.” She sighed. “I guess for now. Maybe I can get a job soon and get us a better place.” She leaned closer to the woman. “How much is this monthly allowance?”