A hundred miles south, fifty to the west, and a month later

Ray trembled at the edge of his field. Something very odd was happening in there, and he was unable to move.

A distant echo of voices shouted from behind as if filtered by deep slumber.

The lights playing in the middle of the field were even stronger than the searchlights from the nearby stadium, and they were changing colors from red to violet to blue very fast.

But the lights were not what caused Ray to be stuck in his spot at the edge of the field. It was the shadows that played within.

He could swear that he was seeing a faraway city or at least the ruins of a city within the light, and shadows of people running scared from something huge on the other side.

But Ray was confused. Only the usual mist creeped the Malvao fields during the night. Instead, he was seeing a green hulk in front of him.

He wondered if he was having a stroke. Old Willie told him that he saw his dead wife when he had his. Although Willie never mentioned the lights or shouting.

Somebody was shouting behind him, and they were very excited about something.

Ray finally managed to move his head to one side to see the face of his son-in-law.

So he was the one who was shouting this whole time. In fact, he was also pulling Ray along.

Ray just realized that he was moving, slowly, but he moved all the same.

He was turned around to see his daughter and her two sons looking completely distraught as they signaled for him and his son-in-law to come closer.

As the distance increased between Ray and the field, he shook off his tranquilized state and started to walk faster.

Soon, he was running alongside his son-in-law. His heart was beating so fast, he felt that it would soon take off like an airplane.

Once inside the house, he looked at the horror in everybody's eyes and asked, “What was that?”

His daughter jumped and hugged him. She embraced her husband next and leaned on his shoulder, sobbing.