The Cost of a New Tractor

As far as size goes it was not very big, only the size of a Beach-ball. It was, however, moving through space at a tremendous speed. It had been for eons, so long that the ones who had sent it no longer existed. Over the eons it had past through several solar systems, each time it course would change.

Had anyone been able to see it when it entered the solar system, they would have known that it was falling a course. It used the outer planets to slow its speed and cheek its course. This took a few years before it was headed to Earth. No one on Earth had seen it coming because of its small size. Few had seen it as it streaked across the late-night sky, and none had seen it hit in the middle of Darrell Arby’s potato farm.

When Darrell stepped out on to his front porch holding his cup of morning coffee, there was still a little fog. His old greyhound dog Hooter open an eye seeing it was him went back to sleep. He sat down in the rocking chair, thinking that it was going to be a warm day. He was going to ride the fence line and check to see if any of it needed mending.

He had been a potato farmer all his life, as was his father, and he was good at it. His farm was not large but he made a good living and didn’t want for much. The light morning breeze carried the smell of burning plants. He didn’t notice it right off, but Hooter did. The old dog stood up, put his nose in the air and then made a hooting noise that gave him his name.

This made Darrell take notice, he stood up and looked out into the field. There was still some fog but he could now see that there was something different. There was what looked like someone had dug a long ditch in the middle of his potato field. There was a little smoke coming from it. What the hell, he thought. He looked at Hooter, “How could you sleep through someone digging up our field?” the dog just looked at him, tongue hanging out and his tail beating ageist the porch railing.

He didn’t really blame the dog, after all, he had sleep though it too, but he had drunk a little more shine than normal last night. His farm was too far from town for this to be some kind of prank, he thought, and the few neighbors he had were more or less friends. He had no enemies that would want to hurt him, so he had no clue who would do this to him.

He wondered how many bushels of potatoes he was losing as he got his shoes on. He went out the back door, feed the chickens before going to the barn. He grabbed a shovel and rake was on his way out when Hooter joined him, wagging his tail ready to go. “Well, boy let’s go see what happened out there.”

Ten minutes later Hooter was standing at the edge of the ditch nose sniffing the air as Darrell walked up. He was surprised by what he saw. At the deep end of the ditch was a two and a haft foot metal ball. There were different color lights showing throw the metal in a few places, blinking.

He reached down and patted Hooter on the head and said, “What you think boy, is it one of them their satellite we hear about?” Whatever it was he was, sure it was worth more than his whole crop to someone.

By mid-afternoon, he had used his old tractor to pull it from the ditch, that was slowly filling with water. So by the time he got it into the barn, he was covered in mud. Hooter never took his eyes off the thing the whole time, nor would he get any closer than ten feet from it. He thought the dog didn’t trust the thing. He just hoped that it wasn’t some kind of bomb.

As he was taken a shower, he thought about who’s satellite it could be, and why had it fallen. If it was the Government’s, they would be out looking for it already, and they would have been all over his farm by now, he through. If it was a spy satellite from some commie county, it would be like he won the lottery. He was all smiles as he fixed his dinner.

Catfish, corn beard, and hush puppies, it was one of his favorite meals. He trow a hush puppy to Hooter, who ate it in one bite. “We will go out there in the morning, clean the mud off that thing and see if we can find out who made it.” He threw him the last puppy.

After cleaning up the kitchen, he got his jug of shine, turn on the radio and went to sit on the back porch. It was just starting to get dark out. He loved this time of night, even in the winter, he would sit out there some times. He liked to watch the stars appear as the sky darken. He took a sip from his jug and started tapping his foot to the song on the radio.

Hooter joined him on the porch, wagging his tail. “What do you think we should get first with all that money?” He reached down and patted his head, “Well, I guess that we could start drinking the good stuff.” He hit the jug again.

It was a little cool out, but he had hit the jug a few more times than normal. He fell asleep in the rocking chair. He dreamed of having a brand new tractor, something he had never been able to afford before. It was just past midnight when he was woke by Hooter’s attempt to bark. He was standing barking towards the barn.

Darrell turned and seen light was coming out of every crack in the barn, the light change colors a few times. He almost dropped his jug, as he jumped to his feet. He ran into the house and grabbed his shotgun. When he went back out the door, the light was gone. He stopped, not sure if he had really seen it, but Hooter was still barking that way.

He went back into the house and got a flashlight, seen the jug on the counter, took a big sip from it. When he went back out he could hear the chickens on the side of the barn making a lot of noise. “Let’s go have a look, boy.” He told the dog as he headed that way, but Hooter just stood there. He stopped after a few feet looked back at the hood and said, “Guess not all the chicken are in the pen. Get your butt over here.” Hooter ran up to him and rubbed ageists his leg.

“Let’s go.” He started walking again. He was scared but that was not going to stop him from finding out what had happened, he had his shotgun. He hoped the satellite was still there and had not melted down or something. When he reached the door, the chickens were still making a lot of noise. He had never heard them like that before.

He slowly pulled one of the big doors open so he could look inside. He could see the lights on the satellite blinking. It was still there he thought, that was good. Hooter was pecking out from behind him sniffing the air. He shined the light on the satellite as he moved into the barn. He went over to where the light switch was and flipped it on.

When he turned around, he dropped the flashlight. Sitting where his old tractor was, stood a brand new tractor, as a matter of fact, the one he had been dreaming about. Hooter had moved over and sniffed at its tires, so he wasn’t the only one seeing it. What is going on he thought, how could it be here from his dream? He looked at the satellite, did that have something to do with this? This was getting way to strange for him, the hire on the back of his neck was standing on end.

He ran out of the barn, slammed the door shut, and didn’t look back till he reached the porch. He didn’t even notice that Hooter was right there with him. He found his jug on the kitchen counter and took a big sip. Maybe the satellite was not from here, after all, he thought.

If it wasn’t from here where was it from, and why was it here, and why would it give him a brand new tractor? None of this was making any sense to him. He set the shotgun down on the table, pulled out a chair and sat down. Hooter laid down where he could watch the back door. He tried to think of who he should call about this.

He hit the jug a couple more times, his head began to swim so he put his head down on the tabletop. The stress was way too much for a simple potato farmer, and he was asleep in no time at all. This time his sleep was dreamless, because of the shine.

When he woke it was mid-morning, Hooter had not moved, he was still watching the door. It took a few minutes to clear out the fog in his mind. By the time he had drunk the second cup of coffee, his mind was back to working. It was real and had not been a dream.

His shotgun sitting on the table proved it. He looked out the window at the ditch, it was gone. He could see no trace of it. How was that possible, he wondered? He filled a bowl with food, put it down for Hooter, but the dog was not interested in eating. He could blame him, he was not hunger ether.

He thought about the chickens, they were still in the coop and would be needing to be feed. The coop was on the side of the barn, and he was not wanting to go near it, but they depended on him. He grabbed the shotgun and told Hooter to come with him. They went out the front door from the corner of the house he could see the coop on the side of the barn.

After moving about haft way there he stopped when he saw it. The coop was torn apart, there was blood splattered across the barn wall. He dropped the bowl of chicken feed. Hooter began to growl, and the hire on his back stood up. Suddenly something run out from behind the barn, that all most made him drop his shotgun.

It was huge and was squawking, flapping its wings as if trying to take flight. The first thing he thought was it was an ostrich, but then he realized it was a deformed chicken.

Hooter was ready to fight the thing, but it stopped not too far away, it was looking at the dog and he could tell it was trying to make up its mind if it was able to win a fight with the dog. There was blood all over the front of it, so it may have killed the other chicken. Darrell didn’t give it time to make up its mind.

He raised his gun, aimed and pulled the trigger. The thing let out an ear pricing squawk as it was thrown back, dead. What was going on, he thought? He reloaded the shotgun before going over to look at the thing. Hooter would not get to close to it, and he didn’t blame the dog. He was sure this all had to do with that satellite somehow.

He looked at the barn, then back at the monster chicken. Maybe he should call someone, but who could he call? The police would just think he was an old drunk, and may even put him in jail. The military would most likely think he was some kind of nut.

He was going to have to deal with this on his own he thought. He looked back at the barn, it now looked ominous to him. He looked back out over the field, why had the ditch disappear, was it trying to hide the fact that it was here?

Standing there, he was not going to figure out where that thing came from, so he took one more look at the monster chicken and said, “Come on boy, let’s go see where this satellite comes from.” Hooter wagged his tail at him. He really didn’t want to go near the place, but it was the only way to understand what was happening. He paused when he reached the door.

He slowly pulled the door open, the lights were still on, and the new tractor was still there. He started to walk inside then stopped, the satellite was no longer there, instead there was now a ball that was green, and yellow in colors swirling around inside like it was alive. What happened to the satellite, he thought.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, in a deep heavy accented he heard, “It was just a decoy to get you to get me out of the hole.” He almost dropped his shotgun. “This is my true mod of travel.”

He was shocked, and his mind was spinning, this was all too much for an old potato farmer to take in. He began to back away from the thing, he almost tripped over Hooter, who was right behind him. “Please, please don’t panic, I mean you no harm.” The voice said.

He stopped backing up, and in a shaky voice asked, “Who or what are you and what do you want with me?” He was not sure if he should stand there or run from the thing.

“I’m Jinn 2030, and you were the first human to find me when I arrived here.”

“So that makes me special in some way?” He asked it.

“To tell the truth, and that’s all I can do, yes it does make you special for your world. I’m only allowed to contact one human at a time. You just happened to be the one to find me.”

Gee, how lucky for him he thought. “What with the new tractor. I assume that was you?”

“Yes, I saw in your dream that was something you really wanted, and I’m aloud to do a one-time demonstration of my powers.”

Powers he thought, why show him what the thing could do. “Hold on just what are you.”

“As I said before I’m a Jinn.”

“That don’t tell me a thing. I have no clue what a Jinn is.” He was no longer scared of being there now for some reason his curiosity was overruling any emotions. “Why do you say ‘To tell the truth, and that’s all I can do’. Are you saying you have to tell the truth?”

“I can only speak the truth, I’m unable to lie. Jinn are older than the Universe. We were the Creator’s greatest achievement before mankind.” It sighed, “Sadly to say my ancestors didn’t agree that we should bow down to mankind as the Creator wanted. Because of this, my race must now sever at the will of man, like it or not. I must follow a set of rules, like given you the new tractor to show you what I can do. I can do nothing more until you set me free.”

Wow, he thought this was so strange to him, had he just lost his mind. He had heard that to much shine could do that. He did believe in a Creator, and Angles, but he had never heard of Jinn that grant wishes. He looked down at his boots, there was a drop of blood on one of them, he remembered about the monster chicken.

“Were you behind what happened to my chickens?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m sorry to say. It’s Universal law that for every positive thing that I manifest I must manifest a negative. There is all ways a price to pay for your action.” He thought he could hear in its voice that it didn’t want to tell him this, or that it had no desire to manifest the negative.

Whatever the reason, this did make a difference. The Jinn had to be set free for some reason, and really he didn’t care why. He was going to have to think about all this. He turned to go. “Don’t go, set me free please!” it begged him. He paid it no attention, he keep going. He closed the barn door behind.

It was mid-after-noon, but he still found his jug and took a big swig of it. He sat down, thinking about what just happened to him. Hooter fond a spot where he was able to watch the back door and laid down. He looked at the hound, he was a good friend he thought. He was glad that what had happened to the chicken had not happened to him.

He was not sure he could shoot his old friend, even if he had been turned into a monster. He spent the rest of the day thinking over every word the Jinn had said to him. By the time he had finished washing up after dinner, he knew just what he should do.

He sat down at the dining table with his jug. He really didn’t want to go out there to deal with the thing, but he was going to have too. He looked at Hooter and said, “I’ll tell you what boy, I kind of envy you right now. You always knew what is the right thing to do.”

Hooter stood right behind him as he stood just a few feet away from the green swirling ball. In his mind, he heard, “I had hoped you would return.”

“Tell me, why are you stuck in the shell and you need for someone to set you free?” It really didn’t matter to him anyway.

“Its the way I’m moved from one world to another, and inside I have no soiled form.” It answered.

“The last world you were on no longer needed you?”

’They didn’t think so. I was kicked off that world. The person I was helping had some high ambitions, and the rest didn’t agree with him.”

So the had sent him into space to mess with some other race. Well, that wasn’t going to happen again, he thought. “I can pick you up, and I would get killed or sick right?”

“Of course you can, you got me out of the hole, but why would you?”

He looked around the barn, and found a bushel basket, went to the green ball pick it up and put it in the basket. He found a two hundred foot roll of rope, throw it on top of the ball. He picked up the basket and headed out of the barn, with Hooter following closely.

Ten minutes later he was kneeling next to the old deep well on the side of his house, tying the end of the rope to the basket. “Please sir don’t do this. I can help you get whatever you want.” the Jinn bagged.

“The price is too high as far as I see it.” He said as he lowered the basket down the whole. The last world he sent it to space not knowing it would ever reach another world but he was doing the only thing he could think to make sure no one found it again.

It was near midnight before he stopped throwing dirt down the hole, and he could still hear its voice calling to him to let it free. He was feeling good about what he was doing. It took him a couple of weeks, but when he was done he had a new gazebo along with a new tractor. When he had company over some would say the could fell something in their head, like the wind whispering them but they could not make out what it was saying.