On the road.

As Bert turns left out of the Thompson farm onto the road back to town, he sees Joe and Ed's cruiser come up over the rise. They both turn on their lights and stop side by side on the road and roll down their windows to talk.

"Hey, Bert." Ed says from the driver's seat of the cruiser. Ed is local country boy in his mid twenties who grew up on his family's farm right here in Flint Hill. His lifetime of hard work have given him a lean, strong body. As a senior in high school, he scored four rushing touchdowns and was named MVP of the State Championship game, making him a bit of a local hero. He decided to put off going to college in order to stay on at the farm and eventually ended up taking a job as a deputy to make ends meet. His all American personality and strong work ethic made him an all around good kid and very capable deputy.

"Bert!" Joe leans over in the passenger seat and yells, "Bert, we got space aliens up there? Is this an invasion? Do we need to set our phasers to stun?! HAHAHA!!!"

"Very funny, Joe." Bert says and begins unconsciously stroking on Annie's thigh.

"Seriously, what do we got up there, Boss?" Ed breaks in.

"Well," Bert says, "Something landed in his cow pasture and made a big crater. I got up to have a look and it just looks like a big rock..."

Was it? A rock? Is that what I saw? I should have taken a picture.

"One of his cows looks like it didn't have a good day? At any rate, I just want you guys to get up there and secure the site. Don't let anybody get in there and start poking around until we hear back from the State boys. I never had anything like this, and I don't want us to come off looking stupid."

Bert is vaguely aware of Annie's soft hand wrapping itself around his wrist and helping along his casual stroking, working his hand a little further up her thigh.

"Roger that, Sheriff!" the boys say and Ed taps two fingers on his brow as he rolls the cruiser toward Thompson's farm.