This morning, as I opened the front door to bring in the morning
paper, I happened to spot a strange object lying in among the leaves
that had fallen from the old Schwedler Maple. It was about the
size of a Sunbeam Toaster, but was roundish and rather lumpy.
Intrigued, I went back into the house to put on more clothes.
Upon returning with tongs, a roll of paper toweling, and a heavy-
duty plastic bag, I realized that the object had moved to the northwest
just about 1 1/2 feet. I approached with extreme caution.
It looked harmless enough . . . so I picked it up and transferred it
into the kitchen and dropped it into our porcelain sink basin. Our
two cats, Pixie and Maggie, were very wary and they refused to come
within 17 3/5th inches from the object. They finally wandered off,
confident and relieved that, this time, someone else was in charge.
It was then I thought that the object looked vaguely familiar. It was
almost the size, shape, and had the lumpy surface of an old-fashioned
holiday fruitcake. I remembered, back when I was a kid, that those
creations would regularly make their appearance a few days before
Christmas. Now, that would make sense! Thanksgiving Day is just
a couple of weeks or so away and that means "Christmas can't be far
behind!"
I also recalled that those holiday fruitcakes would not mold, spoil, and
didn't need to be refrigerated. They just "were." And, very seldom
did anyone ever eat much of one. It was simply a tradition back then
to exchange them. I would not be surprised that many of them had
been close to 10-16 years old. And that was 60-some years ago!
But, that's history. I returned to the present and resumed examining
the object in the sink. What was discovered is hard to believe!
The surface was imbedded with various-sized chunks of something
hard and stone-like. It was as if, whatever this object was, it had been
quite hot. Its surface, while not waxy, seemed as though it had been
somehow fused together. I located our roast meat oven thermometer
and with some effort . . . inserted it.
The interior was still quite warm AND the temperature was rising
significantly!
It was then that I made the decision to rush the object to the university
and have it properly analyzed. (Still have not heard back.) I pay attention
to the local and national news for any live, late-breaking reports from
the field. Do you suppose that what I had found was one of the myriad
pieces of space junk circling around out there?!
I am so thankful at this season of Thanksgiving that it didn't fall on me
or, for that matter, on any living creature!
Always, there is something for which to be thankful.
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