Dedicated To My Friend Jared

   Fifteen minutes south of the taco bistro I found a piece of the craft. I could tell because it was metallic in color and texture and the break pattern seemed to indicate intense stress as if by heat and friction. Jared was brave enough to scoop it off the highway barehanded but it was heavy and hot so he couldn't bring it more than a couple yards before dropping it to the asphalt. I can't really explain what happened next. I remember being awake the whole time but it was like a dream at the point where you begin to focus on the problem and experience incredible abilities motivated by your awareness of the dream state. Six manlike forms embraced me. At first I was confused and fear urged me to aggression. An axe swung into the neck of the first and he fell as I prepared for a second but they didn't harm me. I woke in the road on my back with a migraine and when I returned to the van Jared was asleep. We drove with the windows down and the shrapnel on the back seat and that night I discovered Jared had died.
  The lights woke me in our motel room and I jumped out of bed for fear it was the police. Having no where to go I found myself desiring the axe I'd dreamt of before and peeked through the blinds. Outside in the grass an amber orb of light rose straight up to a height of two stories. From it emerged another and another straight out from the first. I had courage I've never witnessed in my self or others and presence of mind to run out into the field shouting and waving my arms. The lights responded by dimming and returning to the original orb before it streaked away overhead.
    Then the voices came around me but they did not know I was with them. Coming close without contact a chill came over me and I could scarcely breathe. I began to run back to the motel where I found Jared. He said they spoke to him while I was asleep. He said they want the fragment back and they'll take with them the one who found it. I told him he was crazy and I take responsibility for abandoning him. He walked outside for fresh air and a cigarette. I didn't join him.
    It was just a weekend to relax and explore Tubac. Maybe we would brave the headhunters and go across the border for the afternoon. Or finally make it to his cousin Marvin's to shoot skeet like he's always talking about. Instead we saw it fall past the sun and cast a flash of shadow as it screamed to the desert sand. And we had to follow it. Then I realized Jared doesn't smoke. He was my friend and I'm sorry I didn't believe him when he needed me to.