Great Hites # 24

Great Hites # 24
	A Journey Late in Life By: Robert Jahns
	Last Day on the Job By: Jeff Hite
pollcode.com free polls

Download Great Hites # 24 Audio

A Journey Late in Life

By Robert Jahns



Mason Thompson was the town elder. No one alive knew exactly when he arrived from England. Tales had him arriving by tall sailing ship, by a great ocean steamer, even by a dirigible from pre-war Germany. 1890 land records showed that a Mr. Mason Thompson, then age 40, purchased property and settled in the town of Parker, Arizona. The private man once taught school. Many of his students went on to good universities. Few found fault with Mr. Thompson or his teaching methods. When he folded up his bifocals and retired from teaching, he spent many a day rocking peacefully on his front porch. He kept his home up well. He never married, remaining content to spend his time alone. On occasion, Mason would spirit away to his secret fishing hole.



Time moved forward to the year 1940. The townsmen wanted to treat Mr. Thompson upon his 90th birthday. Thompson was now feeble, carefully, slowly moving with a gait that suited his advanced years. The good townspeople planned a magnificent trip for their elder.



A short flight to New York was easy enough. He seemed quite pleased with the adventure. The elder slept well as a larger craft propelled the travelers on their way to England. They completed the journey by traveling by train from Heathrow Airport to London proper. He was to meet with people he had left behind so many years before.

“It’s him!” exclaimed the oldest lady in the mob. With axe handles and thatched ropes, the angry mob hauled away the old man. “Finally got you, you savage! There is no statute of limitations on murder! Killing all of those women – what were you thinking of, Jack?”

The elder breathed the salt air of the London docks and promptly threw up.




Last Day on the Job

By: Jeffrey Hite


"Last day on the job and what happens? I get a call to go down to the beach. Something big has washed up," I said to my wife over the cell phone.
"I bet it is a party. I bet they are throwing you a party!"
"They are not that kind of folks dear. they don't even like me all that much."
"Hank, you never know, and even if it is not by tomorrow it will be someone else's problem and you will be retired and spend the rest of your days with me."
"Very true. Well I don't know how long I will be. I love you."
"Love you too dear. Give me a call on your way home," Those were the last words that I heard for many years that made sense.
As I neared the beach I could see that a crowd had gathered. But I could not see what they were looking at. The Highway Patrolman that called me was standing a little ways off trying to get them to disperse but not having much luck.
"Hello, officer Parker, I am Hank Barnwell." He held out his hand and we shook.
"Glad you could come. Your call screener said that it was your retirement day, but I think this is worth your time."
"Alright, so what have we got?"
"Well, I had better show you. Come on down to the waters edge with me." We walked to the edge of the water and I could see that there was indeed something very large, sticking up out of the surf.
"What is it?"
"Well sir, it looks like the nose of a submarine, but a very old one."
"Very old to be sure. With a bow line like that is has to be a World War two boat. And look at those torpedo doors. And in such wonderful condition, how is that possible? Son you really should have called the Navy for some thing like this, I deal with animals, you know whales and other large sea creatures."
"Yes, sir and that is why I called you. This is right out of Captain Nemo."
"You mean Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, but what are you talking about?"
"Well just look." He pulled me to one side so I could see the boat in profile. There attached the to rear end of the submarine was the largest Colossal squid I had ever seen. It enveloped the whole rear end. And more to the point it was a live.
"There is something else sir." the Patrolman said snapping me back to the present.
"Yes?"
"Well the person who called me, said that when the submarine surfaced that a man came out of one of the hatches and started up the deck, then that thing let loose and pulled him back and killed him."
"What? You mean people are in there?" He nodded his head. "In the sub?"
"That is what I have been told."
"That seems highly improbable. That ship is over sixty years old."
"I know that sir, but that is what I was told."
"Where is the witness?" He led me over to a young girl of about twenty, sitting near his patrol car. She sat with tears streaming down her face staring out at the beached submarine.
"Diane, this is the man I told you I was going to call. Can you tell him what you saw." She shook her head and started to sob. "You need to tell Mr. Barnwell here what you saw so that we can help those people." She nodded then and sniffed several times before beginning.
"That boat, just came crashing out of the water. Then one of the holes opened up. I could hear men shouting, then one of them got out and ran across the boat and tried to jump into the water, he was not very fast, he looked old. But then that monster grabbed him. It picked him up and smashed him against the deck."
"Thank you Diane. You just relax now," I said. We walked a little ways away before I spoke again. "Did she say she had heard men shouting."
"Yes, When she told me about it she said she had seen several sets of arms reaching out of the port."
"Do you have a marine radio in your car?"
"Of course."
"Good, you go get Diane away from the car. I don't want to upset her any more than we already have."
"What are you going to do?"
"I am not sure yet." I waited until he had moved the girl away from the car and then started working the radio. I didn't know what frequencies they used in world war two subs but, i figured it was worth a shot. I switched it to the universal guard frequency.
"Hello beached submarine, can you hear me?"
"We hear you." Came back a very scratchy voice. "We do not have much power to transmit so please listen close. This is the U.S.S. May. We have found the lost city of Atlantis, but when we tried to return, we were told we could not. Ten days ago, myself and half of my crew were able to escape. MyXO and the other half stayed behind to buy us the time we needed to escape." He paused and I waited wondering if they had run out of power. "Yesterday we were within site of land, but their guardian caught us. We have been trying to fight it off, but with no luck. We were finally able to beach ourselves here. You need to know that Atlantis is real, It's people are nearly human like us, but they have incredible life spans."
There was a terrible metal rending sound then.
"The creature is tearing the ship apart. It will try to kill us all to keep the secret." The Transmission broke up then to the sounds of chaos both inside and out. I could see the creature moving then, and it was huge. Nearly the size of the sub herself. "Listen," the voice came again trembling now. "Please say goodbye to our families... We are going to launch a torpedo that has letters from everyone inside." The was a terrible scream of metal as one of the beast's arms wrapped around the sail and began to rip it off. "Do not try to find Atlantis. They are a good people but they will kill to protect their secret."
the Boat sunk below the waves being dragged by the creature.
"Captain, Captain." I yelled into the microphone. But there was no response. A few seconds later a torpedo ran a ground, near the crowd of on lookers. They scattered thinking the thing might explode. Then a giant air bubble escaped to the surface. Several men tried to swim to shore, but the creature made short work of them. grabbing them and dragging them back under.
When it was over I waded out into the water, the smell of the salt air was over powering and I threw up.

******

Today three years later, I delivered the last of the letters to family members of the officers and crew of the U.S.S. May. Very few have believed my story, even fewer believed the letters that I had given them. This time, however, the captain's widow believed me. She cried as she read the letter from her husband, and just like the night it happened I did too.