Being a record of certain phenomena found in the environs of the Lost Quarter.

Little Green Men

In those days strangers did not receive much comment. People were always coming and going from the Quarter and no one thought much of it unless they stayed. It was the way of things until it wasn’t. 

Later, no one could quite remember when the two newcomers arrived in town. Mostly this was because they didn’t stay for any length of time, in town one day and reappearing some weeks later. They were usually in the company of some of the loudest supporters for the independence movement which had lately been roiling the Quarter and other locales. A referendum on the matter was planned in the fall, which most agreed would not succeed. It would send a message out east though, let them know the Quarter could not be taken for granted. 

They were regular figures at rodeos and other events throughout the region where those in favour of independence sought to sway others to their side, handing out placards from card tables set up on the grounds. It was said they were part of the monthly gathering that took place at the Carter place where the usual suspects gathered to plan for the referendum and the future that came after. If drinking a couple of flats of beer and shooting off rifles could be considered planning, some said. 

The strangers didn’t say much at community gatherings, present but in the background. Those who did speak to them said they were obviously not from around here, their accents immediately marking them out. Everyone understood what that meant, though no one thought it of much note. They weren’t the first people to come north for one reason or another. When asked what they were doing in these parts, the strangers would say things like “helping out our friends,” and leave it at that.  

That disconcerted some people, but most dismissed it. They were hanging out with the same people who’d convoyed out east in the last days of the grippe reborn or blocked the roads to the borders south. This was just what they did: protesting and honking and not accomplishing much when all was said and done except hanging out with their fellow travellers. Not a surprise that people from down south were fellow travellers. Look who they elected, after all.  

If asked where they were from, they claimed to hail from the interior or to have family from Fort Mac. No one pressed them on these obvious lies. They were friendly and jovial with their fellow travellers, but were unable to hide their anger at being questioned by those opposed to the cause. Those people were dupes and fools, they would say loudly and with menace. 

As the referendum approached, the Carter place became a hive of activity, people coming and going at all hours, including the strangers. There was shooting nearly every day on the back of the property out of sight of the road, though the neighbours could hear it for miles around. A few called the police with their concerns, who promised to look into it. Nothing was done though. Some saw trucks with foreign plates heading in that direction, though the vehicles were never spotted again, which was somehow even more concerning. 

In the days before the referendum, the activity ceased and the strangers were gone. Hardly any vehicles were seen heading to the Carter place. Everyone felt a sense of relief. Once the referendum was past all this strangeness would be over.