The Day Lewisetta Stood Still

By Parker Carwile

   The shadows were lengthening, it was a beautiful late afternoon. Karla and I decided to take a Sunset Cruise on The Glebe and the Coan River on our boat the "Karla Marie" on Saturday evening Oct.20th. As we rounded a point of land of The Glebe and Lewisetta came into site,  I looked to my right and what I saw before me defied all logic and comprehension. I unknowingly uttered the words "What the hell is that?" Karla looked in the direction of my stare....her wine glass fell to the deck with a clatter, we were both in utter shock. We tried to comprehend what was before us. It was some sort of craft or vehicle setting calmly on the water in a cove about 100 yards from shore. Watercraft? Aircraft? Spacecraft? We had no idea. I turned the boat to starboard and approached carefully. Without taking my eyes off  the "vessel" as we got nearer, I whispered to Karla, "Get the camera". I didn't want to scare it away or make it angry and run the risk of being vaporized by it's laser weapons that a craft of this nature must obviously have. Looking closer we see a humanoid like creature that appeared to be inspecting the heat shields of the crafts underbelly, it wore khaki pants and a Hard Rock Cafe tee-shirt.....interesting. Evidently Hard Rock Cafe's are now in outer space.

"Ahoy Captain!" The alien creature shouted.  I opened my arms in a gesture of peace. "Welcome" I shouted back.  I was starting to make out some writing and graphics on the side of the vessel. I saw the word PROTEUS on it's side, a website address, then a corporate logo for Hewlett Packard. Things were becoming less alien and more of this world. The guy in the khakis explained to us this is an experimental seagoing vessel. "Marine Advanced Research Vessel" or WAM-V for short. 100 feet long and 50 feet wide, powered by twin Cummins Diesels with a cruising range of 5000 miles, it was returning from Washington DC and had come across the Ocean from France previously that summer.

Anchoring in The Glebe for the night, this strange watercraft left us feeling that "We are not alone".

www.wam-v.com

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