A Good Result

They kept their lights off as they guided their capsule down to earth and landed in the field of corn. They clambered out and set to work immediately. Getting the circles exactly right wasn’t easy, and they needed to work quickly and leave. The last thing they wanted was to be disturbed.

They’d been sent a message earlier that evening that this was a good field to start on, quite a way from the road and with the corn at the right height.

There were six of them on this mission and the plan was to communicate selectively with those who could interpret the signs. These people were few and far between.

It took them the best part of an hour and then they were off. One circle at a time, always intended to surprise. They knew some fields were being watched, so those were the ones to avoid. And they knew they had competition from earthlings who copied their artistry, but nowhere near as well. Complete amateurs.

Whether or not to go on to site number two was decided against. It had gone well, so why risk exposure. It was a good result and they couldn’t wait to see how the earthlings would react when they discovered their handiwork in the morning.

Jack saw it first and cursed. So much of his corn had been flattened and he’d had a movement camera installed near his gate, so knew no one had come in that way. He was perplexed.

His wife, Deidre, was quietly delighted. They’d made it. She’d been sending psychic waves out to them for a day or two and hoped they’d pick them up. She inspected their circle in wonder. They’d done a splendid job, a really intricate pattern far out classing the fakers.

Deidre planned to join them eventually. She had a few more tasks to do here on planet earth and then she’d be off. She couldn’t wait to be transformed into their shape and join them in their world, where she knew she ultimately belonged. A world without language, where all communication was telepathic. A place where she’d fit in, be understood and not be seen as odd; where she could shed the encumbrances of her material life and occupy a higher plane of consciousness all of the time, instead of just now and then.

Deidre was excited that she’d established contact and saw the sign they’d left especially for her as a promise for her future.

After Deidre was hospitalised, she was fortunate enough to be referred to a consultant psychotherapist with a Jungian orientation, who didn’t completely poo-poo her claim that the crop circle had been created by aliens that she was psychically in touch with.

Dr Ben Stewart was curious about her experience and expressed a non-judgemental and open-minded interest. Deidre’s mistake had been in talking to her husband, Jack, who was perplexed as to how the circle had occurred, given he’d put security cameras on the gate.

Jack was a rather less enlightened soul, who promptly got her sectioned. Once the medics realised she wasn’t a danger to herself or others, she was discharged.

Deidre continued to see Dr Ben, as she called him, and they established a good rapport. She felt properly listened to and valued. Although he was a good bit younger than her, and she knew he was out of her league, she developed a crush on him.

He was kind and gentle, explained this often happened in these kind of relationships and there was nothing for her to feel ashamed about. He also made it clear there was no possibility of them ever seeing each other, outside of the fifty minutes they spent together on weekly basis. In some strange way, this was a relief to Deidre.

It was a very peculiar relationship. Extremely intimate and yet impersonal all at the same time, if that’s possible. Deidre was grateful that Dr Stewart didn’t reject or mock her but stayed steady.

This all happened back in the day when proper psychotherapy was available on the NHS and Deidre kept seeing Dr Stewart for three years. By the time she finished, she’d left Jack and moved into a Buddhist commune, where she thrived. And no-one questioned whether her experiences were real or unreal. Deidre was simply accepted for who she was.