The Glowing

    "No, but just listen, will ya'?  We don't know what's over that hill.  Not you, not me.  No one but the people that've already made that journey, ya' see?  There's a fog past that hill.  Not smoke, just a fog, you understand.  And the wind.  God damn it, the wind ain't blowin' that fog no deeper than where it is.  And the glow.  You seen that glow?  It's yellow.  Sickly, almost.  That ain't no sunshine I've ever seen.  Nothin' like any fog lights I've seen neither.  Nothin' like it...  And the people!  You see how many have turned up?  You saw those first reports, I know you did, we all did.  We didn't know why we were seein' footage of this hill.  With the light, the fog... but we went along with it, didn't we?  We watched those news choppers fly right into the damn thick of it and disappear.  Okay, sure, we don't know they disappeared.  If that's your point.  We don't know what happened to them.  But no one heard a crash did they?  And ya' know what?  We haven't heard no screams neither.  The choppers disa-- well, the choppers were gone, and the police vans were gone, and the people gathered at the foot of this hill-- same as you, same as me-- and people have been gatherin' their courage to walk on over that hill and we ain't heard no screams neither, now have we?  Look around ya'.  Look at all these pilgrims.  They've all come and they've all waited.  And the worthy, they've stepped over that hill in strides.  If you weren't never gonna be ready to take that trek, friend, then why did ya' ever come here?  Me?  I'm ready.  And you?  You'll be ready someday, too.  People can wait here all they want.  They know why they've come.  To make that journey same as the rest of us.  Look!  See?  That family over there.  They're ready.  People can wait here all they want, I say.  Wait and build houses and start families and wait some more but I tell ya'... they're all gonna walk over that hill sometime.  Abandon their cubs and make the trek alone for all I care.  If that's what makes you stronger.  Let the young pilgrims sweep the floors and clean up after us.  They'll make the journey, too.  And they won't cry and shout neither, I'm sure.  Poison gas?  Friend, this ain't no attack of nations or ideologies, this is a welcome!  And I intend to find out what kind.  But before I go, let me ask you, what kind of attack stops the sun?  Thing hasn't risen for two days now.  Me?  I intend to find out what does something so extraordinary.  Don't you?"