"Thank you Mr. Eros" by Nick Alena

“Thank you Mr. Eros “

Nick Alena

            The story I am about to speak of occurred in a tiny countryside town called Luenna a little over nineteen years ago. The women who I speak of will be called Hestia, and it begins when she had a strange visit one dreary night in August. Hestia and her family would never be the same and neither would Luenna.
            There she sat reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson, when suddenly the room filled with the yapping of her best friend and lonely companion, Jasper.
   Sorry to interrupt so soon, but I should tell you that Jasper is a pure bred Collie and Hestia’s only accompaniment in their quant cabin on the outskirts of Luenna.
   She hadn’t seen Jasper act like this at any time during his six years of life. As Jasper barked and scratched at the door, Hestia heard a sound much like that of a muffled engine. “Jasper, what is it boy?” Hestia sped to the window to see if there was any indication of what the muffling sound could be. As her eyes raced back and forth and glanced every which way out through the tempered glass, she finally saw it. An array of bright lights filled the air next to the sturdy little cabin. Three main lights seemed to
follow the same diagonal course towards earth, while the other softer lights scanned the area slowly. It was so dark at this time and little could be seen of the object itself. Hestia finally let Jasper out, for his erratic antics were difficult to control. Hestia followed the much loving Collie towards the openness of the night sky. The lights were gone now; stealthy darkness was the only feature at this time. Hestia raced back in the house and snatched a red metallic flashlight off the kitchen counter. She then chased after Jasper
through the brush of the neighboring woods until she finally reached the clearing she anticipated. The open field behind the wooded area left a perfect landing area for the object she was about to come encounter. It was glorious.
            Now this flying object is hard to describe, but I’ll do my best from what I was
told of it.
            It was about fifteen feet in length, each wing only 4 feet or so, and the
cabin itself was six feet by six feet. Metallic reds, whites and blacks shimmered in Hestia’s eyes and seemed deafen the dog’s high pitched howling. The cabin was sleek and polished with a transparent shell, and the wings held two cylindrical objects, which held the fans and rockets inside. It had three wheels that seemed especially well-built, but they were not quite massive. Hestia instantly knew that this was not any normal aircraft. It was different, very different. As Hestia stood in amazement, the outer shell of the aircraft began to slightly rise up from the craft and then, ever so gently, progressed towards the back of the craft until its glares finally came to rest near the midsection of the object. Hestia stood frozen in the darkness with eyes that were as wide as saucers. His humanlike features were then revealed from the shell’s advancement. As the creature’s eyes frantically searched for an answer, its lost stare shortly met that of Hestia’s astonished awe. At that moment, the shell jetted forward to suppress his majestic gaze.

He was scared, of course. I mean who wouldn’t be? Think about it, landing on a whole new planet, everything so unfamiliar. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this being is an extraterrestrial. The term makes him sound scary, but he really wasn’t. You’ll see why soon, but I just hate when we classify them as “extraterrestrial”. But anyway, I can’t imagine what I’d be like when meeting glances with another creature. I’d probably faint on the spot, just as he did. I am going to give this extraterrestrial creature the name of Eros.
Eros awoke to the scratching and gnawing of Jasper on the door to the room he occupied. He lay dazed and confused on the bed in Hestia’s extra room in the cabin.

By the way “Hestia” is one of the most kind and gentle women you would be so lucky to ever meet. She may be shy at times but has the purest of hearts and helps all in need. So as you can imagine, she was the one to bring “Eros” into her home.

The unfamiliar room left Eros very nervous but surprisingly calm. The dog’s relentless attack on the door gave Eros no chance of fleeing, so there he had to remain. The monotonous harassment was halted with the sudden yell of “Jasper! Stop that! Go outside!” With his exit Hestia cautiously approached the door to Eros. As she approached, she leaned her ear slowly towards the hard-wooded door. A sudden blast landed on the side of Hestia’s face. Her body lifelessly fell to the wood floor, and Eros sprang passed her towards the next exit. As he reached the door to his escape, he paused, glanced back at Hestia, who lay unconscious on the floor, then back at his freedom outside. He once again looked at the motionless woman on the ground and remained still with his eyes locked on her. Eros made his way back towards Hestia and kneeled next to her. To his astonishment she slowly awoke. So Eros turned back towards the door with a running intent but was immobilized with the soft cry of “don’t leave! Please don’t.”

You would have thought twice about leaving, also, if you had seen her face at that moment. I imagine her gentle frown and light-toned response kept him from departure.

Hestia made her way back onto her feet, and her soft words hit Eros. She proceeded to ask the almost inanimate creature where he came from, what was outside, and what he was doing. But then she realized that he could not understand her. After several tries she only received blank stares and little receptive actions. She carried on many more efforts, but no reaction sounds ever came from Eros; only his muted facial features and subtle gestures. Therefore, Hestia concluded that Eros was voiceless; however, he seemed to understand the occasional hand gesture.

To my knowledge she and Eros spent almost a full day trying to figure each other out after that first encounter. Through her extreme patience and interpretation, she believed he had mistakenly landed on planet earth. This mistake was due to the new flying car that his species created, and he was one of the first to fly this technologically advanced car. I know Hestia was a lonely person, and I believe that Eros was also, due to the fact that he was one of the first to fly this car alone. It seems both theses lonely creatures found comfort in each other. That is why Eros did not head back home at that time.

A few days passed, and no one had neither seen nor heard from Hestia. On the fifth day after this event occurred, she got a phone call from her parents. She wasted no time in telling them what had happened and how her and Eros found comfort in each other. Hestia told her parents that she would be right over to introduce Eros and explain a few things. So within the next hour, she and Eros made their way to her parents house. The greetings of Hestia’s mom and dad were very pleasant, but when her father reached out to shake Eros hand, Eros did nothing, not knowing of the custom. He simply followed Hestia into the house.

The hand shake was one of the first things that made Hestia’s father a little weary of the situation. You will see his eventual disapproval.

As Hestia explained what had happened and tried to show how close she and Eros had become, her father was not pleased with the situation. He didn’t trust this new creature. He only hoped that his daughter was making the right choices. After Hestia said how she felt, her father warned her to be careful.

As you could tell Hestia’s father really did not like the fact that her and Eros were together. He made it clear to Hestia that he didn’t trust Eros, and it would take a lot for Hestia’s father to accept Eros. However, later that day his mind would be changed.

Later that day Hestia got an urgent phone call from her father explaining that Hestia’s sister’s apartment had caught on fire. Hestia, after realizing that Jasper was also at her sister’s due to Eros presence, and Eros rushed to the scene to find that the firefighters surrounded the building and were firing large amounts of water at it. Within an instant Hestia spotted her father and sprinted towards him, frantically asking if her sister was alright and what had happened. Her father’s only response was that her sister was trapped near the top of the building in her apartment, and there was no way for the firefighters to reach her; they didn’t know what to do. Then out of nowhere Eros started making erratic gestures to Hestia trying to get her to take him back to the house. He knew that he could use his flying car to rescue Hestia’s sister and needed to get back to the cabin to get it. Within five minuets Eros’ flying car soared into action. It had made tremendous time from the cabin back into town. The car hovered at the fourteenth story of the building. All were in awe of the magnificent car and desperately waited for the female to climb onto safety through the towering window. With the smoke fumes sporadically bursting, the silhouette body grasped onto the security of the car. The glass shell of the car jetted backwards and in she fell to safety. Immediately after, Jasper jumped into the car. Eros maneuvered the car back from the building and down towards the ground’s unquestionable refuge. Hestia drove to the scene a few minuets after her parents and sister exchanged emotional hugs. She joined in with extreme joy and relief.

Eros had saved the day! And not only that, he had earned the trust that he had wanted from Hestia’s father. Hestia and Eros grew fonder and fonder of each other after that almost tragic event. He brought the family closer together and made Hestia feel like she was a young girl again, a young girl in love. However, this joyfulness of the family wouldn’t last long.

Within two weeks after the fire, Hestia received a phone call from her father saying that his chemical plant had a meltdown and been completely destroyed. He had made it out in time, but a few of his co-workers hadn’t. There were, fortunately, only seven casualties out of the hundred that worked there. However, this was a very distressing day for the town. The chemical plant had been one of their greatest sources of wealth and capital. It also left a large number of families without jobs. Little could be done to get the plant up and operating again at its same prominence. As a result the town was in a bit of a slump after the disastrous event.

The town had no idea what Hestia and Eros were about to propose in replace of the plant.

Hestia and Eros went before the town board and proposed their idea of creating a new plant to build flying cars just like Eros’. They brought Eros’ car to demonstrate its great technological advancement and innovations. They also stated the number of jobs it would create in the community and how prosperous the town could be from the new car. Hestia and Eros only asked that they would be put in charge of all operations of the plant. With little discussion the board agreed to the construction of the “Ero’s Flying Car Company.”

It was truly a remarkable innovation. Eros had the design of how to build the car in a hidden compartment of his original. This would be the basic structure of each new car.

Over a year after the agreement, the town’s people stood in front of the magnificent modern plant and waited as Hestia pronounced her father the president of the new plant. Hestia and Eros proceeded to cut the striking, velvet red ribbon to the front door of the plant and opening day commenced.

The “Ero’s Flying Car” was named the greatest innovation of the decade, Luenna became one of the top urban cities across the country, and Eros was named “Citizen of the Year”. Its wealth became dominant, and the city forever acknowledges Eros for his tremendous humility. I am forever grateful of what my mother, Hestia, and father, Eros, did for this city. Due to this tremendous act my father accomplished, the city erected a magnificent statue in his honor. Once a month I stop to acknowledge its significance and take a moment to recite its statement, “You don’t have to be Human to be a Humanitarian.”