I was standing on the town square, a pretty town is Braidavick. I had some yellow flowers in my buttonhole, probably large buttercups. Out of nowhere appeared a young boy in front of me.
“Hello Mr Cruickshank! Would you like to come with me, please?”
We walked away from the square along a narrow path and a stream between the houses and soon reached a delightful little park. We walked to the edge of a small lake and sat down on a wooden bench table and facing each other.
“So Mr Cruickshank, the man with the yellow buttonhole, you’re an investigative reporter working in Braidavick and the eastern part of the state. I’m the one you wish to speak to. Ask anything you like, I’ll try to answer.”
“Oh, pleased to meet you; I did expect to meet a…”
“Questions please?”
Deep breath. “Who are you?”
“You mean ‘What is my name?’ and ‘Where do I live?’ which means ‘Where do I sleep?’”
“I’ll tell you. My name is Arthur. And no, no other name, just Arthur. I live where I am and I don’t sleep anywhere.”
“You’re trying to confuse me, Arthur.”
“Not really, you are confused, because I’m different to you. You are a Homo sapiens and I’m a Homo tempus.”
“How old are you?”
“I look like I’m eight years old. But I am an adult. I’m a visiting professor at the state university. My girlfriend is called Evelynn. We spend most of our time, night and day, investigating wild animals in their habitat…”
“Including Homo sapiens and Homo tempus?”
“Including Homo sapiens. You may have seen some of our natural history programs on TV or in the internet:” ‘Evelynn and Arthur discover the Wild’
“You are trying to tell me that you are awake night and day…”
“I’m not trying anything. I’m telling you that we work night and day; we don’t need to sleep. But you don’t understand or don’t want to. Perhaps you will be able to accept that some time in the future and contact me again.”
“We are trying to inform you Homo sapiens about us, the Homo tempus. We are not having too much success.”
“Look me in the face, Mr Cruickshank! You are stuck in this position and will remain so for about five minutes. Goodbye!” Arthur stood up and disappeared into nowhere – I could not move, I could not follow.