The MX
As a child, I was disinclined to believe in anything but science, but I was surrounded by family and friends that believed in all sorts of miracles.

One day, I thought I caught a glimpse an old man, who quickly vanished behind a garage. He looked distinctly evil, very much like Freddy Krueger in “A Nightmare On Elm Street.”

Puzzled, I told my friends about the man, which they quickly understood to be a portent of evil. We even invented a label for him: “MX”, for Mysterious (M) Unknown (X).

Around the neighborhood, over the next few weeks, reports began to trickle in. Various kids *thought* they had seen *things*. We found mysterious three-toed footprints, as if from ostriches or dinosaurs, and after awhile, we even fancied ourselves MX footprint experts: here, the MX walked aimlessly, here he loped, and here he sprinted. Kids claimed to have caught glimpses of mysterious creatures, which they quickly labeled the MX, even though descriptions often varied radically, sometimes even being feminine. I hadn’t seen the MX more than once, but some kids claimed to have seen him a dozen times, or more. Then came the calamity.

In a neighborhood warehouse, an electrician had stored piles of newspaper to recycle back into insulation, plus a large number of hard-plastic screens used to cover ceiling fluorescent light installations. One day, a breathless kid bicycled up shouting “Quick! The MX broke all the screens in the warehouse!” We came running, and sure enough, there was shattered plastic everywhere. The electrician was livid. He blamed us kids. But all the kids said it was the MX. Who was telling the truth?

Actually, as the local science aficionado, I had the tools at hand to establish our innocence. Six months prior, as part of a science book club subscription, I had secured a fingerprint test kit, and had fingerprint records of all the kids in the neighborhood. I quickly went to work to absolve the neighborhood kids from the false accusation.

There was just one problem: everywhere I dusted, the fingerprints of one kid kept appearing. I confronted him, in private, but he stoutly denied any wrongdoing. After all, hadn’t the MX been recently spotted near the warehouse? And he was right, of course.

Even today, I just know that the MX lies behind all our problems.
(Perv With A Dog had his eyes pecked out by scrub jays on, Mon 31 Aug 2009, 23:28, 1 reply)

And he would have gotten away with it...
...if it weren't for you pesky kids!
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Tue 1 Sep 2009, 4:31, closed)