Just for fun.... a story I wrote in Nov. 2006

Alien Sock Robbers

I have spent time knitting my own socks this summer. I bought some expensive skeins of yarn, which brand is named after an expensive gem stone. I found myself the right size of DPN’s (that is Double Pointed Needles) and started to knit. Two evenings later I had a sizzling pair of socks, in a wonderful variegated colour combination.

I did not dare to wear them, being proud of my achievement. Still, on a rainy August day – you’d better say that the gates of heaven were opened and floods of cold water were dropped over me. Within two minutes I soaked in my shoes, and my new socks took in all the water that wool could take up. In Dutch we would say we were swimming in our shoes…literally.

I came home after a day of hard work, totally cold and stiff. My poor socks disappeared in the laundry machine, with the rest of the wet stuff, and I went up to get a shower, as my daughter put the machine on. I was tired and did not even care for a minute what she did… but was thankful that she helped me.

Two days later I checked on my socks. I had been looking into the clean pile of laundry and just found one sock. The second one was gone. I searched everywhere without a positive result. I could not walk on one sock. But I sure was curious at what had happened to the first one. So I went to Rotterdam and bought myself a small waterproof camera that I hid between laundries that needed to be washed. And as the cost of energy is lower when the machine is used in the evening and night hours, I put the machine on, just before I went to bed.

I also installed an extra camera in the kitchen, just to in case.

Sound asleep I did not notice what happened around two, but the cameras registered everything. A light, as bright as the sun lightened up the kitchen. All of a sudden, an entity came through the wall. Its eyes were hollow and the pale skin reminded me of the Asgard people that I had seen in the Stargate series. It opened the washing machine, which was ready and it took out my single knitted sock. A small smile appeared when he put it on his foot… as his second foot already wore my first sock. A message was left behind on top of my washing machine. Then he left, and the light disappeared.

Early in the morning I had to wake up as my husband had to go to work. He opened the washing machine and took out the camera. The information of the second camera was downloaded in the computer and he added the images of the first camera to the computer as well. We sat down and watched the Alien Sock Robber do his work. We also saw him write the note and in our own language we heard him say: “Thank you for making these wonderful foot warmers. On our planet, way past Pluto and Cheiron, which you only can see when you watch the stars, we need them badly as they keep our feet warm. Especially as your street is named after Venus, we thought you could spare a pair for us. You are lucky with that thin thread and these long sticks that you use to create these foot warmers with. You can make new ones again. Thank you so much!”

I sighed. My husband did the same. “No one will believe us”, he said. “So we’ll keep this to ourselves.”

I agreed with him. In the time he checked his email, I knitted the first row of a new sock pair.
“Come and get it, when ready huh!” I said. And then I saw a flash disappear in the sky, knowing they would be back to get the socks when they needed new ones.

© Bianca 13-11-2006