もうすぐ夏が来ますね。今年はCOVID-19禍で、新緑の季節を楽しむことができず、夏もどこまで遊びに出られるかは不確実ですが。
先日、MXテレビのバラいろダンディを見ていたら、自衛隊に宇宙作戦隊なるものを発足させる、との話題。確かに地球の国家間の侵略や国防も宇宙が舞台になってきているので、さもありなん、とも思い、UFOや宇宙人との遭遇はあるのかなあ、と思ったり。
それにしても、ネーミングがファンタジー過ぎて円谷英二さんも尻尾を巻くのではないか、と微笑みつつ。
夏を前にした私の、徒然なるままの、心に、ある思い出が浮かんできた。いや、これは夏に必ず思い出すのだけど。
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私は、夏の夜、宇宙人に会って、目と目と見つめあったことがあるのです
もう、数十年も前の夏の寝苦しい夜のこと27歳くらいだったかなあ。
鎌倉は海に近い由比ヶ浜のアパートの1階に住んでいました。
夏の夜、何時だったか時刻まではわからないのですが、だいぶ深い夜だったことは間違いありません。ベッドは窓際に置いていて、その夜も暑くてカーテンだけ閉めて窓は開けて寝ていました。
ふと、窓の外に何か気配を感じて（とはいえ恐ろしい感じはしなかったのですが）、カーテンをサッと横に開くとそこに宇宙人がいました。
白い人形をした気配の集まりのような状態で、目のところだけが黒く闇をたたえていました。
私たちは目線が合ってしまい（宇宙人の目は黒い何もない空間のようなものだったのですが、私は目が合っているように感じました）、お互いびっくりしたのとも違い、よく道で人と行き交うときに同じ方向に避けてしまい、ぶつかりそうになる、そんな感じで、しばらく目と目を合わせたままでした。
僕は、この宇宙人は少年だ、と直感しました。
「どこからきたの？ 少し話そうよ」少し落ち着いた僕は、コンタクトを取ろうとしましたが、反応は無かったように覚えています。
その時間は長かったのか短かったのか。数秒だったかもしれないし、数十分だったかもしれません。が、フッと、私たちの間に走っていた緊張感が緩み、その宇宙人はスーッと消えていきました。私も、改めてカーテンを閉めて寝てしまいました。
あれは間違いなく、宇宙人だったと確信
未知との遭遇を果たした朝、僕はいつものように由比ヶ浜のビーチまで散歩に出ました。
砂浜に4つの丸い、直径40㎝くらい、深さ50cmくらいの穴が開いていました。
私は間違いなく、あの宇宙人を乗せてきた宇宙船の脚の痕だと思い、写真を撮ろうと急いでアパートまで戻りました。
走れば5分。往復10分。カメラを探すのに10分くらいかかってしまって、浜に戻ってきた時は、もう、4つの跡は満ちてきた波にちょうど流された後でした。（当時はスマートフォンはもちろん、携帯電話もない時代ですから）
あの時から30年以上経ったけど、また会いたいなぁ。元気かなぁ。
Summer is coming soon, isn't it? This year, due to the COVID-19 disaster, I was not able to enjoy the new green season, and it is uncertain how far I will be able to go out to play in the summer.
The other day, I was watching MX TV's "Bara-iro Dandy", and they were talking about launching a space operation team in the Self-Defense Forces. It's true that the invasion between the nations of the earth and the national defense of the earth have been set in space, so I thought it was possible, and I wondered if there would be encounters with UFOs and aliens.
By the way, the naming is too fantastical for Eiji Tsuburaya, and he smiles, wondering if he's going to turn his tail.
A memory came to my mind in my idle mind before the summer. No, this is something I am sure to be reminded of in the summer.
I once met an alien on a summer night and stared at each other eye to eye!
I was about 27 years old on a sleepless summer night several decades ago.
Kamakura lived on the first floor of an apartment in Yuigahama, near the sea.
I don't know what time it was on a summer night, but I'm sure it was a very deep night. I kept my bed by the window, and it was hot that night too, so I slept with only the curtains closed and the window open.
Suddenly, I felt something outside the window (though it didn't feel horrible), and when I opened the curtain to the side, there was an alien there.
It was like a collection of white doll-like signs, and only the eyes were black with a glow of darkness.
We ended up eye leveling each other (the alien's eyes were like black nothingness in space, but I felt like we were eye leveling each other), and unlike both of us who were surprised, we often avoided each other in the same direction when passing people on the street and almost bumped into each other, or something like that, so we stayed eye to eye for a while.
I had a gut feeling that this alien was a boy.
Where did you come from? Let's talk for a minute," I said as I calmed down a bit and tried to make contact, but I don't remember getting a response.
Was that time long or short? It could have been seconds, it could have been tens of minutes. But with a huff, the tension that had been running between us loosened and the alien swooned away. I, too, fell asleep with the curtains closed again.
I'm pretty sure it was an alien.
On the morning of my encounter with the unknown, I went for a walk to the beach at Yuigahama, as I always do.
There were four round holes in the sand, about 40 cm in diameter and 50 cm deep.
I hurried back to my apartment to take a picture, thinking that it was definitely the leg marks of the spaceship that brought that alien aboard.
It's a 5 minute run. 10 minutes round trip. It took me about 10 minutes to find my camera, and by the time I got back to the beach, it was already after the four marks had just been washed away by the filling waves. (In those days, there were no cell phones, let alone smart phones.)
It's been over 30 years since that time, but I'd love to see you again. How are you doing?