In the late 1950's, when I was from five to ten years old, I played outside alone or with my friends, and we had full run of Blaine, Washington, population then around a thousand. We'd explore downtown, the waterfront, Peace Arch Park, the gravel pit, H Street hill, the gulleys, whatever.
One of my friends and I were somewhere between downtown and my house on 4th Street, when I happened to look up and see many hundreds of flying saucers coming toward us! We were scared and excited and wondering what to do. Should we run for the police? Or should we hide? We ended up just gazing at the alien attack, as the UFO's got closer and closer, spreading out over most the town.
But the nearer they got, the more I realized that the flying saucers were little. Maybe they were filled with tiny people like Sammi from Mars in the Tubby comic books, and they could be our secret friends! But even before one landed in the middle of the street in front of us, I realized they were just paper plates! Several landed within view, and we scrambled to pick them up. And on each one was an advertisement for something free at a local store! They had been dropped by an airplane. My friend and I had a great day, going around to the various stores to trade in our flying saucers.
They don't do that anymore. Nowadays the pilot would be cited and fined for littering. Kids don't have a free run of towns anymore either, nor do they play outside. I miss those happy times, when people were more carefree, and before the media scared the bejesus out of you.
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