Have you ever had one of those Mike Ferris moments? I had one of those today and it creeped me out. As it always does."Who the hell is Mike Ferris?" you ask. Well, Mike Ferris is an astronaut. No, not a real astronaut... but he played one on TV. More specifically, he played one in the pilot episode of The Twilight Zone. Which just happens to be my favorite episode.
Mike Ferris, played by Earl Holliman, finds himself on a deserted road with no one in sight. He has no idea who he is or where he is. He starts walking and stumbles upon a diner, he starts yelling in hopes of someone answering but no one does. He keeps walking a finds a small town, he checks the buildings but no one is around. He thinks he spots someone in a truck but it turns out to be a mannequin in front of a mannequin shop. The phone in the phone booth in the middle of the town square starts ringing; he runs to answer it but no one is there. He tries to contact the operator but it is only a recording.
He then searches the police station, wandering through the jail cells, and an ice cream parlor, where he sees a book called "The Last Man on Earth". Finally he visits the movie theatre that is playing a film reel about joining the Air Force, where he realizes he might me a pilot. After running out of the theater he trips over a bicycle, only to come face-to-face with a giant eye painted on the optometrist's shop window. At which point he cracks; running over to the crosswalk, he begin to repeatedly push the walk-button crying, “somebody help me, somebody's looking at me, help me, help me, help me.”
It’s then that you learn he is being watched. Several military officers are sitting in a room viewing the man in a small isolation chamber repeatedly pushing a panic button. The man had been in the chamber for 484 hours as a part of a secret Air Force operation meant to simulate the isolation felt on a solo trip to the moon.
There are moments in life I feel like Mike Ferris. Driving down the street when no one is around; no cars, no people, no sign of life. In that split second before a car drives by or a dog barks I wonder, “Is everyone gone?” And I get a bit panicky.
For those of you thinking “what a wuss”, you have no idea. You are both right and a punk.
Today I had a variation of a Ferris moment. I pulled into the parking lot at work, parked my scooter, and began to pull of my helmet when I thought I heard music. At first I thought it was my cell phone, but when I took my helmet off I realized it wasn’t my cell phone… it was a bagpipe.
I quickly spin around to see what the hell is going on. There is an honest to god bagpipe being played in the parking lot; only I can’t see it. No matter how hard I look I can’t find it. Not only that, I seem to be the only one who can hear it. There was easily 20 people scattered around the parking lot, and another 20 or so walking in different groups up and down the side walk… none of them seemed to hear it. No heads were turning and no one was asking, “What is that?”.
Now I hear things sometimes that I question are there but I swear to god this was real. Someone was having bagpipe practice on their lunch break in the parking lot.
As I walked the path to the building I could still hear it… mocking me in all of its Highland glory. I kept stealing glances around to try to find it but my efforts were in vain. I am concerned for my mental health.
Where’s the panic button!?
4 comments:
That episode is second only to the doll that "wants to kill you" episode...creepy. Anyway, you heard a cell phone. There's a popular cell phone ring that is bagpipes doing that main bagpipey song one always associates with bagpipes.
No! It was actual bagpipes. The piper was stopping, starting, replaying parts. It was coming from the back corner of the lot, echoing. I could hear it from over 150 yards away.
That's no cell phone.
uh huh. whatever nutso.
It was me Amy.
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