The dark Montana hotel room was bathed in an eerie green and blue glow. Light shadows danced around the room as the glow surrounded objects in its path. Kid Curry awoke to silence and a feeling of something strange. He lay and watched, almost hypnotized, by the turquoise shadows waving across the room's door and walls like moonlight on water. Realization then set in that there were no lamps lit, and even if there had of been, they wouldn't be glowing green. He quietly raised up on his elbows and looked over at the bed his cousin was supposed to be occupying. It was empty, but Heyes had been in bed at some point because the quilt and sheet were thrown back diagonally. He glanced quickly around the room looking for his partner. After a couple of seconds, he located him. "What are you doing, Heyes?" he asked sleepily.
Hannibal Heyes stood still at the window, holding back one side of the curtains, gazing out into the night. Softly, he spoke, with a small hint of sadness in his voice. "C'mere, Kid. Look at this."
Curry got out of bed, rubbing down some unruly curls, as he made his way to the window. "What is it?"
"Look," Heyes whispered as he pointed outside toward the sky.
Kid peeled back the other side of the curtain from the window and was instantly awed at what he saw. The sky above the dark little town was filled with what seemed like fluttering walls of delicate, shimmering, green and blue lights. Ever so often, a wisp of orange or red would glide through the lights and then transform into hues of yellow or purple as they seemed to reach all the way up into the Heavens. Curry was silent as he watched the cosmic show glow in varying degrees of brightness.
"Remember the last time we saw something like this?" Heyes asked quietly.
"Yeah, a little. The memory is a little fuzzy though," came the soft reply.
Heyes could feel water wanting to fill his brown eyes as he whispered, barely audible, "I remember..."
oooooasjooooo
September 2, 1859
1:30 am
"Han,...Hannibal, wake up and come down here," Michael Heyes called up to his son.
An eight-year-old dark head looked out of the dark loft. "I'm telling you, Pa, I don't know what happened to the last of the cookies," a mouth being wiped free of crumbs said.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you don't," Michael murmured, then louder, "Just get dressed and come down here."
"'Kay, Pa."
"What's going on? Why are you calling for Hannibal? Where's that strange light coming from?" Keara Heyes walked out of their bedroom tightening her robe. "Why are you dressed?"
"Go put your overcoat on, honey. I want to show you and Hannibal something special."
Keara turned and went to retrieve her coat at the same time Hannibal came practically sliding down the ladder that reached to the loft. Something outside the window immediately caught his attention. "What's that green glow out there, Pa?"
"That's what I want to show you as soon as your mother puts on her overcoat so she'll look decent outside."
Keara returned from the bedroom, her overcoat pulled around her and buttoned. "Michael, why are you even up at this time of night?"
"I was sitting at the table thinking and trying to plan out the harvest this year. Then, that green glow caught my attention. C'mon outside."
Michael opened the front door and Hannibal ran out first. As soon as he jumped off the porch, he stopped dead in his tracks. The night sky was alive with vertical waving walls of glowing greens and blues, purples and yellows. Hannibal was truly amazed. "Wooow," he whispered quietly, his brown eyes wide in wonder.
He was joined a few seconds later by his mother. She too, was staring up, silent, in awe of the celestial beauty. Her hand went down to rest on Hannibal's shoulder. "Oh my, how beautiful!"
"What's causing that, Pa?"
Michael walked down the steps and stood on the other side of Hannibal, his arm hugged around both his son and his wife. "Those, son, are what are known as the aurora borealis, the northern lights. They're usually just seen way up north near the earth's north pole. You rarely ever see them this far south."
"So what makes 'em?" Hannibal asked, his curious brown eyes still watching the skies.
"Well, some scientists think they're caused by electricity high up in the clouds. I have an old magazine from 1837 saved somewhere that has an article about them if you want to read it."
"Can we get it tonight?"
"Let's save that search for tomorrow, okay?"
"How come we can see 'em here in Kansas tonight?"
"I'm not sure, son. Maybe the paper will have something written about them tomorrow morning."
"Will we ever see them here again?"
"I don't know, Han. Why don't you just enjoy them now and we'll take care of the questions tomorrow."
After a few quiet minutes of watching the atmospheric lights dance across the sky, Hannibal came to a conclusion. "We need to show Jed this!"
Michael smiled. "I thought you might say that, so I've already hitched Maggie up to the wagon."
"Well, let's go before they go away!" Hannibal turned and ran toward the wagon waiting near the house.
"Oh Michael, this is truly wonderful! Thank you for getting us up to see it." Keara hugged her beloved husband. "Every now and then, it's a good thing you don't sleep well." She kissed him on the cheek.
"Well, I DO do my best thinking at night."
"C'mon! Let's go show Jed the lights before they go out! You two can do that nasty kissing later." Hannibal was already seated in the wagon.
"We're coming, son." Michael turned his wife and they walked toward the wagon.
oooooasjooooo
The wagon pulled up in front of the Curry farmhouse just as someone emerged from the door holding a rifle. The Curry dog was barking repeatedly beside one of the wagon wheels, his tail wagging profusely. "Nevermind the dog, I'd be more afraid of the owner if I was you," the voice holding the rifle called out, ignoring the strange glow of the night for the moment.
"It's just us, Sean, don't shoot." Michael held up the small lantern to his face.
Hannibal quickly jumped down, petted the overexcited dog, and pointed up. "Look at the lights, Uncle Sean!"
Sean Curry stepped off his porch. "Ah, is that the northern lights? Pa's told me stories about him seeing them every so often while he was still in Ireland. Never thought I'd get to look at them here."
"Jed needs to see 'em. Can I go wake him up?" Han asked hopefully.
Sean smiled at his anxious nephew. "Why not? And I'll go get the girls up."
Han laughed, ran inside and up the stairs. He burst into Jed's room, waking everyone in there. Jed's hand reached for his slingshot hanging on his bedpost. "Jed, get up!" Jedediah's two brothers kind of groaned when they saw who it was in the dim glow of light.
"Shoulda known it was you. Who else would come into somebody's bedroom in the middle of the night without bein' asked or even knockin'?" the eldest Curry boy said. "You're goin' to be in jail for breakin' and enterin' by the time you're twelve."
Han smiled at him smugly. "They'd have to catch me first. It ain't breaking the law until you get caught. Besides, Uncle Sean let me in." He turned to his younger cousin as Jed laughed. "Never mind that though. Get dressed and come outside! Hurry!" Han exited the room the same way he had entered. Jed jumped out of bed and started pulling his clothes on. His brothers followed suit, although at a slower pace while talking.
"We really need to get Pa to put us a lock on the door."
"Wouldn't matter none. Han would probably learn how to pick it open."
oooooasjooooo
Within a few minutes, the whole Curry family was standing in their yard with the Heyes', watching, fascinated by the ethereal glow of the northern lights. Hannibal was busy pointing out the different colors to Jed as they came and went.
Jed's sister held tightly to her dad's leg, a little scared. "What's it mean, Pa?"
"Nothing baby. God's just puttin' on a light show for us."
She gradually let her hold go until she was standing on her own. "Pa, you think Grandma Curry is watchin' the lights from the other side in Heaven?"
Sean picked her up, hugged her, and held her in his arms. "I'm sure she is sweetie."
She waved at the illuminated night sky before she called out, "Hi, Grandma!" Her Grandpa Curry, standing behind everyone, felt his eyes water as he too, waved, in silence.
Emma Curry decided that they should all just have a picnic of past midnight snacks as they looked on. She went inside, got some quilts, some lemonade, and the cookie jar, then brought them outside. Everyone was mesmerized by the light show until the wee hours of the morning. Han and Jed sat happily side-by-side, between both sets of parents, entranced by the aurora borealis.
oooooasjooooo
Both partners were quiet for a moment. "I didn't remember all of that," Kid finally said softly.
"Well, you were only six." Heyes was silent for another minute, lost in the lights and the glow of memories. "That was a special night. I'll never forget it."
It was a few seconds before Kid spoke once again. "So, do you think it's true?"
"Is what true?"
"What my sister asked that night. You think they're all up there watchin' on the other side of the lights?"
Heyes hesitated before he answered. "I'd like to think so."
The northern lights were starting to fade in intensity and sleepiness was taking hold of Kid. "Me too." He lightly patted his cousin's shoulder before returning to bed.
Heyes watched as Kid lay down with his back to him. His attention then turned back to gaze out the window. With a tear in his eye, he waved up at the embellished atmosphere as he softly whispered, "I miss you."
oooooooooooooooo
A/N - The aurora borealis, or northern lights, are created when solar wind from the Sun interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere. They are predominantly seen in the latitudes near the Earth's north and south poles. A geomagnetic storm, caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun hitting earth, can cause the auroras to appear in lower latitudes. The intensity of the storm determines how far near the equator the lights can be observed.
In 1859, an extremely strong geomagnetic storm known as the 'Carrington Event', collided with Earth's atmosphere. To date, it's known as one of the strongest geomagnetic storms to hit the planet. The northern lights were seen as far south as the Caribbean. They were so bright, miners out west got out of bed to start breakfast because they thought the Sun was rising. In the northeastern United States, it was bright enough to read by without any lamps or candles. Telegraph systems around the world failed as the lines sparked and in some cases, caught fire as the high amount of electricity coursed through them. Some telegraph operators actually received electrical shocks from their equipment and some could still send messages even though their batteries were disconnected.
If a storm of that magnitude hit the Earth today without warning, all of our telecommunication and power grids would fail, probably taking months, even years to get back online.
The magazine article Michael Heyes referenced was "The Aurora Borealis," by "Francis" (from Youth's Magazine, April 14, 1837; pp. 43-45)
Sorry for the long explanation. As you can probably tell, I'm a science freak.