Free The Reality Conspiracy by Joseph A. Citro Page B

children saw a lady who was described as having an angular face, long fingers, and a vaguely oriental cast to her features: these are the classic features of many so-called UFO occupants. Evidently our mystery woman's appearance was sufficiently otherworldly so the little Catholic kids thought they were seeing the Virgin.
    "Most of the seventy thousand witnesses who assembled in that field called Cova da Iria in Fatima saw a large pearly disk come spinning down through the clouds. They thought the sun was falling. It was raining that day, but the disk was radiating so much heat that people's clothing dried instantly. It was that same radiation—infrared, I suppose—that cured ailing people with diseases like arthritis, and—"
    "So what appeared? What did they see?"
    "That depends. The people who were at a great distance saw only a ball of light. The people who were closest to the light had the richest images and experiences. If they were of one religious persuasion, they'd see Joseph, or an angel, or whatever. If they were of another persuasion, they'd see Jesus, or Mary, or—"
    "Didn't anyone take pictures?"
    "Sure. Lots of movie and still photographers were on the scene, but by and large cameras only recorded a ball of light. Later, many but not all of the photographs and movies were collected by the Catholic Church during an investigation some thirteen years after the fact. Man, I'd love to see that stuff, wouldn't you? I guess it's all stashed away in some vault deep within the bowels of the Vatican. I know they've never released it. They're more into secrecy than any government."
    Karen listened attentively, her sense of fascination growing rapidly. "Wasn't there something about a prediction?" she asked. "I seem to recall—"
    "That's right. This mysterious lady—whoever she was—told the children many things. She foretold the end of the war, and—in its own way a little more scary—she predicted that two of the children would die soon. And they did. Weird, huh? But supposedly there was a written prediction. I bet that's the one you're thinking of. It was sealed in an envelope and locked up in some safe in the Vatican."
    "What did it say?"
    Jeff shrugged. "I really don't know. In 1960, Pope John XXIII opened the prophesy, but then, for some reason, he chose not to make it public."
    "Gee," said Karen, "censoring the word of God. Why would he do that? What do you suppose it said?"
    "I have no idea. To explain the pope's behavior, I suspect the prediction relates to one of three general areas: first, it might have been a prediction about the end of the world, with zero hope of redemption. That kind of news would do very little to promote the domestic tranquility."
    "And second . . ."
    "The envelope's contents may somehow have suggested that the miracle at Fatima was a hoax, or a mistake, or something other than what it appeared to be. Discovering their miracle was some cosmic April Fools' joke would be bad news for the Catholic Church. Especially after they—in their infinite wisdom—had gone through all the trouble and expense of investigating the event and granting it miracle status. You know how those Catholics hate to admit it when they're wrong about something . . ."
    "And third?"
    "Third?" Jeff took the last sip of his wine, and tried to pour more from the empty bottle. "Third is a tough one to figure. There just might have been something written in that envelope that would negate, or redefine, every religious concept that we as a race have embraced for the last two thousand or more years. In fact, there might have been something that would change our whole concept of reality."'

The Secret Birthday Wish
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    St. Albans, Vermont
    I t was Edmund Washburn's birthday, but he was too tired to celebrate. All day, as his fatigue grew, he became more and more convinced something was about to go wrong.
    Now, driving home from work, he wondered what "something" would be.
    Hope Lucy's