We walked half a block over to the vocational school next to our old grade school, and stood there, discussing aviation and rockets - our favorite topics.

There had been an Air Force F-84 Thunderjet parked in front of the vocational school for a few years. The school had removed the engine and taken it inside to be used in training jet engine mechanics, but the plane remained out front as an advertisement for the school.

Eventually, someone must have gotten nervous about the possibility that someone might hurt himself on it, and the jet was towed away. So that's where LB and I liked to stand and talk: it was near the spot where the F-84 used to be.

It was now around 10:15pm. LB and I had been talking and trying to keep warm for about 15 minutes. The conversation felt like it was winding down, which was fine with me: The temperature must have been around 20 degrees outside.

Suddenly, while LB was saying something, I saw a fantastic sight!

A huge, silvery craft suddenly plunged out of the night sky, rapidly gliding down an imaginary slope as if it were on invisible railroad tracks.

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