Very unreasonably, his intelligence told him, he began to think how horrible it would be if anything happened now, so near the end of the journey. He kept the worst of his fears at bay for a while, hoping desperately that the lights of the city would soon reappear.
Arthur C. Clarke, A Walk in the Dark, Thrilling Wonder Stories, August 1950
I'm currently in the middle of a five-day visit to Palm Desert with my girlfriend Karli and her squad in order to celebrate her birthday. Sadly, as sometimes happens during this sort of trip, I woke up at 3:00 AM feeling a bit under the weather - the result of a little too much alcohol* and a few too many nachos.
Fortunately, experience has taught me a very simple cure for the times when I feel like this: go for a long walk, preferably in cold weather. So I quietly climbed out of bed, dressed, made my way down the hallway, and crept out the front door into the chilly desert night.
An hour long tour of El Paseo Drive left me feeling much better, and I decided it was time to go back to bed before Karli started to worry.
However, Palm Desert is one of those towns which doesn't really see a lot of pedestrians, and as such the city fathers haven't invested too much of their budget in street lighting. It's rare that any city street is completely black, but once off the main thoroughfares of Palm Desert, it was certainly dark enough to make it difficult to navigate.
As I made my way down the unlit street to the rental home, I was unfortunately reminded of a short story by Arthur C. Clarke in which a lone traveller is attempting to make his way on foot through the night to the planet's spaceport, only to have his flashlight stop working. Forced to proceed in pitch black conditions, he is unable to stop thinking about the stories that the colonists had told him regarding a mysterious creature that prowls the region around the colony - a creature unseen by human eyes, but whose presence is hinted at by evidence such as rocks scarred as if by the sharpening of gigantic claws or talons.
He finally reaches a point where he can see the lights of the port, with just a small detour back into the night before he reaches his destination. Relieved, and a little embarrassed by his fears, he confidently walks down in the dark valley that will take him out of the light.
Only to hear the rattle of monstrous claws in the darkness ahead of him.
Trust me, these are the moments when I wish I had less of a memory for science fiction plot lines.
- Sid
* It doesn't take a lot of alcohol for this to happen to me - or to most
of my siblings. Apparently it has something to do with liver functions
and our ability to metabolize alcohol.
