When I was the only person in the room who hadn’t been abducted by aliens

By Stuart Conway

Not the kind of topic I post about, but this article reminded me of my vicarious flirtation with alien abduction.

I was introduced to John Mack when I was a graduate student (circa 2000) and we got to having coffee every few weeks. He invited me to his house in Harvard Square for a party one evening. Being a penniless graduate student, I went for the food as well as the company.

The people at the party were nice. I was struck by the diversity of the crowd - from blue collar professionals to a couple of drop-dead gorgeous women who introduced themselves as Hollywoodies.

I had never seen such an assortment of people in one room. The conversations at the party meandered from topic to topic though they always came back to abduction by aliens. That's when I realized I was the only person in the house who hadn't been abducted by aliens. Didn't change my impression of anyone in the room, but I wondered why I was invited.

Still do.

John Mack was a good man, and a real pity his life was cut short by a drunk driver in London.