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Aerial mystery

on the evening of April 30th, while sitting outside at Barca, my companion and I noticed a mysterious object in the sky.  It glowed, it swang, it sparkled a little bit.  Being out of beer, but drunk enough to imagine we had seen a UFO, or at least a weather balloon, we decided to walk into nearby Cal Anderson park and see if getting out of the bright lights would afford us a better view. 

We walked to the fountain, which was the darkest part of the park, and looked to the sky.  The object, which from Barca had seemed so far away, was closer than we thought.  Clearly we had walked too far and started walking again south, keeping an eye on it.  The shape, which had been so amorphous previously resolved enough for us to guess we were seeing a kite.  Very shortly after that, we saw the kite string wrapped around one of the giant light poles by the playing field.  The lights were on full blast and illuminated the string which seemed to jet off west toward the funeral home.  We pursued.  We lost sight of the string at Broadway. 

We crossed Broadway and while we were trying to again sight the string, a couple walking their dogs told us that they too had seen the kite and in fact the end of the string was sourced in the parking lot just north of SCCC.  They pointed.  We, in disbelief, walked to where they were pointing and indeed the string terminated there, tied unceremoniously to a bush.  We walked back out to Broadway and looking across saw another couple also looking skyward.  We crossed the street and asked if they were looking for the kite.  They were and we told them about the bush in the parking lot, then headed back into Cal Anderson park to see if we could locate it again. 

My companion was considering various scientific experiments which we might conduct.  A protractor was mentioned and I thought we might be able to buy one at Value Village which was still open.  As we entered the park we caught site of the kite, now much lower in the sky.  It was swooping to the east, and as my observant companion noted, the lights over the playing field were off and the kite, once buoyed by the warm air he surmised, was, in his unminced words, going to come down.  It flew out of sight to the east and we crossed the street and headed up to 12th ave, but could not locate sight of it. 

We went back to the park and returned to the light pole the string had been wrapped around and with very little light left, since the playing field lights had been turned off, tried to locate the string again.  We followed the string to a phone booth on the eastern edge of the park and, strangely, the string, in our brief absence had been wrapped (by somebody ?) around the receiver of the phone booth.  The kite was now landed and was laying out in the field.  We approached with caution, wondering if the kite string had crossed any electrical wires and might ,in the moist night air, be carrying a charge.  My companion took pictures and then in a moment of daring we decided to cut the kite string with the only tool either of us was carrying… my apartment key.  My companion rolled the kite up and we went to the Online Coffee Company on 13th and Pike to post this message.  Photos to come.  (no Bluetooth, Online Coffee Company?)

The owner of this kite has been determined by your crack investigators to be very frugal.  There were several knots in the line, indicating field repairs.  If the owner of this kite would like his vessel back, please post a description of the kite and a way to contact you. Also, kite flyer, we’re very curious about where and when you launched this kite.

To the other couples we met, we appreciated having shared the adventure with you.

To the person or persons who wrapped the string around the telephone receiver, we have a number of questions.  First… why?

Thank you for reading.

Yours in mystery,

the kite chasers of Capitol Hill

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mattw
mattw
14 years ago

kites

juju and owen
juju and owen
14 years ago

Walking through Cal Anderson with a couple friends between 9:30 and 10pm (I think).

We saw two people with dogs staring up at the sky and looked up too. Thought it was just a plane, but it moved differently. Freaked out for a bit then we all collectively figured it out.

Weird!

jseattle
jseattle
14 years ago

Tonight’s free Cabiri event in the park should be pretty cool way to kick off a beautiful night
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2009/04/27/amazing-soundin