Driving along Alderson toward Richmond yesterday after work, I spotted something strange and unusual. A high school student was standing on the side of the road wearing a tin foil hat, holding a sign proclaiming "The aliens are coming," and shouting things I couldn’t hear or understand.
I didn’t know whether he had lost a bet, was participating in some sort of sociology project, was a believer, or was just bored. My curiosity got the best of me, and I circled back around.
Turns out, he was bored. Tex Cunningham, a sophomore at Woodrow Wilson High School, was waiting for a friend at her house, and combing through her pantry in the meantime. When he found aluminum foil, he decided to put on a show. (I asked him if he is involved in Woodrow’s theater program; not surprisingly, the answer was yes.) He had been standing on the corner for 30 minutes shouting his news and holding the sign, and told me most cars had stopped to talk, as well as passersby on foot. He explained to them that aliens were invading through internet technology, like MySpace, and most of his audience was "older women" who, according to Tex, believed him.
When they asked him how he knew aliens were invading, Tex’s response was, "I just know." Apparently, that was a good enough answer — or they simply decided he was a quack or a silly high school kid and went on their way.
