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Lightning

Unsettled by the sudden storm, Dan sat down at his desk and picked up the phone. Checking his address book, he dialed Steve Shombert over at channel 12 news. "Steve, it's Dan over at P.D. Listen, did your weather guys pick up anything strange yesterday or today? Sudden lightning storms, anything like that?" After thinking for a moment, Steve said, "No, nothing they went on the air with. Why? What's up?" Dan was slightly perturbed at the answer, "Ah, nothing. Could you just have one of the meteorologists call me as soon as they can?" "Sure thing." Steve shot back, "By the way, do you want to comment officially on the UFO story?" "What are you talking about?" Dan asked, annoyed and confused.

Steve laughed, "Some old Mexican guy was cutting grass out in the suburbs, and the next thing you know, he's running out into the middle of the street all bloodied up and screaming. He doesn't speak much English, but from what we can tell, he says the devil materialized right in front of him and tried to bite his face off. It mangled up his hands and arms pretty good, and even took off half of his feet. Now his family is saying that it was something from another world." Steve said, still chuckling. "He probably just got drunk and fell on his lawnmower." Dan wasn't amused. "No, no comment on that one Steve. Just have the weather guy call me." "Sure thing buddy." Steve shot back. Before he hung up, Dan had a thought. "Where's the Mexican now?" he asked. "Memorial Hospital I think. Let me know if it turns into anything, Huh?" Dan wrote some notes down and replied, "You got it." and hung up.

Half an hour later, Dan was thumbing through witness reports when his phone rang. It was the meteorologist from channel 12. "Yes, Hi. Thanks for calling me back. Listen, we had some witnesses at a crime scene report a sudden storm and lightning yesterday about 3 p.m. Did you guys detect anything in the area?" They hadn't. No rain showers anywhere in the area. Dan's mind started clicking. Rain showers. No one had reported rain. Just clouds and the thunder clap.

Suddenly, Dan asked, "Is there anything that is commonly mistaken for thunder or lightning?" The meteorologist began a textbook explanation of lightning. "Any large electrical discharge usually. What actually causes the thunder clap is the electricity pushing the air out of the way." He continued, "The spark of electricity is about four inches in diameter on average, and it appears almost instantly, and pushes the air out of the way. It disappears just as quickly and the air rushes back in to fill the space. This causes a shock wave or sound wave that we hear as thunder." Dan's mind was clicking again.  The Mexican had said the devil appeared suddenly in front of him. The victim yesterday, something had just exploded in front of him. "Detective?" the meteorologist said after a moment. "Thank you very much" Dan said finally. "You've been a big help."

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