There are no baby pictures of me.  In fact, as far back as I can remember, I always looked like I do now.  Same height, same weight, asian.  Isn’t that strange?  Not even a Sears baby photo or elementary school snapshot.  Not one.

Last month I went home to celebrate my father’s 75th birthday.  It was an incredibly well-attended event.  Aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends all packed my childhood home in honor of my dad.  At one point in the evening I went down into the basement and down even further into our makeshift wine cellar.  My dad loves wine and had constructed this wine cellar years ago to store his collection.  For some reason he never let me go into it.  But today, being his day, I decided to go into his wine cellar to grab a couple of extra bottles to add to the festive mix.  What I discovered in the wine cellar really frightened me.

My dad really loves Italian wines.  Perhaps it was the time he spent in Italy as a military scientist (or something like that).  I really never knew what my father did for a living.  He was always so tight-lipped about it saying that the top secret nature of his job prevented him from discussing details at home.  Anyway, the cellar was rather cramped because it was so well stocked.  I searched my way through the California wines, past the French and ultimate to the Italian ones.  That’s where I saw something a bit odd.  In the stack of Italian wines was one bottle that looked unusually new.  Perhaps not new but not dusty.  The other bottles above, below, and around it were dusty from storage and time.  But this one was polished at the tip, as if someone had just put it there.  Taking that as a hint, I figure I’d grab that one since maybe my dad had just bought the bottle and was a brand he more commonly drank.  I reached down to grab the bottle but it wouldn’t come out.  I found that a bit strange.  Perhaps it was stuck?  I squatted down to be more level with the bottle and gave it another firm tug.  Ka-chink.  The entire wall holding the Italian wines moved back half a foot and the retracted to the left, revealing a secret room that glowed an iridescent blue.

At first the blue light made it hard for me to focus on the details of the secret chamber.  But when my eyes came to I realized it was a science lab of sorts.  It was the size of a kitchen with all sorts of technology and instruments that I could not recognize.  The thing that really caught my eye was the large glass tube that sat in the middle of the room.  It was about 3 feet high, 2 feet across, and circular in form.  Metal suspension columns bolted to the floor and ceiling held it in place.  Something was in there, floating in a blue fluorescent liquid.  Most of the room’s light emanated from the tube.  What was in there?  When I got closer it became obvious that it was a sphere of sorts.  It was the size of a tennis ball but pulsated as if it were alive.  It just floated in this blue gel, emitting a light that seemed to throb in varying intensity like a beating heart.

“You weren’t supposed to see that.  At least not yet.”  The voice of my father startled me.  I spun around to see my dad standing there with one of those children’s birthday hats strapped to his head.

“What is that, dad?  What is all…this?”

My father stayed silent for a minute.  Finally he smiled and looked me in the eye and said, “It’s you.”

My father’s statement didn’t make any sense.  Was he suggesting that the pulsating sphere was me?

“What do you mean?  What do you mean that thing is me?”

“I can’t really explain it myself.  It’s kinda…out there.”

“Try me, pops.”

“OK.  Let’s see…  You’ve always known that your mom and I couldn’t have children, right?  We tried for years but it just didn’t work out.  You remember that, right?”

“Yeah.”  I really didn’t remember anything but I wanted to keep this conversation moving forward.

“Well, we prayed and hoped for years, looking up into the night sky wishing that somehow things could be different.  We did it every night for 8 years.  It was our ritual of sorts.  Then, one night, when we were looking up in the sky, a falling star came streaking across the heavens.  But instead of crossing past the horizon, this blue sphere came directly towards us.  At us.  And then it just stopped, right between me and your mom and just floated there.”

“You’re joking, right?”  There’s no way this is real.  Gotta be the wine talking.

“No.  Look, you know that I am a man of science so this sort of thing doesn’t really compute with me on a logical level.  So what I am about to tell you, you may find hard to believe.  Sometimes even your mother and I have doubts.  But we were there when it happened.  When you happened…”

At that point I was beyond logic and reason myself.  Was my dad telling me that I wasn’t human?

“You came from the sphere.  The ball of light hovered around us for about 5 minutes.  We could feel it’s bluish glow warming our bodies.  For some reason we were not afraid.  It felt familiar.  Then, all of a sudden, the ball started to brighten.  It’s glow became so intense that we had to shield our eyes from the light.  When our sight came to, there you were.  You were not a baby but a fully grown human, laying on the ground right there beside us, sleeping peacefully.”

“So what you’re saying dad is that I’m a space alien?  Is that what you’re saying?  That I’m not human, I’m not your real son?”

“No.  I’m not saying that at all.  You are my son.  We took the genetic tests.  Your DNA is a perfect blend of your mother and me.  Physically you were a man but mentally you were but an infant.  We had to teach you to eat, walk, talk, read, write, etc.”

“Is that why there are no photos of me as a child, as a baby?”

“Yes.  You were never a baby.  But you are our child, my son.”

“And what of this blue sphere?  What is that?  How can you explain that?  Why is it still here?”

This is where my father fell silent for a long time.  You could tell that even after all these years he is still unable to comprehend everything that has happened.  Finally he took a deep breath and touched my shoulder and smiled.

“I think it’s what science would categorize as a life force.”

“And what would normal people call it?”

“Your soul.  Your spirit.  Creation…”

“You mean God, Allah, Yahweh, that sort of thing?”

My dad very cautiously and slowly uttered, “Yes.”

With that, my father gave me a supportive hug and a pat on the back.  You could tell he wasn’t ready to talk further.

“Heavy stuff, huh?  Just let it be.  For now.  It’s my 75th birthday party today and my birthday wish is to spend it with you and my closest family and friends.”

And that’s how we left it.  15 years ago to this day I was born.  From what and from how I do not know.  Perhaps only time will tell.  At the very least I now know why there are no baby pictures of me.  I’ll let you know when I find out more.