Deborah's Disappearance

Our House on Twelfth Street in Medicine Hat
The house we were living in at the time of this incident.

This incident occurred sometime around 1965 when my youngest sister Deborah was about three years old. This happened in the summertime. At that time, my mother always insisted that Deborah have an afternoon nap. One day, she went into my sister’s bedroom and saw that Deborah was not there. She called through the house looking for her, but there was no answer. My mother panicked, thinking that Deborah had wandered away. She sent all of us out looking for her. All my brothers and sisters went up and down the streets calling for her. I had the idea that she must be under her bed. I don’t know why I felt this to be true, but I talked to my older brothers, and they agreed that we should look there. By this time, my mother was very distraught and in quite a panic and it was very hard for my brother to convince her she should let him in the house so he could look under her bed.

As it turned out, that is exactly where she was. There are a few things that seem strange to me about this. How could my sister sleep through all the shouting and screaming that was happening in the house at the time? Why did my sister crawl under the bed and fall asleep there?

Deborah and Michael Heath
This picture was taken about the time of the incident.

My sister’s own recollection was that she had felt very sleepy when she crawled under the bed, and had no idea why she did it. Something about the incident always made me think about Barry’s disappearance and I wondered if it was possible that the aliens put my sister under the bed in order to provide a rational alibi for her disappearance. I acknowledge this is speculation, but sometimes I just wonder if it might be true.