general weirdness

A clean-cut young man and woman rang my doorbell a few minutes ago.
Cautiously, I opened the door just wide enough to look out. They
appeared to be in their early 20s and middle-class -- he was
attractive, but not attractive enough to make me open the door wider.

They weren't carrying anything, so I thought their car might have
broken down. Nope -- the girl wanted to know the time. I closed the
door, glanced at the time display on the cable box, then stuck my head
out to tell her.

I really didn't think anyone would bother to knock on an apartment
door just to learn the time. Yet they didn't seem eager to give a
sales pitch. After a few seconds, she revealed the reason for their
visit: Would I be interested in a contest? No, not really. Pulling out
a laminated color postcard, she said they had to tell 500 people about
the contest. No, not interested. I didn't even allow her the chance of
handing the laminated card to me.

I fear it was one of those deals where some kids had gotten roped into
a "summer job" that didn't live up to its billing. But if they were
casing apartments, I'm fairly sure they didn't notice anything that
would lure them back when I'm away. ("Did you notice ... on his wall?"
"Yes! A rare autographed photo of David Alan Basche!")

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

.... A few days later he answered a knock on his door and was surprised
to see a Gypsy lady standing there. ... "I have traveled a long way,"
she said in a low, accented voice. ... "I have traveled a long way" is
an old Masonic pass phrase and is frequently used in
[extraterrestrial] contacts. Sometimes the simple phrase, "What time
is it?" or "What is _your_ time?" is substituted. ...
--"Our Haunted Planet," John A. Keel, p. 109, Fawcett Publications,
1971.
.

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