Publisher's Synopsis
Following the rain the night before, Mac Brazel on horseback in his usual routine inspects the pastures surrounding the ranch house. Riding with him is the young son of neighbors, William D. (sometimes Timothy) "Dee" Proctor, age 7. During the inspection, Brazel discovers a large debris field. Scattered on the slopes and into the sinkhole and depressions are metal, plastic-like beams, pieces of lightweight material, foil, and string. The debris is thick enough that the sheep refuse to cross the field and are driven around it to water more than a mile away. Brazel takes a few scraps of the material and heads to the home of his closest neighbors, Floyd and Loretta Proctor (the parents of Dee Procter). He shows them "a little sliver" of material that he can neither cut nor burn. He tells his neighbors about other material on his property including what looked like aluminum foil saying it was very flexible and wouldn't crush or burn either. The material was later tagged "Memory Foil" because when crumpled it would straighten out, not stay creased, and somehow open out to its original shape as though it had a memory. The Proctors suggest he take some of it into town to show the sheriff. Brazel goes into the little town of Corona to do some shopping and visits Wade's Bar and pool hall. There for the first time, he hears stories about the recent flying saucer sightings in Washington state and about an eyewitness account by a man that came through town that was run off the road by 2 flying discs in Arizona a few days before. After returning to the ranch later that evening, Brazel removes the largest piece of debris from the ranch property he could find, reportedly about 4 feet long by 3 feet wide by 1 foot thick and "as light as a feather." Brazel loads it into his truck, storing it in a livestock shed (sometimes described as a "barn") some distance north of the crash site.
