Pod people

I'm a huge fan of 1950s science fiction movies. You know, the ones that are usually in black & white and are maybe "B" movies? However, some rise above the "B" status, and the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of them. I usually watch it on DVD about once a year, in fact I might be due . . . 

SPOILER ALERT

In the movie, aliens take over a California town through the use of "pods," thus the cultural term "pod people." My wife simply can't stand the pods, especially when they start to form humans, and they truly creep her out.

On one of the main roads we travel here in our city is a manufacturing company. This company instituted a new policy a few years ago that forbids smoking anywhere on the company property, which includes the parking lot. So smokers can't just go to their cars and light up.

We were driving by the gigantic parking lot one day right after the new policy went into effect, and there were about a dozen or more people standing on the public sidewalk, smoking. It was a cold, dreary winter day and they were huddled together wearing their heavy coats. Clouds of breath and smoke hovered over their heads.

I quickly said the first thing that came to mind: "Oh, look, it's the pod people!"

My wife laughed so hard . . . it was sure worth it. Now, every time we drive by and see folks on the sidewalk, I'm obliged to say, "Oh, look, it's the pod people!" Works every time.