Experience: a meteorite crashed on to my bed

I live in a small town called Golden in a valley between two mountain ranges in Canada. I live alone because I am retired and my dog is Toby. I lead a quiet life.

I went to bed at about 9.30pm on Sunday 3 October last year. I woke up at 11:30 to the sound of Toby barking. It was his bark that got me up. Everything was covered in debris after the explosion.

I was afraid. There was a huge hole in the ceiling. I thought a tree had fallen on the house, but I looked out the window and there was no tree there. I was so angry that I was vibrating. I called the police.

I told the person that something had come through my ceiling, but I had no idea what it was. I went back into the bedroom and put the pillow back on. There was a lump of rock.

The policeman heard an explosion when he arrived. The policeman thought that some workers might have gotten carried away with their explosives after they blasted through the mountains for the Trans-Canada highway. The team was called up by him. They heard a boom after seeing a big light in the sky and hadn't been working with explosives that night.

We looked at the piece of dark black rock, a little bigger than a fist, nestled between the two pillows. It crashed through my roof into my bedroom, right next to where I had been. I began to realize how lucky I was when the policeman left. I wondered if this really happened. I made a tea to calm myself down. I was able to sleep at about 5am.

I didn't think about meteorites much until this happened. In the past I have enjoyed sitting around the fire and looking at the stars. A falling star streaked across the sky. I now know those are very high up. It exploded about 18 km above Earth. You have a one in a trillion chance of being hit by a meteorite.

Things got crazy after my story was in the newspaper. I've received a lot of messages, friend requests, and people wanting interviews. Apparently meteorites such as mine are very valuable because they are intact and uncontaminated by human touch. It is harder for scientists to learn about the places they traveled through because meteorites are found on Earth only after they have been weathered for years. I am fresh from outer space.

I put the meteorite in a plastic bag so that it wouldn't get contaminated. After a few months of research, the University of Western Ontario will give it back. I would like to take the story to local schools and universities.

I fixed the hole in my roof before the rain arrived. My bed is the same as before, and my room is back to normal. I had no lasting effects from the experience. One time an explosion on TV really caught me, but apart from that I feel fine. I want to be more generous to people when I'm still alive. Toby is a good-natured dog, but he has also recovered.

The fuss has made me feel safe. I want to protect this thing that is billions of years old, because I feel like people make money by chopping them into pieces to be sold as jewellery. If I sell it, I want to find a good home for it.

As told to Felix.

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