Kaiden wiped his face with his sleeve as he stepped under an awning and out of the rain. The sky had been blue and cloudless this afternoon, but the low, heavy clouds that now covered the city were as black and malevolent as smoke from a burning mountain of coal. Couldn't predict the weather an… Continue reading What Came Next
Tag: Climate Change
Butterfly
Dean stared at his hands through the plastic of the facemask, the now-empty syringe in the turmeric-colored dirt beside him, discarded, and he wondered with awe and terror what might become of him. A breeze rustled the black star-shaped leaves of the tree he sat under, and it sent a shiver up his spine. This… Continue reading Butterfly
Appraisal
The waiting room must have been 100°, and it was only the middle of springtime. It didn't bode well for the summer fires. There was a clean little stand with hot coffee, and hot tea. Inconvenient, but fiscally responsible, he thought. Who could afford to give away water these days? So showy. He dabbed his… Continue reading Appraisal
From the Garden
At 12 years old, Liam felt older than his parents. The other kids at school had the same feeling. Reality was right here, right now, all around them. But the only thing the grown-ups had any interest in was a fantasy of the past. Earth. Climate change. The draft. So what? The future was at… Continue reading From the Garden
Invisible Ladder
Kendi's feet hurt. It was an unseasonably cold September—record-breaking, as it seemed every September had been all her life—but her toes were especially frigid. She put thermal gel in her thick socks, but nothing seemed to help. As many pregnant women did these days, she tried to focus on her work. But unlike them, she… Continue reading Invisible Ladder
Beachfront Property 2105
Meera rested her forehead against the see-through paneling of the transport drone, daydreaming aimlessly until she saw the checkered orange balloon appear in the sky ahead. She was nearly home. It had been an especially bad season—four category-fives plus a minor earthquake caused by the erosion the hurricanes brought with them. But there was her… Continue reading Beachfront Property 2105
Green Bombs
"Officials in the EU today confirmed that the port town of Vidin, Bulgaria is the latest in a string of recent cities to mandate evacuations after the explosion of a suspected dirty bomb. Over the last 19 days, similar devices have been detonated in: Kanpur, India; Belém, Brazil; and Ningbo, China. While no one has… Continue reading Green Bombs
Orla and the Elm
When Orla was nine, her teacher took her class to the Museum of Environmental History to see a real tree. It was an elm. The museum's atrium was built around it, with the roots and soil just inches below visitors' feet under double paned glass. When Orla saw the tree she was overcome by an… Continue reading Orla and the Elm
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