Scroll down to comment or rave this story!

  • 4 raves

Happy Anniversary 2019

A typical evening dinner from August, short-story style
PJ2019

4 Aug 2019

“Wow. This pasta turned out great! Please, tell me this isn’t bootlegged.”

Matt laughs. “At least, I don’t think it is. I picked it up at the commissary, just like I’ve been doing. State agencies are under pretty tight rules about food sourcing… uhm, honey… didn’t you say you had some veggies?”

“Ohshit.” Of course I spaced it off again. “Lemme run upstairs and check the solar.”

As I bound up the stairway, Matt calls after me: “You know, you don’t have to use that floppy piece of junk anymore. The kitchen range works fine, and it’s not like we’re still on the grid.” He sounds a little hurt. I know how much effort he put into installing the new photovoltaic roof.

“No, it’s not that, I was just feeling nostalgic for ’14.”

Matt groans. “Of all the years I might remotely feel nostalgic about, 2014 is not one of them.” I mean, he has a point… the blackouts, the shortages, the chaos from the collapse of the 710 double-decker (which has yet to be repaired, not that it stands a chance of reclaiming its role as international commercial corridor), the beginnings of what was then optimistically called the Rose Bowl Evacuation Facility… but we have a surprising way of distilling incredible moments when we are stripped of all but the most immediate, emergent concerns. The junky little cardboard-and-foil solar oven that was a personal lark in ’08 turned out to be the foundation of restoring order to our neighborhood in ’14.

And to think, the Signal Hill quake of 2014 wasn’t even the Big One we’re still waiting for.

The oven doesn’t just concentrate solar radiation to a fine point to cook the mélange I often harvest after coursecast… it helps me hone my thoughts when the whole world seems about to scatter. Add the monsoonal humidity on a 106-degree day, and I’m in an open-air 21st-century sweat lodge.

But at this moment, I’ve got a veggie dish comin’ in hot. Matt has followed me up the stairs. “Here, I’ll take it,” he offers, and he relieves me of the dutch oven. He smiles at me, then shuts his eyes in a sort of repentance. He doesn’t want to smile. He feels that he is somehow denying the desperation of the world around us by doing so. I couldn’t disagree more: our extinction will surely follow that of joy’s. Which should be, when, now, 2040-ish? The GEAS backchannel feed has been leaking that they’ve narrowed our expiration date to somewhere between 2040 and 2050, and that they could have it narrowed down to a year by January next year. (I give it October at the latest. I’ve seen the hardware schematics of their number-crunching box.)

That’s not all I’m getting on the backchannels, and Matt has already picked up similar buzz at his new employer, CalTrans. On the steps down, I ask him: “So, when do you think they’re going to make this secession official?” Matt shoots me an anxious look. “No, don’t worry, I swept before you came home. We’re private.”

He shakes his head. “I dunno. I feel kind of weird, because I’m working on these transport design projects that might completely disappear if we secede. But I really would like to work on something that I know we’re actually going to be using in five years... Then again, everyone’s holding their breath. You heard about the explosion on the 780 today, right?”

I nodded. I remember taking those Metro Rapid buses when they came out. When petrol skyrocketed in ’08, that route was already standing-room only. The budget cuts, of course, have kept those CNG vehicles well past their service life, just as often pencil-whipped as truly maintained, but wiser minds did compensate by taking out several seats. That enabled 65 souls to board the bus that exploded at 7:23 this morning near Colorado and Fig. Sixty-five commuters returning from their “climate repurposing district” jobs at the complex down the street from here, part of the newly-rechristened (though still insanely overenrolled) Cal State-Pasadena.

Which means 65 job openings. Well, 65 as of 7:30. Probably not now.

As we return to the dinner table, I’m reminded of news from back east. “Your sister and her husband are still convinced that God is calling them to New Orleans, huh?”

Matt slams the dutch oven on the table and the stew nearly spills out. “You know that when those two have their minds set on something, there’s no reasoning with them!”

“C’mere.” We hug. We need to, because this is where the optimism fails. We’re convinced that once they enter the NOLA ReDS zone, that’s the last we’ll see of them alive. And not just because of ReDS, either. Their gospel just isn’t going to compete with that of the genocidal maniacs who got there first. At least their two older daughters have enough sense to stay put, and have even talked their mom and dad into giving them custody over the little one.

This evening is now on the slippery slope of becoming a real downer. I’ll fix that! I grab a small box from a drawer and present it to Matt. “Happy Anniversary!”

“Oh, no, you shouldn’t have…” He opens the box to find a pair of cuff-links. “Silver?”

“Yeh, I know, three years too late, but it took a little longer than I expected. Even I continue to overestimate the economy.”

He smiles, this time unapologetically. “Happy Anniversary!” We kiss. It’s time to eat.

Oct 07
ReDS,Climate change,garden,GEAS Report,Pasadena,Signal Hill earthquake,New Orleans,Rose Bowl,solar oven,Western States Secession (US),transportation


Please login or register to add a comment


  • DarkOptimism
    Oct 08
    Please don\\\'t let him stop smiling! Times are hard for many, but it doesn\\\'t mean I want others to be sad on our behalf! I need to know there are happy smiling people all around the world. Tell him to feel proud of bringing some joy, not ashamed xx ps Actually, that gives me an idea... Check out: http://superstructgame.net/SuperstructView/144 :)
  • PJ2019
    Oct 12
    Thx DO. I'll make sure that I keep those smiles coming even if it means Dario & I have to hold him down & tickle them out of him! ;-)
Nominate For A Badge

Badge:
More detail on badges



NOMINATE CANCEL