Marked Complete
October 2071, Blue Mountains, Washington. A forest planted two decades ago for the hotter climate the models promised has died standing, red as an old barn, while the skinny local trees across the road are fine. Back at the regional seed station in Pullman, Noor Sadeghi finds a single letter in the dead lot's record: a mark left by a curator nobody ever called, given a meaning she made up on a deadline twelve years ago. At one in the morning, a truck from Lapwai pulls up to the gate.
Marked Complete
October 2071, Blue Mountains, Washington. A forest planted two decades ago for the hotter climate the models promised has died standing, red as an old barn, while the skinny local trees across the road are fine. Back at the regional seed station in Pullman, Noor Sadeghi finds a single letter in the dead lot's record: a mark left by a curator nobody ever called, given a meaning she made up on a deadline twelve years ago. At one in the morning, a truck from Lapwai pulls up to the gate.
The Business Line
In the summer of 2042, Nora Doyle takes over her mother's catering business and calls the funeral homes to tell them Doyle does weekday office lunches now and won't be doing funerals. Her mother, Marian, built the business on funerals, and she still comes in at six for her coffee. The man who drives the van tells the story. He figures Nora decided last August, when five days of dangerous heat left the bodies waiting and the services all landed in one week. The funeral director still calls the business line.
The Business Line
In the summer of 2042, Nora Doyle takes over her mother's catering business and calls the funeral homes to tell them Doyle does weekday office lunches now and won't be doing funerals. Her mother, Marian, built the business on funerals, and she still comes in at six for her coffee. The man who drives the van tells the story. He figures Nora decided last August, when five days of dangerous heat left the bodies waiting and the services all landed in one week. The funeral director still calls the business line.
Everyone Inside
January 2046, McKinleyville, California. When the county loses power, Carla's side of the street runs on batteries out past the airport runway, and her floor stays warm. Ben's side goes dark. Tonight the rain hasn't let up, and groundwater is climbing toward the furnace in Ben's crawlspace. His sump pump runs on an orange extension cord strung across a flooded gutter to Carla's bedroom outlet. Every few minutes the pump kicks on and her hallway nightlight dips. Then a text arrives: the batteries her whole side shares are running low.
Everyone Inside
January 2046, McKinleyville, California. When the county loses power, Carla's side of the street runs on batteries out past the airport runway, and her floor stays warm. Ben's side goes dark. Tonight the rain hasn't let up, and groundwater is climbing toward the furnace in Ben's crawlspace. His sump pump runs on an orange extension cord strung across a flooded gutter to Carla's bedroom outlet. Every few minutes the pump kicks on and her hallway nightlight dips. Then a text arrives: the batteries her whole side shares are running low.
An Interview With Wanda Callaway, Who Would Like Somebody to Tell Her She's Rushing
CONTINUE READINGShort Surreal Piece
Alameda, California, an island city in San Francisco Bay, 2041.
At 4:10 a.m. the kitchen tile is cold under her feet, not yet wet. She lifts the chairs onto the table while her daughter, mostly asleep, carries the dog upstairs.
The water comes from below. It beads in the grout, then the concrete itself starts to sweat. It rises without a sound. Pennies and the bay at the back of the throat. The corner pump runs the whole time; nothing is wrong with it. The water reaches the cabinet's second shelf anyway. They stopped keeping anything there.
They eat on the stairs, bowls on knees, watching the water hold still.
By noon it has sunk back into the floor, leaving a pale line on the cabinet doors, a finger-width above last spring's.
She mops. Upstairs, at bedtime, the cold of the tile is still in her feet.
