“Future of the Planet”
Apr
'08
“I heard that the bananas we eat today won’t be the same bananas we eat twenty years from now.”
“Is that right?” Eve replied, uninterested, clearly beginning to regret making this decision. She sat across from the dull-eyed, too-thin man whom her mother introduced to her. He was excited to be on this date, this outing as Eve preferred to call it, not wanting it to sound too official. He’d probably expect another one.
“Yes, and the bananas that were eaten in the fifties were not the same bananas we eat now.” He was proud of his knowledge, but Eve had already read an article that explained the mushy, sweeter consistency of the previous bananas and the virus that wiped them out. It was interesting at the time, but it wasn’t quite as enthralling coming from this over-ambitious person.
“Hum,” she replied quietly, too polite to disregard him entirely. He looked at her expectantly and she shook herself back to reality. It seemed like at any moment she was ready to drift into a dream world. “Yeah, I think I heard something about that - something to do with acidity?” She didn’t want to continue the conversation, but she feared if she changed the subject it would fall on her, and she wasn’t in the mood to answer questions about her childhood dreams.
He stared at her intently, obviously disappointed. “Oh, you’ve read about this.” It was a statement of disappointment; he was almost offended. Eve didn’t know what to say.
“Why didn’t you stop me? I would have said something more interesting to you.” He glared as he emphasized the word, forcing it out to her as if she had to take it against her will. She was shocked at this sudden change of mood; mere minutes ago, he was prattering on about a dark future of the planet, not seeming to care that she wasn’t interested. Suddenly, they were taking about bananas, and he was concerned that he was boring her. At least the banana thing was true, she thought to herself.
She’d been quiet for too long. His body shifted; he sat up straight and squared his shoulders.
“No, no, it is interesting to me; I just thought you would continue talking about your theories of the end of the world, so I was taken by surprise. I’d like to hear more about those,” she lied. Anything to keep him from being offended like this, from going to her mother and telling her that Eve didn’t even try to give him a chance. She had tried, really, but he didn’t give himself much of a chance.
He snorted loudly and faces swiped to the direction of their table. A smile crept across his face and Eve could see his eyes brighten. I’ve done it now, she thought to herself.
“Where was I then!” he exclaimed, ready to take on the day - or the world, as it were. “Besides all the good stuff I mentioned,” propriety, it seemed, went straight out the door when he spoke of the future of our planet, “bad stuff will happen too. Electric cars that don’t guzzle down insane amounts of gas, the human race’s adherence to strict policies that are based in helping the environment, the emergence of new species that help further the progress of emotional research - that’s all very interesting and good, but let me clue you in on the stuff most people don’t want to talk about.”
He waved his arms frantically and any on-looker may have thought the two were fighting. Eve shut down her mind not to allow his words to flow freely through her, but to allow her subconscious to kick in and bring her somewhere else. She was excellent at putting on a facade of intense interest while daydreaming of a better position for herself.
He said something about nuclear war, ice caps, and financial collapse, but she wasn’t with him anymore. She was in a parking lot wearing a long blue dress, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping silently from her chin. She faced the building in front of her, head up, too proud to admit to the emotion she was having even though her appearance clearly betrayed her. A man stumbled after her, distraught at her sadness.
“Wait, please, Eve,” he was saying, but she wasn’t listening. She continued to walk away from him, away from everything, and into the void. In front of her, the building was now on fire; she hadn’t realized it was already burning before. Her eyes were unseeing until she could feel the heat. The sky was lit up brightly, though it was night time, and in the distance she could hear the tat-tat-tat of machine guns.
The man, now next to her, pleaded with her; he gently wiped away her tears and forced her face to see his, though her eyes were still glazed either by the tears or her inability to face the truth. He held her close, stroked her hair, and whispered soothing words. She gave in and sobbed completely, her body shaking against his hard chest as he rocked her in comfort.
“We shouldn’t linger here,” he said softly, but didn’t release her, didn’t make any motion to move. She nodded and lifted her head, her face now without the waterfalls of sadness. They walked away from the burning building and towards a now-clear area where in their childhood a large forest occupied the space. It was sad to her that not even the tree trunks remained; she felt alone, lost, and afraid, though she knew the man holding her hand would protect her at any cost.
As they walked away from the end of the world, Eve smiled at the dinner table. Her “date” was still rattling on about the future, while she had imagined a scene that greatly contrasted with everything he said. It was impossible to think she would ever have the strength to survive a nuclear war, much less stay sane with constant gun shots and explosions sounding nearby, but no one ever said she couldn’t have an imagination.
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An eloquent take on the prompt. You are an accomplished writer of fiction. Let’s hope that Eve’s imagination is fiction.
Apr
'08
what a wonderful story… she is so polite to her date tho… makes me worry she may marry the guy just to keep him from being unhappy……
Apr
'08
ahh, that was so awesome. totally took me back to some horrible dates I’ve had too. Eve was much more charming than I was tho ~_~
Apr
'08
Whoa! Michelle, I don’t know why you think you can’t write. I look forward to all your short stories. This one is no exceptions. Good job!!!
Apr
'08
Wow, that was excellent! You’re quite talented! I’m glad I discovered your blog. I just came this way from Dewey’s Weekly Geeks and I’m really digging it. I’ll see you again!
Apr
'08
Your writing was so complete and rich that I was there. Thank you.
Apr
'08