May 2042: Ten years after the pandemic changed the world.

       The weather has gotten progressively worse. We had a period of drought that ran most of 2036 through 2040. Fortunately, the Los Angeles River didn't run dry until August, 2039. By that time, the California Aquifer had recovered enough so that we were able to draw fresh water from deep wells to keep us in water for domestic use as well as keep our crops, fruit and nut trees from dying and water for our livestock.

        We had two hurricanes, one in 2036 and the other, last year that dumped a year's worth of rain, destroyed buildings and threatened our people. Last year, we clocked winds of 160 mph, tearing away at our solar panels, windmills and rooftop greenhouses. They all required a lot of repair after it was over. 

       We lost two people who were hit by flying debris, three others from lightning strikes, and two from unfortunate drowning caused by vehicles caught in floods. It was impossible to be outside in the hurricanes, so most, like us, hunkered down in the safest part of our living areas. Thankfully, the Internet and radar told us well enough in advance that it was coming.

       We lost others, five adults and three children when self-flying or navigation systems failed. And three more from batteries failing and the flash fires that burned the occupants so badly they couldn't survive. Accidents at work injured about 50 people and killed two. AI has been a big help in improving safety wherever heavy work is done.

       Melody has had seven more kids, although two of them are clearly from Harlan and Ray. She tells me,

       “Drae, now that I'm 39, I think it's time for me to stop having babies. I've been lucky so far, with two sets of twins and all these others, breast-feeding Art, to taking Ron and Reg to work with us in the afternoons. I don't want to have any kids with disabilities like some are getting, having kids over 40. I believe I've done my part.”

       “Mel, you've done more than your part. How you managed to mother all of those kids while pregnant most of the time and still work with Derek and me almost every day is amazing… Why I love you more than ever.”

       “Drae, I think I'll get fixed… My tubes tied. You know how I love sex, both with you and with some others who make me feel young even though most of them are much younger than me, like you. I'm going to have fun as long as I can because this world is stressful and whenever I'm with a man I feel all that stress gone for a while. Helps me sleep better, too. Now that Jens is back from Germany and running cruises all the way to Acapulco, I'm thinking of joining him and having a little fun with him and Dani… What do you think?”

       “What do I think? Do I have a choice?” I laughed. “Dani is such a Scandinavian fox. If you can interest Jens and all of us sharing the captain's quarters on a trip to Acapulco, I'm all for it.”

       “But will you still love me after you've gone blonde?” She teased…

       “Have you forgotten about Daphne and at least three others, as blonde and blue-eyed is they get.”

       “There's something about Ray's red hair makes me think of King Harry of Great Britain. Oh, I love that guy.”

       “We counting coup?”

       “No, just reminiscing and looking forward to what's possible. Maybe some of those, Hollywood types.”

       “It sure is nice that the movie industry is back up and running, producing new streaming movies for the world through the World Wide Web. Never thought that would happen so quickly. But we sure had a bunch of unknown screenwriters, directors, actors, and production people that survived and have restarted what I thought they would not be able to do so soon. 

       “Daphne's found her way there and I'm glad. She was floundering for a while not knowing what she would do. It's good to see her starting some of these new productions. Starring in some of them, too.”

       “Kiss me honey. We'd better get some sleep. Another big day ahead and I've got to give Art his midnight feeding.”

       We kissed, and I rolled over to fall asleep. Later, I felt her spooning me as we turned together like we always did when we were sleeping together. Laughed when we watched videos of it from our overhead camera–every half hour or so, turning in unison as though we instinctively knew what to do in our sleep.

       Melody had blessed us with, in addition to Ron and Reg, 9, Mindy, 8, Chase, 7, Cindy, 6, Rake, 5, Celeste, 4, Rob and Rand, 3, Star, 2, Gaye, 2, King, 1 and Art, 4 months. Seven of those were mine and the rest knew who their fathers were. With all those kids in the house, I was glad that our two boarding families from the earthquake had found suitable homes nearby above the potential tsunami line of the future.

       Speaking of the future, like St. Helens in the last century, Mount Rainier blew its top in 2037 and the pyroclastic flow reached all the way to Seattle, causing about 500 deaths and setting back that community like the earthquake here set back ours. Mount Lassen has become active again with flowing lava endangering the 5 and the community below.

       Fortunately, we were able to send driverless trucks filled with supportive supplies as well as mobile homes for those without homes, until they got back on their feet like we did. With the 5 open all the way to Canada, it was a blow to have it cut off again, but that was one of the projects that we were starting to do far from our home village here in LA.

       All of the 9-year-olds, the first of the generation we call, The Pandemic Generation, get up early every morning, have a hearty breakfast and then, take care of their animals and crops before heading off to school until noon. After a hearty lunch, they take off for various afternoon work. Some work with their parents, like Ron and Reg, but many try out different work to see what they like to do and what they might end up spending their lives doing as varied as playing music, writing, engaging in the theater, as well as so many trades that need young workers with so much rebuilding to do.

       Ron and Reg have become part of our construction crew. They run drones checking on the progress of construction and its quality with detailed photos. They help us maintaining our hardware and software for our computers and all of our temporary construction offices, usually on wheels, and run errands in cars, trucks and even planes that are all self-driving/flying with AI operation where they can practice their driving and flying skills without worry by us. 

       The AI always takes over if they get in a dangerous situation like driving too fast or flying towards potential obstacles like highline wires or landing too steeply. Even landing the planes if they sense any potential failure of the plane parts for any reason, whether it be the motor, wheels and tires, batteries, computers or even parts of the skin of the aircraft coming loose.

       We have refocused our construction projects away from remodeling and revamping homes for those displaced to rebuilding the freeways, starting with redesigning some to be more earthquake resistant before rebuilding. There is not much traffic that needs them now, in the future they will speed driverless loads throughout the city once again like before the pandemic but without the heavy commuter, workaday and leisure loads that snarled traffic before.

       Our workforce had become stretched even thinner, so the village declared a four day work week, so that all of the people could spend three days a week with their families doing whatever they wanted to do. With our helicopters and planes readily available, they could leave town and enjoy some other location of their choice and come back ready to work again after their three days away from all that struggle to make things right.

       Supplies like sheet rock and concrete, as well as parts for vehicles and planes, by now had all been removed from supply houses and manufacturers. All the new vehicles had replaced those that failed and the ones that failed had to be cannibalized for parts for the ones that were in operation. Small shops were started to make supplies like sheetrock and concrete again. But it took a new way of not using too much raw material and relying heavily on recycling, rather than burying so much of the debris everywhere that was being hauled away, piece by piece.

       The 9-year-olds were now in middle schools we opened, but their accelerated online based curricula from sources like KenduAcademy.edu were already placing them in college-level instruction. The ability of AI tutoring each individual as though they had a personal tutor was amazing in the way it empowered all of our young children to be much more than all of the generations before who had to endure middle school with boring teachers and the kinds of bullying and classmate misbehavior that had become the norm for preteens heading into even more disruptive years trying to grow up. Our kids were enhancing their talents rather than experimenting with social misbehavior.

       We even got to open some of Disney Land so that our children could once again enjoy the delights that place always provided. Melody and I, along with Harlan and Ginger had flown as far as Disney World in Florida for three days of fun in the sun there. Working with a greatly reduced staff, Disney World still had much fun and was maintaining its Safari Land so well that all the animals out from Africa were thriving and protected from occasional hurricanes and floods.

       Nearby, NASA was beginning to send probes to Mars and astronauts to the Moon to start mining there. Miners were rotated in and out often to keep them from the dangers of staying too long at 1/6 gravity and the radiation unimpeded that required them to live in the dark underground. 

       Underground there was protection and water but not much natural sensory enjoyment, except by streaming videos from Earth onto the walls making them appear to be earthlike with day and night sensation and simulating actual earth environments. Part of the regimen of exercise required that they experience Earth gravity four hours each day or suffer the aftereffects of light gravity when they returned to Earth rotating out after 2 years or so.

       Gramps, Uncle Ralph Hutchins, now 92, but showing no signs of slowing down, had found great help from his son, Able, 7, and other young kids he hired from the village to tend to his garden and fruit trees while he imparted his wisdom and knowledge of farming to a generation that would repopulate the entire Central Valley.

       Gramps and Able joined us in the hunts for seasonal duck, geese and quail along the San Joaquin watershed, as well as capturing and killing feral hogs. Later in the fall, they joined us for hunts and trout fishing in the Sierras. Our three boys, 2nd cousins, became fast friends for life with Able through those camping and hunting trips.

       The few scientists that were still working on atmospheric data, told us through the Internet that there had been a drastic drop in CO2release into the atmosphere in spite of so many wildfires and industrial fires that burned uncontrolled from 2032 to 35.

       Unfortunately, methane release from permafrost melting in the Arctic continues to keep the global temperature high for the near future, in spite of indications that a new Ice Age may be upon the Earth because of the orientation of the axis of the earth that often changed regularly.

       With no way of predicting how the weather would go, only the most adaptable species on the planet were able to respond to the changes, while so many were dying out until the United States and some other countries have begun to create greenhouses and zoos along with DNA repositories all over the world to try to save as many species as we can until the Earth climate stabilizes again.

       So many species have required that we create an ark for them in several different ways. The Swedish seed repository created many years ago will be a huge help with replanting species of plants that have already gone extinct. Replanting those plants will relieve pressure on all the animals and birds that have depended upon those foods to survive in the past.

       The leveling off of the climate swings where it was about 1990 is not expected until 2100 or even later. While some of us survivors may live long enough to see the day, many will not, and even we may not know at that time, whether the climate will settle down for any long period. It is only a guesstimate now.

       All we can hope for is doing our best so that future generations will not have to suffer and work like we have. But in our suffering, we have lived more than most people live a lifetime in the last 10 years.

       At only 29, both Derek and I are looking forward to what we might be able to accomplish in the future… If we live that long…

Copyright 2024 © Ronald W. Hull

5/14/24