Nothing But Flowers

The last days were a shameful, self-inflicted pandemonium. People were getting poorer, the world was getting hotter, and everyone was at each other’s throats. Even though I was only a kid at the time, I could still see through all the bullshit. People scraped the bottom of the barrel to find reasons to blame anyone else for their problems but the mega corporations that were actually at fault for putting profits over people and destroying our ozone or the political leaders that kept them unregulated and their pockets lined.

Hate was spewed at entire races, genders, religions, sexual orientations, keeping regular people divided with made up problems and distracted from the real ones. Many made habit of cutting off their noses to spite their faces, which had they taken it literally I would have applauded since mainly they were the very same people who would never wear their masks the way they were supposed to to prevent the spread of the virus, leaving their nostrils exposed. Millions dying didn’t sway them.

Some said the virus was man-made, some said it was punishment from God or Nature, and I’m in the latter school of thought, because even though it very easily could’ve been, that wasn’t what did society in.

While the virus was taking out waves of people, there were a myriad of other problems that got pushed to the back. Global warming was still a looming threat - the deserts became too hot to live in, people were warned that the coasts were shrinking. We learned about it in school between standardized tests and active shooter drills, and it was met with the same blahs that the other students would give an algebra equation or an assigned essay. I never understood that since we lived in a coastal New England town.

I spent a lot of time alone in those days, since mama had to work two jobs to keep our family afloat, which left me in my head a lot. Maybe that’s why I worried about those sorts of things more than my peers. I don’t miss any of it.

I remember one time in the summer, mama took me to the store with her, and there was an announcement over the speaker instructing those who were waiting for ice to please leave because there wouldn’t be any more getting made or sold, and people started getting frenzied over it. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t just freeze their own in ice trays at home, but I think the heat had people so agitated that they were just looking for a reason to be assholes. This was after the mask mandate was lifted, and they couldn’t use that for an excuse anymore. Nevertheless, mama and I were still wearing ours. Someone made some sort of comment about it to her and tried to start a fight, but mama never let people like that upset her, and she remained calm. It wasn’t until the stranger pushed her that someone finally stepped in.

That same summer, gas prices started to rise because of a shortage. People reacted by buying the shelves bare at the grocery stores and filling whatever containers they could get their hands on with gas – buckets, milk jugs, cardboard boxes lined with garbage bags, you name it. Then, everyone stopped driving altogether. The virus had already set people up to work from home, and many people who still had to go to work in person, like mama, couldn’t afford to drive, so they just didn’t, walking to work in the unbearable heat.

Supply and demand dictates that at this point, gas prices should have lowered to encourage people to buy it, but instead they just kept rising, nearing $20 a gallon. Between that and the never-ending heatwave, people finally stopped leaving their houses altogether. At least then, the virus finally stopped spreading.

Amidst the plethora of other problems that plagued man’s existence, no one was paying attention to the growing tension between the world’s greedy, corrupt leaders. Except mama. She planned for everything, including this. Despite being tired, achy, and overworked to keep regular bills paid, mama had put in the extra hours to make sure we had a fallout shelter built, and when the sirens began to blare, we were among the few that had somewhere to go.

One way or another, it was all going to end soon.

She had the shelter stocked as well as she could, but it had been difficult when everyone started panic-buying everything. And her heart medicine… regulations in the healthcare industry had prevented her from being able to stock up on that beyond a 90 day supply. So we survived the bombs, but it didn’t take me long to realize that our days were still numbered.

So of course she passed in the shelter. She had been warning me the entire time: this long before it’s safe to return to the surface, this long after that before the world can support plant life again. We had to make our supplies last until then. We wouldn’t have had enough for both of us. Just another sacrifice she made for me.

She gave me her locket to keep her memory always, clasping it in my hands with both of hers. Her last words were, “I love you.”

Armed with the remaining supplies, mama’s teachings, and her locket, I left the shelter when I was supposed to, alone. The land was scarred, and the sky was dull, but in the coming days, it kept healing, as did I. I settled directly on the coast in an old lighthouse, cleaned it up, made it into a home. Then more people came. Some brought chickens they had sheltered, some brought seeds, others brought kids, but everyone brought something to the table. We helped each other and built a community.

We no longer live to work, but work to live. We’re all much closer to nature now, we always have plenty, and we are rich with love. Not only do we respect others’ differences, but we embrace them, as everyone’s individual experiences add value to our collective lives. In the aftermath of all the things we’ve experienced, it has become much more obvious what things truly matter.

Every morning, I wake up and walk through the garden to the oceanside to stand on the shore and watch the sun rise over the crashing waves, and I think about mama. And how proud she would be of this new world.

People refer to the destruction of society as dystopia, but I would argue it was the time leading up to it that was. This, right here, the way it is now, is the way life was meant to be.