Smoke-filled Fear burns. There aren’t enough firefighters. City centers burn and dense smoke chokes the outskirts.
Denizens wheeze.
“I can barely breathe," says Miss Doe Friend. "It feels as though my lungs are already black."
The animals run with burnt paws and scorched tails. Half-roasted, homeless, and vulnerable they cringe away from helping hands.
“We'll not stay long,” says Miss Emeline Traveler. “We might get trapped here by the fires."
“There’s not much to see except smoke," says the Guide. "And all of our food tastes charred. If you have some place better to go, get there. But we Fearful have not."
It’s a relief when Miss Emeline, Doe, and Amma-Pom can breathe clean air again.
"But what can we do for those folk?" asks Doe.
"Doe, our mission is exploration, not reform," chides the Traveler. "But I understand and share your distress. I will ask our Great Auntie."
In the bottom of Fear valley surrounded by mountains lies the ghost town Regret. The smoke of Fear rises around it, but the air in the sheltered valley Regret is clear.
"The ghosts can breathe clearly," says the Guide.
"But they are ghosts with no need of breath," grumbles Amma-Pom.
Every visitor to Fear comes to Regret to find their way home and breathe easy, but the breaths are unsatisfying and the ghosts are frightening.
"I wish we had never come," Miss Doe Friends writes her lover, Alobar.
Nothing grows in regret. The ghosts do not get hungry.
“So fear is better,” the visitors say. “I preferred the choking smoke.”
The ghosts pass through empty fields and tiny houses and libraries filled with the memoirs of the long dead.
"It takes a long time to get from Fear to Regret and even longer to get home," writes Miss Doe Friend. "I was quite exhausted. I won't forget the journey. I hope never to return."
The journey of Miss Emeline Traveler, Miss Doe Friend, and Amma-Pom to Fear and Regret is logged in the record room of Regret (as are the journeys of all visitors).
“I can barely breathe," says Miss Doe Friend. "It feels as though my lungs are already black."
The animals run with burnt paws and scorched tails. Half-roasted, homeless, and vulnerable they cringe away from helping hands.
“We'll not stay long,” says Miss Emeline Traveler. “We might get trapped here by the fires."
“There’s not much to see except smoke," says the Guide. "And all of our food tastes charred. If you have some place better to go, get there. But we Fearful have not."
It’s a relief when Miss Emeline, Doe, and Amma-Pom can breathe clean air again.
"But what can we do for those folk?" asks Doe.
"Doe, our mission is exploration, not reform," chides the Traveler. "But I understand and share your distress. I will ask our Great Auntie."
In the bottom of Fear valley surrounded by mountains lies the ghost town Regret. The smoke of Fear rises around it, but the air in the sheltered valley Regret is clear.
"The ghosts can breathe clearly," says the Guide.
"But they are ghosts with no need of breath," grumbles Amma-Pom.
Every visitor to Fear comes to Regret to find their way home and breathe easy, but the breaths are unsatisfying and the ghosts are frightening.
"I wish we had never come," Miss Doe Friends writes her lover, Alobar.
Nothing grows in regret. The ghosts do not get hungry.
“So fear is better,” the visitors say. “I preferred the choking smoke.”
The ghosts pass through empty fields and tiny houses and libraries filled with the memoirs of the long dead.
"It takes a long time to get from Fear to Regret and even longer to get home," writes Miss Doe Friend. "I was quite exhausted. I won't forget the journey. I hope never to return."
The journey of Miss Emeline Traveler, Miss Doe Friend, and Amma-Pom to Fear and Regret is logged in the record room of Regret (as are the journeys of all visitors).
Comments
Post a Comment