Nature Rules - 2022 WATTY'S SHORTLIST

Bright Lights, Big City

It's still a long walk to the city centre. The towers are on the outskirts – making sure no Unmentionables get in. (Or Aeternians get out.) Coming closer and closer to Calgary, I see it's on fire with light. There's an aura over it. The brightness freaks me out.

We're walking on an old riverbed that brings us right into the heart of the city. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Light springs from every direction possible. Lights burning without flames. Blinking on and off and off and on. How is that? There are different colours too like blue, green and pink.

The light shines out of buildings – real actual buildings made of brick and concrete. They stretch up like tall and straight mountains. They're not rounded hills with homes stuffed into the middle. I've never seen a building up close before except in books. I'm in awe and sure my mouth is gaping open.

"Mom told us about these things," whispers Crinae.

"You two have never seen buildings before?" says Hyla, poking me in the ribs. "I've seen them lots."

City folk passing us by staring at us. Hard. We must look strange to them. The Calgarians don't have holes in their clothing or dust-stained faces. We are dirty, not to mention stinky. I smooth down my wild hair as best as possible and try to shake some of the sand out of my sweater.

Soon we stop near a big canvas tent with a sign that says Census Refugees. The tent looks almost like the tents used at the community feast. When we enter the shelter there are people already sleeping under it. They look like us. Smell like us too. They must be other travellers.

A man sitting in a chair off to the side gets up to greet Solomon. They shake hands heartily. Then Solomon reaches into his pocket and gives the man some small pieces of paper. It's money. Mom and Dad had some crammed into a tin at home but we never used it. You can't eat paper. We barter at our settlement. Money is useless and food is priceless.

Everyone picks a spot on the ground and collapses. This is our lodging for the night. Now that the walk is over I notice my stomach is cramping and rolling around. I'm hungry. Crinae, Hyla and probably Chuck are too. I clutch my belly to make it stop eating my insides.

Several women come into the area with trays. Food? Food! They begin handing out meals to each of us. We receive some kind of greasy meat and greens in a bowl and half a cup of water.

I gulp down my grey stew quickly. Ahhh, it stops the wasps from stinging my stomach. The others relax too after the meagre meal. There's not a lot of space but we have some room to stretch out beside each other and sleep. Not soundly as there's a lot of activity in the tent. People chatting. People leaving and coming and coming and leaving.

***

We wake up as the sun starts broiling the canvas and the heat intensifies in the tent. Solomon tells us to gather all our things and go outside to wait for the rest of the travellers.

In the daylight, the city is much more menacing. There are no shadows to hide the ugliness or pretty lights to make it seem less harsh. There are twisted pieces of metal sticking out of the ground and wires hanging from posts. Garbage is everywhere. We re-use everything at home. The people here must never have to do that. Looking on the ground I see a lot of bits of rubber that could be used to make stuff. What a waste. I see shards of glass that could be recycled. The city is a total mess.

"Look at all the stuff lying around," says Hyla. "They must be super-rich if they can leave it in the dirt."

Crinae nods. Chuck doesn't say anything, of course.

Large signs on the buildings praise Sebastian Lucius and the GlobalGov.

"We work for you," announces one sign with a picture of a hair-slicked-back, arms-crossed-over-chest, madly grinning Sebastian.