Penny and Mimi raced around the house, climbed up beds and clamored up couches to look out every window. The children were excited to see all the wonders of the world outside.
“Look at the birdie flying!” said Mimi peering just above the window sill.
“Look at the parade!” said older sister Penny.
“It’s a march,” explained Grandmother. “A storm against hate.”
“There’s a lot to learn, girls,” said Mother glancing at Grandmother. “Come close.”
Penny and Mimi had never been inside the empty school nearby. When students began to succumb to illness, Mother had decided to teach them at home. It was safer.
After story time, Penny asked if they could go to the store, like the children in the book they just read. Penny promised they would wear their masks.
But Grandfather had been punched at the store by strangers. “Leave!” they had yelled. “We don’t want you here with your masks and disease!”
Grandmother quickly interjected, “Look at the beautiful orange skies, girls!” Her finger pointed upwards.
“But why can’t we go to the store?” asked Penny. “Mimi said she wants to look for a dragon fruit. The girl in the book said if you eat them, you turn fierce like a dragon! And I want to find a kumquat like the boy in the story. He said kumquats mean good luck and prosperity!”
Mother knew the shelves at the markets were empty and said nothing.
“I want to go outside!” screamed little Mimi.
Father stepped to the window and studied the horizon.
Mother looked worried. Wildfires had broken out. “How fast are the flames?” she asked.
“The burning’s moving this direction. Already there’s gridlock,” said Grandfather who entered the room. The Great Global Weather Disruptions have begun.”
Mimi started to cry.
Father looked at Grandfather, nodded to his wife and hurried to a console.
“Children, come sit with the family,” said Mother with urgency in her voice.
Everyone held onto each other as Grandmother yelled out the countdown, “5-4-3-2-1!”
The family home rattled and roared. Slowly it rose above the fires and pollution; high above the chaos, sickness, anger and hate; away from the dark, sticky webs of ill weather. Soon they were soaring through the skies.
The family ran from window to window to see the extraordinary world views. All except Mother, who collapsed near the window and screamed a horrific sound. Penny cried and yelled out for her sister.
But little Mimi was gone.
Panic clutched their stomachs as each member raced around the house. They found the front door swinging wide open. Had Mimi fallen out of the house?
Father would not stop scouring their home for his child.
Penny wouldn’t stop calling out, “Mimi, Mimi!” over and over.
Grandmother and Grandfather held each other up and grasped each other’s arms. From the family living room, they peered through the brittle pane and scanned the grounds below. Their tiny, sunken, petrified faces were framed by the window of the frayed and fragile house that dangled high in the sky.
Earlier, a larger-than-life, silver haired, couple—both Thujarati creatures—crept upon the charcoal grounds of little Mimi’s old neighborhood. They ate from a charred peach tree of immortality. When the twenty foot-tall wife named Enassa with long, shiny, white hair, looked up, she saw a child falling from the sky. She had reached out her hands and caught the little girl in her arms. She turned to her frosty-haired husband and cried: “A child is all I’ve ever wanted! My heart was broken, but now it is healed.” And when she smiled from her soul, the couples’ hair turned a vibrant green and fluorescent violet.
Back in the house in the sky, Mother ran to the console. Father looked up from his searching and quickly joined her. Together they turned around and raced the house back to look for Mimi. With a lion-like roar and a commotion of flying debris, their home carefully landed back on top its solid foundation.
The front door flipped open and the whole family spilled out onto the streets of an unrecognizable neighborhood now bruised, burnt and desolate. Their hearts were in free fall as they ran frantic through the abandoned, ruined land, searching for signs of their lost, little, loved one.
Their legs grew weary as the soles of their shoes grew warmer and warmer as they walked the scorched Earth. Father carried Penny as the family moved together and came upon a curious, large bush. It smoldered with incense and sage. From behind the smoky bush, a family emerged and entered the clearing. It was a man, a woman, an elderly couple, and a little boy. Their clothes were tattered and seared from the fires. Their bodies were covered with ash and soot, and their faces carried a look of defeat.
“Hello,” greeted Penny. “We are looking for my sister, Mimi. Have you seen her?”
“We have lost our child,” explained Mother.
“And we are lost without her,” said Grandmother.
“Will you help us find her?” asked Penny.
“We are Timucua,” said the grandfather who stood hunched in burnt rags.
“Our people disappeared in the storms of hate long ago,” explained the Timucuan grandmother.
“We are lost, too,” said the Timucuan mother.
“But we will help you find your child,” stated the Timucuan father.
“My name is Pomo!” shouted the Timucuan boy.
“Please come to our home to rest,” insisted Mimi’s Grandfather. “We have food. Come eat.”
“Thank you, but let us help you find your Mimi first,” said the Timucuan grandmother.
“Yes, we must hurry. The Great Floods are coming soon,” said the Timucuan grandfather with sorrowful eyes.
And so they searched together, this union of two large families. “Mimi! Mimi!” they called out as they walked the earth, searching with their hopeful eyes.
After they crossed a splintered bridge, the large group discovered a pair of charred fruit trees that grew near a quiet, blue pond. Mimi’s family picked peaches and kumquats for everyone to eat as the Timucuan family washed in the water. Penny was excited when she saw the kumquats. “Kumquats mean good luck and prosperity!” she exclaimed.
As they all ate the fruits, the families began to hear voices that sounded like knives slicing the air. Everyone grew tense when the shouting of men in the distance grew louder and louder.
“Get up and get outta here! Shoo. You people need to go back to where you came from. You are the root of all problems. This is not your home!”
The steaming mad voices directed at their group made Penny and Pomo cry from fear.
“These sacred lands belong to the universe of all life,” said the Timucuan grandfather.
“This land is not your land. Leave!” rebutted the male voices with a piercing, shrill pitch.
From the sky, curtains of vibrant green and florescent locks dropped all around the bullying men and large, two-family group.
“Stay and eat as much as you like!” commanded the Thujarati giant, Enassa, whose booming voice was sweet and rich and shook the earth all around them. So strong was the vibrating bellow of her voice that all the fruit from the trees fell to the ground.
“Who the heck are you?” yelled the menacing men.
Enassa grabbed an electrified rain cloud from the high sky and tossed it towards the men who quickly dispersed and ran away towards the fields where their large armored trucks sat.
Pomo pointed to the girl in Enassa’s arms said, “Look!”
Penny looked up and cried, “Mimi!”
“Penny!” yelled Mimi who immediately leapt out of the arms of the Thujarati giant. From the grasp of Enassa, Mimi landed in the arms of her mother who wept; she was so happy. The two families gathered around Mimi in a warm embrace, relieved and overjoyed to have Mimi back in the family fold.
“You were lost and now you have been found!” announced Enassa who opened her empty arms up and out wide. But then she discreetly turned away and hung her head low.
The men had now returned and began firing shots at Enassa who began to cry a river of fluorescent, pink tears of hurt and pain. The men turned to the two families and began to run towards them. Enassa reached into the skies and shook the ceiling hard. Sheets of hail, wind and rain assaulted the grounds below. The angry men recoiled and the two families battled their way back home as fast as they could.
Once they were all safe back inside, they shut the front door and looked out the living room window. That’s when they saw the 100-foot wave of debris, trees and churning, grey water barreling down the burnt streets right towards them.
“Everyone, get to your places!” instructed Mimi’s father.
An immense bolt of lightning lit up the sky as a crash of thunder jolted the house and knocked them all down to the floor.
Father scrambled to the console and yelled, “Hold on!”
Everyone braced themselves and held onto each other as they helped the children and elders onto the protective, deep-seated, couches. The plush, velvet, over-sized sofas soothed their nerves and comforted them as the house rose out of harm’s way. Up high into the sky, the house with its inhabitants flew away from the conflict, anger and destruction. Once again, they were boundless. Mother brought fresh clothes, warm blankets, biscuits and cocoa for their guests who they now considered family. Steadily, the house sailed across the tranquil space scape. A sense of quiet and peace filled the family home.
When all the members of the household gathered near the family room windows to look back at their planet together, they were not prepared for what they saw. They had to look away and bury their faces into each other’s shoulders and shield their eyes with their blankets. A feeling of dread came over them. It was ghastly!
Mother Earth looked like a diseased organ with red, inflamed patches, gangrene depressions and pulsating, infected pustules that erupted, oozing raw pus. They saw missiles crisscrossing continents as a sinister, dark veil creeped over the globe. The planet mass also began to emit a chilling, low moan that travelled desperately across the dark, outer space.
The two families held each other and cried as they comforted each other. What happened? What now? Finally, they all held hands and gathered close. They closed their eyes tight. What else could they do? After a long pause, the Timucuan grandparents sang an ancestral song that vibrated with the same frequency as the ancient universe. Afterwards, Mimi’s grandparents sang a song from their ancestors as well. The beautiful sounds inspired both families and uplifted each other. Soon they were borrowing melodies, combining chorus notes, harmonizing together and creating brand new music that elevated their spirits and sent hope and a force of positive vibes throughout the solar system.
The floorboards beneath their feet began to rumble and a flash of bright light sailed past them. It was headed straight to Earth. They watched through the wide, family room window and witnessed the all-encompassing global explosion. The light was so bright, the families ducked and shielded their eyes as they crouched in the house that continued to float alone in the black space. The adults in the house feared Earth was destroyed and gone.
With trepidation, they slowly creeped back up to have a peek. As they watched the smoke clear, a remarkably healed green and blue Earth was revealed. The glow of a nascent, florescent and ethereal halo slowly appeared and encircled the planet. The view was breathtaking.
The adults quietly discussed what they should do. Should they return? Where should they go? Was there, in fact, any life left on Earth? This was a second chance. A chance to start over.
“We must return and help rebuild,” they all decided.
But Mother was still nervous. “I wish we had some sort of sign that there was still life; some kind of sign of what might be left; what we might find back on Earth,” said Mother.
And then the phone rang. Penny ran to answer it and turned on the speaker.
It was an automated voice: “In order to prevent your extended warranty from expiring, I’m giving you a courtesy follow-up call before I close out the file. Press 1 to speak to a warranty specialist. Press 2 to be removed and put on a do-not-call list.”
Penny pressed 1, but instead of reaching a live representative, they all just heard static. They didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They agreed that remnants of mankind are certainly hard to snuff out.
As they flew back to their home planet, they were hopeful, yet cautious.
“Mama,” said Mimi.
“Yes, my little, daughter,” said Mother to the child who she loved so much that she tried to do everything she could to protect her. And yet she still failed.
“Mama, Enassa, the Thujarati giant was very nice. She gave me dragon fruit to eat, just like what the girl in the storybook got to eat.”
“Is that so?” said Mother.
“Yes. And the dragon fruit makes us fierce and strong!” Mimi reached into her pocket and pulled out an oval shaped piece of dragon fruit. She held her hand open to her mama. Mother took the fruit from her daughter.
“We’ll be okay, Mama,” added Mimi.
Mother was struck by her daughter’s bold, little face. Mama’s worries melted away and she smiled. “You know, you’re a brave, little girl, Mimi. I’m so very proud of you!” No matter what happens, Mama decided, they were going to be okay.
Cover image: Pixabay