1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:03,240 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 2: Book Club book Club book Club. Welcome to CZMBC. The 3 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 2: only podcast that I introduced this way, also the only 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:23,040 Speaker 2: time I'll ever introduce the podcast that way. I mean 5 00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 2: host Margaret Kiljoyan. This is the Cool Zone Media book Club. 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 2: Every week I read you a story that I like. 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 2: That's it's pretty much it. That's the idea of it. 8 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 2: Stories I like that I think you might like too. 9 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 2: That's a big part of it. I have to think 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 2: that you'll like them. Also, well, it's pretty easy for 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 2: me to think that you'll like this week's story. This 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 2: is really good and I don't know, gets at stuff 13 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 2: about modern life and the future and how things are going, 14 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: but in a way that I think you'll appreciate. This 15 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 2: story is called spring Wood Spring and it's by b. Pladick. 16 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 2: Here's a biography of Ben. Who's B Platick. Ben Platdock 17 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 2: is a writer and literature professor based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 18 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 2: His debut novel, dry Land, came out in twenty twenty 19 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 2: three and was shortlisted for the Crawford Award. You can 20 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:22,559 Speaker 2: find him sporadically on most socials at B Pladock, which 21 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:28,480 Speaker 2: is bp LA, D E K This particular story was 22 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 2: first published by Strange Horizons in twenty twenty three. I 23 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 2: think we've done some other Strange Horizons stories before, and 24 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 2: there's a reason for that. Strange Horizons is a really 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,399 Speaker 2: good magazine, has really good stories. Y'all should check it out. 26 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 2: I'm not just saying that because they've published them of 27 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 2: my fiction, but they have published them of my fiction 28 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 2: as well as this story. Spring Woods Spring by B. Pladock. 29 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 2: Harry first noticed the trees in May when he went 30 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 2: out in the purple dusked to hear the woodcocks dance. 31 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 2: The sun had set an hour ago. Along the maple's 32 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 2: tangled arms flickered a slight luminescence, like the nave of 33 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 2: a candle lit church. By its glow, he could see 34 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 2: what he usually couldn't, the male woodcock bulleting upwards, wings 35 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:21,519 Speaker 2: whistling to his parabola against the blue clouds. He watched 36 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,119 Speaker 2: for another hour until he was confident the light came 37 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 2: from the trees themselves against Knight's dark lid. The canopy 38 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 2: shown so soft an untrained eye might not notice. Maybe 39 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 2: it was some new foxfire spreading north with the dying winters. 40 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,639 Speaker 2: Or maybe an electrical disturbance, an ozone fit kicked off 41 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 2: by the burning tiger. He'd lived in the little cabin 42 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 2: beside the field station for two decades, watching it change. 43 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:52,960 Speaker 2: Aging beside it, very little surprised him any more. At home, 44 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,160 Speaker 2: he shucked his boots, then settled in with a book 45 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 2: on bioluminescence. He ignored the cardboard boxes heaped neatly in 46 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 2: the corner. The university had not officially asked him to leave, 47 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 2: but he was getting too frail to maintain the field 48 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 2: station by himself. Undergrads came to chop and dig every weekend, 49 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,520 Speaker 2: as well as often his granddaughter Ava, who was too 50 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 2: polite to call him old, but whose regular visits it 51 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 2: was a five hour drive, spoke for themselves. Ava's father, 52 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 2: Harry's son in law, had brought him the boxes. Bill 53 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 2: had been sober for four years now. Last year he'd 54 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 2: invited Harry to live with him. Harry couldn't decide if 55 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:36,320 Speaker 2: it was a genuine offer or a bid to get 56 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 2: Ava to speak to Bill again. He wondered if she 57 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 2: resented him for considering it. He wondered if he resented himself. 58 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 2: But he was old, he would have to leave some time, 59 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 2: and maybe he didn't have to forgive Bill to live 60 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 2: with him. He'd begin tomorrow. He was always beginning tomorrow. 61 00:03:56,400 --> 00:03:59,160 Speaker 2: Setting down the book, he switched off the light through 62 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 2: the window saw to starshine. The tree's orange glow touched 63 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,360 Speaker 2: every corner of the room, the old photos and books, 64 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 2: four walls, the exact size of a life. The next morning, 65 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 2: when dawn still stood white and chilly in the Lowlands, 66 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,560 Speaker 2: he visited his wife's and daughter's graves. They grew at 67 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 2: the bottom of the maple slope in a wind sheltered dell. 68 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 2: For Lisa, he'd planted an arch of raspberry canes. When 69 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 2: she'd learned the cancer was terminal, she'd demanded it, making 70 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 2: some black and unrepeatable joke about him eating her fruit. 71 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 2: She'd even helped him choose the spot, bare head wrapped, 72 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 2: shaking with pain and laughter. He'd never had the chance 73 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 2: to ask Junie what she preferred after the crash. She 74 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 2: hadn't woken up, and juniper would have been too on 75 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 2: the nose, and besides, it wouldn't grow in such wet woods. 76 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 2: So he chose nanny berry because it's dry fruit tasted 77 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 2: like bananas, which Junie had loved. He hoped he wasn't 78 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 2: being selfish, burying her here instead of an enormal cemetery 79 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: like Bill had wanted. He wished Lisa had been there 80 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 2: to advise him, though he was grateful she'd never had 81 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,799 Speaker 2: to watch her daughter die. He touched the Raspberry's naked 82 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:15,839 Speaker 2: whips every day he visited the dell. When his undergrads 83 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 2: had found out, they'd thought he was morbid. One eighteen 84 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:23,239 Speaker 2: year old had even suggested therapy to process. You can't 85 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 2: mourn forever, she'd said, very young and benignant, it's not healthy. 86 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 2: A thump from up the slope startled him, the familiar 87 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 2: sound of Ava's civic door. Of course, she'd come to 88 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 2: talk about the lights. He heard the plash of her 89 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,799 Speaker 2: boots as she crossed the brook, then the bright, dry 90 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 2: snap of a branch as she entered the hardwoods. Five 91 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 2: minutes later, she'd found him. Her face was clouded before 92 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 2: she spoke. As always, she brushed the furled buds of 93 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 2: Junie's nannyberry. Hi Mom, She turned to Harry, hugged him. 94 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 2: Have you seen the trees? She said? My pa is 95 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 2: freaking out. She says it's not fungal and not atmospheric, 96 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 2: it's worldwide, did you know? And the Amazon It's so 97 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:10,159 Speaker 2: bright you can read a book by it. Even now, 98 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 2: the glow was faintly visible, an orange thrumb on the 99 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 2: bellies of the branches. He said, some things in nature 100 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 2: resist explanation. Don't give me that crap, She laughed. What's 101 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 2: your theory? You think I've got a better idea than 102 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:27,919 Speaker 2: your pi? Is it because I'm old? She laughed again, 103 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 2: then socked him gently on the shoulder. Ava had moved 104 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 2: out two years ago when she'd started her PhD. He 105 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 2: had never asked about living with her. He knew she 106 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 2: couldn't afford it. Hey, I peeked in the window and 107 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 2: saw you haven't packed yet. I thought you were moving out, 108 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 2: Moving out, she said, carefully, rather than moving in with Bill. 109 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 2: Her circumspection shamed him. He wished she would just be angry. 110 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 2: He wasn't sure if he wanted it for her sake 111 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,600 Speaker 2: or because it would license his own anger. I haven't decided, 112 00:06:59,600 --> 00:07:03,840 Speaker 2: She gave a small paint smile. Right, Can I bird 113 00:07:03,839 --> 00:07:08,559 Speaker 2: watch with you for a little? Of course? Above them, 114 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 2: a clutch of yellow rumped warblers was twitching along a 115 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 2: big hickory the trunk, shaggy bark seemed pearly smoothed by light. 116 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 2: The bird's black claws stood out as if unfrosted glass. 117 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 2: Ava swung her binoculars around on her shoulder. Harry raised 118 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 2: his too. For her last two years of high school 119 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 2: and all four of undergraduate, Ava had lived with Harry 120 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 2: at the field station, helping him with the monitoring he 121 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 2: conducted for the university. That least, the reserves three hundred 122 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,920 Speaker 2: acres of maple, hickory woods, cattail marsh, and wet meadow. 123 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 2: She was fleeing Bill, whose drinking had gotten worse after 124 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 2: the accident, and who could barely offer his daughter the 125 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 2: solace of a hug for the loss of her own mother, 126 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 2: So deep was he sunk in his own self recrimination 127 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 2: all those years, as Bill's guilt had hardened into denial, 128 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 2: Ava had wandered the dappled shadows of the reserve, gathering 129 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 2: the woods around herself. Their green light had held her. 130 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 2: Harry's chest pinched. He watched her as she gazed up. 131 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 2: You can see it, she said. Her voice had a 132 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 2: quaver he hadn't heard in years. A light in the 133 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 2: woods like burning. It took two more weeks for the 134 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 2: world to pay attention. First a third pager in The 135 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 2: Times by their reporter on the quirky nature beat, then 136 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 2: a below the fold feature on the light's effect on 137 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:36,480 Speaker 2: rural industries. Then finally a headline trees ruined sleep across nation. 138 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 2: This was an exaggeration. The light was too subtle to 139 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,559 Speaker 2: keep anyone but birds awake. Still, he knew the story 140 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 2: had gotten big when Bill used it as an opening. 141 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 2: You see these tree lights crazy, but Ava has some 142 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 2: good theories. Even by text. He could smell Bills craving 143 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 2: for pardon, which had never quite extended to an apology. 144 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 2: So you think about my awe, it's a limited time. 145 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,719 Speaker 2: Maybe he was too hard on him, Harry thought sometimes. 146 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 2: After all, Bill had loved Junie too, Going once, going twice. 147 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 2: He put down the phone without replying. By day, the 148 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 2: trees glow was still muted, but at night the woods 149 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 2: shimmered in perpetual twilight. The naked branches shone like the 150 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 2: white pith of a flame. He was surprised there wasn't 151 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 2: more panic. Maybe it was because of the quality of 152 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 2: the light diffused through the new leaves. It length the 153 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 2: maple slope a hazy, underwater feel, or the cloth soft 154 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 2: atmosphere a fairy in an Edwardian novel. It did not 155 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 2: blaze like a burning bush, vengeful foreboding. It merely seemed sad. 156 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 2: The locals seemed to agree. One evening, Harry found a 157 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 2: group of them standing in a circle among the trees, 158 00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 2: wearing sage crowns and holding tapers. Forgive us, they chanted, 159 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 2: forgive us. He didn't bother, asking for what. Every week 160 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 2: the trees grew brighter on the news, the ecologists, grumbling, 161 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,600 Speaker 2: turned slowly to alarm. Gouts of confused bats poured from 162 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 2: caves at midday, flapping themselves to starvation. Leopards missed their pounces. 163 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,599 Speaker 2: Some night flowering trees stayed tightly furled while their pollinators 164 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:26,839 Speaker 2: buzzed past. The talking heads avoided calling it climate change 165 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:29,679 Speaker 2: for fear people would stop paying attention, but they were 166 00:10:29,679 --> 00:10:34,040 Speaker 2: clearly worried. They were joined by the astronomers, whose dark 167 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 2: sky areas were being polluted. Harry wondered at their calling 168 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 2: at pollution when it seemed so natural, distinct from the 169 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 2: glare of a city's skyglow. It gave the trees so 170 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,439 Speaker 2: little agency. Maybe they had just decided it was time 171 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 2: to burn. Only the agricultural and industrial sectors celebrated the 172 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 2: tree lights. More light meant longer hours. Harry hated agreen 173 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 2: with bit businessmen, but he liked the lights too. For 174 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 2: half the night, he wandered the dimly greening woods, tracing 175 00:11:06,280 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 2: their worn paths like a thumb, brushing a familiar cheek. 176 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 2: Up the cane, spiked with oaks, down the sandy kettle, 177 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 2: threading the damn the beavers had heaped in the marsh's mouth. 178 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,079 Speaker 2: Here was the dell where Junie and Lisa had taken 179 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 2: Ava for picnics, which Ava had cleared of buckthorne the 180 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 2: weekend she'd first left home. You let it grow over, 181 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 2: she'd accused. She had not cried, only hacked at the 182 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 2: glossy shrubs for hours, over and over, destroying their foundations, 183 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 2: uprooting everything. And here was the yellow birch. Harry had 184 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 2: seated alone after he tried to imagine his life without 185 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:49,040 Speaker 2: these things, waking to different birds, song alien leaves, Sprain refused. 186 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,839 Speaker 2: Maybe he was just unable to face change. Though he'd 187 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,680 Speaker 2: known what his life would become without Ava when she left. 188 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:58,559 Speaker 2: Though he guessed what might happen to him now if 189 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 2: the trees continued brightening. What might happen to him now 190 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,120 Speaker 2: is that he might get a chance to support our sponsors. 191 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 2: What a sweet deal that totally has nothing to do 192 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 2: with the economic system that has caused climate change. That 193 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 2: if I mentioned you all would stop? Well, not you all? 194 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: Y'all are that you. 195 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 2: All pay attention to some of the climate change stories. 196 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:36,240 Speaker 2: Here's ads and we're back. Bill's weak old text still 197 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 2: blinked on his phone. Harry knew Bill wanted Eva to 198 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,959 Speaker 2: absolve him, and he hoped caring for Harry might convince her. 199 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 2: The thoughts stung. Juny might have wanted it too. She 200 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:52,560 Speaker 2: forgave and forgave right up until her death. Did Harry 201 00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 2: cling so close to her because he felt guilty for 202 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 2: keeping her from Bill? Or did he simply feel guilty 203 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,160 Speaker 2: for clinging? Most people mourned their loved ones in graveyards, 204 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:07,560 Speaker 2: dedicated ceremonial spaces they visited only sometimes. Surely, living atop 205 00:13:07,679 --> 00:13:11,679 Speaker 2: the dead among Lisa's raspberries and Junie's nannyberries was excessive, 206 00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 2: not healthy. As his student had said, he brushed the 207 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:20,240 Speaker 2: birch's boughs as he did every spring, smoothing back its 208 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 2: new leaves like a child's soft hair. In the tree lights, 209 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 2: they shone gold. By the time Ava returned three weeks later, 210 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,600 Speaker 2: twilight had brightened to the pale glove of a winter's 211 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 2: cloudy afternoon. Her face was haggard. No one knows, she said. 212 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 2: We've run every test we can, checked our results against 213 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 2: teams in Brazil, Russia. Nothing. If we can't figure this out, 214 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,199 Speaker 2: what good are we? He guessed she had come to 215 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 2: him for comfort. For Ava, that had always meant action, 216 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 2: proof that she had a handle on things. He loved 217 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 2: that she trusted him enough to give her this not solace, 218 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 2: but a whetstone. Do you want to help me chop 219 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 2: a dead mape, he asked, It's a test I've been 220 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 2: meaning to do. This was a lie. He could no 221 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 2: longer fell a tree by himself, much less bucket for testing, 222 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 2: and after that first book on bioluminescence, he had done 223 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 2: no more reading experimenting. Every time he tried, his mind 224 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 2: slid away towards the light. If Ava saw through him, 225 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 2: she didn't say. Together they tramped to a sugar maple 226 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 2: whose trunk had been recently split by lightning. It would 227 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 2: die soon. We've tried this, she protested, but weakly. Hafting axes, 228 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 2: they chopped. Harry hacked the undercut. Ava taller and more solid, 229 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 2: sawed through from the other side. Though he tried not to, 230 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 2: he had to keep stopping to pant. He saw Ava 231 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 2: WinCE watching him as they leaped back to let the 232 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 2: maple fall. She took Harry's shoulder watched the canopy. The 233 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 2: trunk creaked, snapped clean, and landed with a shudder, and 234 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:02,120 Speaker 2: the leaf litter. At just the same moment, a pulse 235 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 2: of light fizzed through the woods. After Harry could swear 236 00:15:06,080 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 2: the trees burned brighter. Following Ava, he leaned over the stump. 237 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 2: She traced the rings with practiced fingers. The wood was 238 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 2: pale gold, all light quenched, snuffed, he said, and she 239 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:22,640 Speaker 2: nodded like I said. We've tried it. Every time one's cut, 240 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 2: the rest get brighter. It makes no sense. And you've 241 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 2: ruled out pathogens, fungi, we've ruled out everything. She sat 242 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 2: back on her haunches and pressed her hand's heel to 243 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,960 Speaker 2: her face. And it's not as if they've stopped logging. 244 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 2: I guess you don't see it much here, since this 245 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 2: is a reserve, but in manias it's getting unlivable. What 246 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 2: are your next steps? If you got her to talk 247 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:49,720 Speaker 2: through it, you could help her find her strength. It 248 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 2: was how they'd survived those first awful years. My next steps. 249 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 2: She laughed a little, then looked at him. He knew then, 250 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,560 Speaker 2: I live in the city. I'll be fine, but you 251 00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 2: should leave. Ava. I came to tell you that you should, 252 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 2: that it's okay. She held his eyes, balancing her own 253 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 2: pain up and away like a karatid. When had she 254 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 2: become such an adult to carry the stone of her 255 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 2: hurt while freeing a hand to help someone else. Harry 256 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 2: had not taught her to do it, nor had Lisa, 257 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,200 Speaker 2: whom she hadn't really known, and Juni had died too soon. 258 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:29,160 Speaker 2: Maybe the woods themselves had this remnant of a once 259 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 2: great forest which grew straight and did not bend nor mourn. 260 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 2: Despite the press of so much humanity. He was drifting. 261 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 2: He shook his head, then looked at her. It's not 262 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 2: I wish we could offer. I'm so sorry, but even 263 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 2: with your Social Security check in Katy's salary, we could 264 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 2: still just afford a one bedroom. The perils of dating 265 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 2: a history PhD, he joked, because her face was wet marble. 266 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,200 Speaker 2: She looked down. He touched her shoulder. You never have 267 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 2: to apologize to me, I know, but this tree thing 268 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 2: is going to be bad, so just promise me you'll 269 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:12,200 Speaker 2: go all right. I don't have to see him, It's fine. 270 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:13,959 Speaker 2: Have you ever considered that. I don't want to live 271 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 2: with Bill either. I can't lose you too. The knife 272 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 2: was swift and unexpected. His heart cramped on it. He 273 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 2: looked at Ava and knew she'd meant it that way. Yes, 274 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 2: she was an adult, now, unafraid to use the weapons 275 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 2: he'd given her against him for his protection. Okay, I 276 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:40,960 Speaker 2: promise good. She slumped forward, elbow on the damp stump 277 00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 2: on her back. The orange light pressed like a stone. 278 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 2: She slept over that night in the trundle bed Harry 279 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,680 Speaker 2: kept for her. He pulled a blanket over the window 280 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,040 Speaker 2: for the first time in weeks. The cabin eased into darkness. 281 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 2: He thought of the decades he'd lived at the field station, 282 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 2: the long shudder of Lisa's death, the brutal punch of 283 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 2: Junie's Like a torn mimosa. He'd curled up and withered 284 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:11,120 Speaker 2: into himself. His heart became a closed fist. Outside life 285 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,359 Speaker 2: went on. The cattails clicked in the marsh. The yarrow 286 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:18,680 Speaker 2: lifted its balmy perfume through his silence. The robins whistled. 287 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 2: He had shut them all out like a cuckoo clock marionette. 288 00:18:23,280 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 2: He'd left his cabin on the hour, taken readings for 289 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 2: the university, then swiveled to march back inside. Until Eva 290 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 2: came sixteen and betrayed her heart so hard he was 291 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 2: afraid for her. Taking her hand, he had led her 292 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 2: beneath the softening sea green of the maples. He had 293 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:45,159 Speaker 2: given her birds, eggs, coin, bright mushrooms, tubes of loamy 294 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:50,360 Speaker 2: soil until her eyes softened. She opened, relearned how to trust. 295 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 2: He swore it would be her strength. But to believe 296 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 2: in her openness he had to face his own. So 297 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 2: he let the spring woods cut him. The green light 298 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 2: pierced him with arrows. Their green smell split him in two. 299 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 2: In his sealed heart, a crack widened. He walked in 300 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 2: and through. He entered his grief as if for the 301 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 2: first time, and it did not feel like death. I 302 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 2: could live here, he thought, kneeling between Lisa's Raspberry and 303 00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 2: Junie's nanny Berry, their cool leaves touching his shoulders like 304 00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 2: a laying on of hands. I could live here. Later 305 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 2: that day, Bill texted again, if Ava's the problem, just 306 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 2: explain it to her. I've changed, Harry. Don't you get 307 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 2: that I'm trying to help you. He did not reply. 308 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 2: As July passed, the corporate world's delight eroded to a 309 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:49,159 Speaker 2: panic matching the ecologists. Forest industries stopped functioning to operate 310 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:54,639 Speaker 2: their bunchers, loggers donned blackout sunglasses. Trucks keeled off service roads. 311 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:58,840 Speaker 2: In British Columbia, Maine's pulp mill workers struck, and mass 312 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 2: light was blinding eye melting in the Amazon. Companies tried 313 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,399 Speaker 2: sending automated loggers to clear cut space to dim the 314 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 2: margin enough for manned machinery. When that failed, they tried burning. 315 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 2: The trees just blazed brighter. The news did not know 316 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 2: how to talk about it. Active nature, active god, reaction, revolution. 317 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 2: No one said climate change anymore, because the light seemed 318 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 2: to be the tree's decision. Even if it wasn't, they 319 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 2: were clear cut anyway. In vaster and vaster retaliatory swaths, 320 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 2: no one mourned them, save the people who always had, 321 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,560 Speaker 2: who had never been listened to anyway. At first, Harry 322 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 2: wondered at this, how could the world willingly slaughter millions 323 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,919 Speaker 2: of living beings without remorse or a breath for grief? 324 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 2: Then he thought, oh, when at first seemed to be 325 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 2: a local effect quickly turned global. Even in reserves with 326 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 2: no logging, the trees grew steadily brighter, as if sympathizing 327 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 2: with their fellows in the dying rain forest. In the 328 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 2: small towns near the field station, farmers began shrouding orchards 329 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 2: in blackout or toppling their lines of wind breaks. Harry 330 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:14,640 Speaker 2: knew because he still had to drive for groceries once 331 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:18,720 Speaker 2: a week. He wore sunglasses now too, especially when facing west, 332 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 2: where an amber halo beat on the sky over the 333 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 2: state forest. In one place, an arm of smoke reached 334 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 2: ominously up to strangle the light. When he pulled up 335 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 2: before his cabin, he was not surprised to see a 336 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 2: bank of cars beached on the grass like fish. Atop 337 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 2: them sat his neighbors and hats and dark glasses, cannisters 338 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 2: of gasoline under their arms. His heart shivered like a flame. 339 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 2: We came to warn you, said one man, sliding off 340 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 2: the hood. These woods are getting too bright. We can't 341 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,439 Speaker 2: live like this. You have to understand. It's a reserve, 342 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,920 Speaker 2: said Harry, You saying trees are more important than human life. 343 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 2: They're not killing you, they're killing our livelihoods. That's the 344 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 2: same thing. Not these trees, Harry said slowly. He shouldered 345 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 2: his grocery bags and walked towards the cabin. Whatever you 346 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 2: do here, you'll do with me in it. Think about that, 347 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 2: you and your human life. Beneath his glasses, the man's 348 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,919 Speaker 2: mouth scowled. Harry didn't realize how ready he was for 349 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 2: them to do it, to lie down and be swallowed 350 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 2: by the glow. Until still scowling, they packed their gas 351 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 2: canisters in their cars and left with an indignant rip 352 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 2: of turf. He was left alone before the cabin, every 353 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 2: cell in his body shaking with light. As he was 354 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 2: unloading the groceries, his phone beaped. Did you get my last? Text? 355 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 2: Said Bill? I'm not going to ask again. What did 356 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 2: av Us say, Harry? Are you getting these? Harry? That night? 357 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:56,600 Speaker 2: What the clock said was night. Harry put on his 358 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 2: sunglasses and went out. He lay down between Lisa's red 359 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:04,879 Speaker 2: Raspberry and Junie's nannyberry. Squinting, he looked up, Light pooled 360 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:09,000 Speaker 2: in his eyes and mouth warm, surprising. He was seventy 361 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,760 Speaker 2: four now, like a middle aged hickory or a very 362 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 2: old willow. No elder in these woods, but no upstart either. 363 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 2: Raspberries lasted a decade, nanny berry's four juny shrub would 364 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 2: outlive him, as JUNI should have. If he raised his arm, 365 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:29,439 Speaker 2: the glow smoldered through his sleeve. It could almost have 366 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 2: been bark, much like our advertiser bark. Get your bark 367 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: from the Bark Store. Listen to this new podcast about 368 00:23:43,359 --> 00:24:00,359 Speaker 2: types of bark. Here's ads, and we're back. True to 369 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,040 Speaker 2: his word, Bill did not text again, but at the 370 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,160 Speaker 2: beginning of August, Ava called Harry assumed it was her 371 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 2: because she did it five times in a row, refusing 372 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 2: to be fooled, insisting he pick up. When he finally did, 373 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 2: she said, you're still there. Yes, for fock's sake, you promised, 374 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,120 Speaker 2: but her anger sounded tired. Are you all right? Can 375 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 2: you still drive? Get food? I have enough, he said. 376 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 2: After the neighbor's visit, he had only made one grocery run. 377 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 2: He'd bought in bulk, brown rice, vitamins. Meat was easy. 378 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 2: The light confused the rabbits. What about you. I'm all right. 379 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:42,920 Speaker 2: Katie bought tinch for the car windows so we can 380 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 2: still drive. But my eye's hurt all the time. Mine too. 381 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 2: We still don't know what it is. They convince people 382 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,159 Speaker 2: to stop logging the Amazon at least, but it's not 383 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 2: getting any dimmer. The supply chains are all fucked. He 384 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:01,119 Speaker 2: heard her swallow. It feels like an apocalypse. How do 385 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:06,639 Speaker 2: we do this? You'll figure it out, you always have, sure, 386 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:11,640 Speaker 2: she said. He wished he could hug her. Phone reassurances 387 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 2: sounded cheap. He cannot twist his imagination into the anxious 388 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 2: shape Avas must take every morning as a young woman 389 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 2: with years ahead of her, who had been promised a world, 390 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,440 Speaker 2: a broken one, but a world His words had never 391 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 2: been equal to her losses. As for himself, he needed none. 392 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 2: All the world he wanted stood outside among the trees. 393 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 2: The thought should have bothered him, Then it bothered him 394 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 2: that it didn't. Then he gave up and simply let 395 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,760 Speaker 2: it be what it was, a comfort, like warm light 396 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:48,119 Speaker 2: through a window. He told Ava about the woods. The 397 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,920 Speaker 2: heliotropic plants aren't fooled, but the mammals are. The deer 398 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 2: run into things, and the rabbits just stay in their 399 00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 2: burrows until they're so hungry they can't What about the 400 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 2: birds we'll see during the micro They talked for another 401 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 2: ten minutes. Harry made parental inquiries. Did she have enough money? 402 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,879 Speaker 2: Was Katie okay? Was Katie's family? Could she get her meds? 403 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 2: The cabin's atmosphere of golden syrup slowed his thoughts. Yes, 404 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,199 Speaker 2: more or less, Yes, maybe not, because meds depend on 405 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 2: supply chains, and those, as she'd said, were fucked. I'm sorry, 406 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 2: he said, and she said it's fine. At the end 407 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,880 Speaker 2: of the call, she lingered on her goodbyes. I've been thinking, 408 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 2: Katie says, the nuclear family is a modern construction anyway. 409 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 2: Generations used to live together all the time. So yeah, 410 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,640 Speaker 2: money's tight, but like you said, we can figure it out. 411 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 2: His heart leapt. It was what he'd hoped for. Yet 412 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 2: outside his heavy curtains, the woods were shining. Averi's dawn 413 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 2: call spiraled down through the gold afternoon. He heard himself say, 414 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,360 Speaker 2: that's okay, Aves, it's not We don't know how bad 415 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 2: things will get the power grids are going and you're 416 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:06,160 Speaker 2: so isolated out there. I'm not that old. As vehemence 417 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,720 Speaker 2: surprised him, as did his lie about his motives. Through 418 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,320 Speaker 2: the curtains, the glow reached into the cup his cheek. 419 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,399 Speaker 2: Did he owe her this, he wondered? Did she have 420 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 2: the right to save him? Outside, the leaves of Junie's 421 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:23,080 Speaker 2: nannyberry gleamed like the warm red of palm, suffused with light. 422 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:28,880 Speaker 2: When did grief become a home? Look if it gets bad, 423 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 2: We're coming for you. Okay, sure, he said, distracted a 424 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:41,520 Speaker 2: beat of suspicious silence. Okay, Gramps, love you, love you. 425 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,919 Speaker 2: As summer ended, light blazed from the reddening trees. It 426 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:52,400 Speaker 2: sheered off in great metallic sheets, like hopkins, God shining 427 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:56,560 Speaker 2: from the shook foil. Harry ate Less slept less. He 428 00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 2: felt pierced and filled by radiance. Ava had been right 429 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 2: about the power. It grew sporadic, and the Internet even worse. 430 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:08,480 Speaker 2: During the ever briefer gasps of service, he read the 431 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:12,400 Speaker 2: news around the world. Cities had slaughtered their trees. Country 432 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 2: people had fled to plains and coasts and metropoles. Brasilia, Vancouver, 433 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 2: Toms were emptying, and still the woods blazed brighter. The 434 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 2: foresters must have found a way to keep felling the Amazon, 435 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 2: or else no one had stopped them from burning it. 436 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 2: For their part, his neighbors never returned with their gas canisters. 437 00:28:33,720 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 2: He wondered what had happened. He hadn't driven for groceries 438 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 2: in a month. Slowly he ate down his preserves, strapped 439 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:44,320 Speaker 2: on his ski mask and glasses to forage for Chantrell's. 440 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 2: The woods of his heart were changing, opening as if 441 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 2: the light were a great door he could not quite 442 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,880 Speaker 2: step through. Most days he spent outside, ending each by 443 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 2: lying down in the dell between Raspberry and Nannyberry, where 444 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 2: he had he could have mingled with their roots. He 445 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 2: watched the animals adjust. So far, the only die offs 446 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,360 Speaker 2: had been the rabbits. But it was September and the 447 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 2: squirrels weren't hoarding. No swallows gathered on the cables, no 448 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 2: tins of geese raked the sky. Daylight never shortened. For them, 449 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,560 Speaker 2: it must seem like an endless summer. Though frost now 450 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 2: stiffened the sedge on her calls. Ava's voice was tense. 451 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 2: Things are It's falling apart in a new way. I 452 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 2: couldn't have imagined it, Hang on, We'll come for you 453 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:39,680 Speaker 2: as soon as we can. Up the esker, the maples 454 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 2: were an inferno of yellow. On the highest crowns. Where 455 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:48,400 Speaker 2: the real sun touched, the leaves glowed ruby. Lisa's raspberry 456 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 2: became a red lantern lit from within. Above it, the 457 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 2: slope burned like a bank of prayer candles, one leaf, 458 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 2: one flame for each palm in the Amazon, each jack, 459 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 2: and the tiga, a million souls grieved by no one 460 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 2: save themselves. For hours now he lay in the chilly 461 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,080 Speaker 2: duff between Lisa and Juny, his kindling sack or mushroom 462 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:17,680 Speaker 2: basket forgotten, even shielded. His eyes throbbed. The shrubs leaves 463 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 2: were palms of flame, laying him down. He was theirs. 464 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 2: They held him. I'm sorry, he thought, tired, grateful, I'm sorry. 465 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 2: Against his curtained windows. Beat the light, the light, the light. 466 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 2: In November, the power died completely. Only his solar battery 467 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 2: let him receive Ava's calls, half eaten by static. On 468 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,719 Speaker 2: the very last before his phone died, he thought he 469 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 2: heard her say Soon. He put the phone down and 470 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 2: looked up beyond his four loved walls. The world was flame. 471 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 2: The naked trees observed their masts, hickories, oaks, sugar maples 472 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,719 Speaker 2: lift in a thousand tapers. It might never end. He 473 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 2: looked across the room at his scant pantry, the piles 474 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 2: of wood he'd laid in for winter. He would wait 475 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,080 Speaker 2: until he couldn't. No matter when ava came, she would 476 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,520 Speaker 2: be on time, though with twenty four she might not 477 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:21,360 Speaker 2: have understood that for a while. Some things resist explanation. 478 00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 2: From the corner of the cabin, he drew a tallow candle. 479 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 2: Closing his eyes, he opened the door and walked out. 480 00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 2: He followed the path past the marsh, down the slope 481 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:35,480 Speaker 2: towards the Raspberry and nanny Berry. He could see the 482 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:38,520 Speaker 2: trees through his eyelids, through the fire in his chest, 483 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 2: time to burn. When he reached the dell, he cupped 484 00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:47,560 Speaker 2: the candle above him. The maple's nave flared a host 485 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 2: of tapers that would perhaps finally burned down long after 486 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 2: he himself had guttered into the soil. He would stand 487 00:31:55,880 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 2: vigil as long as he could, for love, for the woods, 488 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 2: for the world, for everything that dies too soon and 489 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 2: is not mourned. He touched the cool wick once to 490 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 2: his lips, then he opened his eyes and raised it 491 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 2: up to the light the end. I really like that story. 492 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 2: I think anyone who knows me at all will understand 493 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 2: why I like that story so much. I identify with 494 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 2: the person aging living in the woods. I love the 495 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 2: intermingling of personal grief and climate grief because these things 496 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,240 Speaker 2: are not They can't be fully separated, you know, like 497 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 2: we try to understand and move through our personal grief 498 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 2: these days in the context of climate grief, in the 499 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 2: context of like not really knowing that there's going to 500 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 2: be a world in two generations and not knowing what 501 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 2: that means, you know, and then tying that into how 502 00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 2: you know, Ava had been promised a certain life and 503 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,560 Speaker 2: then isn't going to get it, and you know what 504 00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 2: that means for the people who care about Ava. I 505 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,200 Speaker 2: don't know. I really like this story. I hope you 506 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 2: enjoyed it too. I asked Ben what he had to 507 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 2: say about it, and he said, this story is based 508 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 2: on a real field station near where I live. The 509 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,959 Speaker 2: maples are very beautiful and fall. I also asked him 510 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,920 Speaker 2: what to plug, and he said, people who liked this 511 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 2: story might like my debut novel, dry Land, which came 512 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 2: out in twenty twenty three with You of Wisconsin Press, 513 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,160 Speaker 2: and is about a gay World War One forester who 514 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 2: learns why martyr complexes make for bad ecology. Folks might 515 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 2: also like my new short story at Strange Horizons, which 516 00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:47,080 Speaker 2: is my favorite of ever written, The Spindle of Necessity. 517 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:50,560 Speaker 2: Trans guy meets a beloved author in a dream he 518 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 2: suspects was trans. Two things get weird, so I don't know, 519 00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,640 Speaker 2: I'm excited to read that story too. In case folks 520 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 2: aren't familiar with Strange Horizon, it's like a free online thing. 521 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,280 Speaker 2: You don't got to pay for it. I mean, it's 522 00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 2: like cool if you support their fundraising and stuff like that, right, 523 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 2: and they're they're a pretty sweet magazine. So you should 524 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:12,080 Speaker 2: check out The Spindle of Necessity and you should check 525 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 2: out dry Land. I know that I'm looking forward to 526 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 2: checking out both. And that's it. I'll see you next 527 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 2: week on Cool Zone Media book Club, or I'll read 528 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 2: you a different story, because I'm not going to read 529 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 2: you this story again. I really like this story, but 530 00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,279 Speaker 2: I think that probably at some point the producers would 531 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 2: notice if I read you the same story over and 532 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 2: over again. Next week, new story. Talk to you all 533 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,239 Speaker 2: soon Bye. 534 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: It Could Happen Here as a production of cool Zone Media. 535 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 536 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:44,520 Speaker 1: cool zonemedia dot com or check us out on the 537 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:48,160 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 538 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: You can find sources for It could Happen Here, updated 539 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: monthly at cool zonemedia dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.