WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: The Lost Roads by Sim Kern 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:03.240 Cool Zone Media. 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:09.520 Book Club book Club book Club. That's that's how we 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:14.120 start the show. I've decided it's the Cool Zone Media 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:19.920 book Club. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, my guest today, 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:21.799 since the whole format is that I read it to 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.720 someone reads stories to someone from Cool Zone Media. The 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:25.680 Serene Hi. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:27.960 Serene Hi, Margaret, thanks for having me. 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:34.400 Yeah, well, it's the Coolzone Media book Club. Every Sunday, 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.479 I read you different stories, stories that have to do 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:41.000 with the themes of cool Zone Media and specifically it 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:43.240 could happen here. I don't know what I'm saying. It's spooky, 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.519 it's not, but the world is spooky. I don't know 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:52.920 that's true. This story though, this is a like this 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:54.040 is a posy story. 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.360 Oh I love that for myself and for you and 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.560 for us and for all of you listening. 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:06.440 That's right. Today we're reading a story by it could 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:11.320 happen here alumni guest sim Kern, who I believe you interviewed. 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:15.800 Yeah, they're awesome. I really respect their work and I'm 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:17.960 excited to be read one of their stories. 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.559 Yeah. They It's always very weird to be a fiction 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:24.920 writer and then like also be known for this completely 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:29.920 unrelated thing, you know, like I don't know to put 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.600 words into Sim's mouth, you know, like like Sim is 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.160 right now doing a lot of really amazing content on 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:40.479 TikTok and Instagram about Jewish anti Zionism. 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:42.520 And and on. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.440 It could happen here also, but it's just like, but 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.320 they also write really amazing stories, and so yeah, we're 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.440 going to read you one. I'm going to read you 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.840 one and sharene is the stand in for you, the listener, 0:01:56.760 --> 0:01:59.880 that is I. This story is called the Lost Roads. 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.040 The years of debate and organizing, planning, in preparation had 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.280 spanned my entire life, But at long last, the Body 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:14.000 Politic had reached a decision. Demolition Day had arrived, and 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.240 I stood on the front lines. The old world would 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:21.040 be gouged and shoveled away, ushering in a dazzling future. 0:02:21.880 --> 0:02:24.880 Children would reclaim the freedom of play, beasts of the 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.840 wild would roam once more, and we would liberate the 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.040 earth from her tari strait jacket. I never felt more 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.480 proud in my neon yellow coveralls and matching hard hat 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:39.200 emblazoned with the badge of the Body Politic. My weapons 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:43.120 for the battle ahead rested heavy across my shoulder. Pickaxe 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:47.760 and shovel, simple tools for a simple job. We were cleaners, 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.880 not as venerated as the drivers of the mighty diggers 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.240 who forged ahead, or the pavers with their specialized skills. 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.440 Certainly we weren't as envied as the planters who would 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.880 follow in our wake. Our work was hard and tedious, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:04.160 but essential to the operation ahead, and I had volunteered 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:08.639 for it. Today, on every continent on Earth, teams of 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.480 workers like mine would embark on a multi year mission 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:18.000 destroy the roads, all of them. My squad was stationed 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.520 in the Buffalo Bayou Settler Reservation in the city formerly 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.200 known as Houston, Texas, on a two lane residential road, 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:30.760 Calcott Street, the eighteen hundred block. It was a sweltering morning, 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.680 hotter than it had any right to be in early March. 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:37.200 We had a long way yet to go in cooling 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.240 the climate. But that morning I didn't mind the heat 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.640 because I knew what a start we were making. Cowcutt 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.400 dead ended at a maglev line, and from time to 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:49.800 time the woosh of a passing train sent a blast 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:54.200 of welcome wind escaping from its prairie covered tunnel. Miry 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.280 Our squad leader gave a short speech that was more 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.840 instructional than inspirational. When the digger hummed to life, its 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.280 ten foot wheels began to turn, the vicious blades of 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.880 its snout sliced into cracked asphalt like a hot knife 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.560 through butter, and the huge sheets of shattered road lifted, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.800 twisting towards the sky and clattering down the beast's neck 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:21.240 into the bin on its back. The roar of it 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.200 was tremendous, and I was glad for the noise canceling 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.159 bud stuck into my ears. We watched it trundle ahead 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:30.800 of us for half an hour until Mary gave the 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.080 signal that it was safe for us to begin our work. 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.520 The digger only pulled up eighty to eighty five percent 0:04:36.600 --> 0:04:39.640 of the road. The bits scattered behind were left for 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.600 our shovels. We bent to the work, scoop some asphalt, 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.440 then toss it into the drone carts that followed behind us. 0:04:47.920 --> 0:04:53.360 Loyal puppies, scoop toss, scoop toss. If the digger had 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.800 missed a large chunk of road, we pulled out the 0:04:55.880 --> 0:05:01.280 pickaxes or Mary's jackhammer. My earbud played upbeat music, and 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.560 I timed my shoveling to the rhythm. There was such 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:09.640 joy in scraping the earth clean of rubble. We'd cleared 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.720 a twenty foot stretch of asphalt when I felt a 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.680 hand on my shoulder. Mary shouted over the noise of 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:17.560 the digger that it had been a half hour time 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.400 for the be squad to swap in. I'd rather keep going, 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:26.200 I called back. I'm not even tired. Rest Mary commanded warmly. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:29.000 It'll be a long day and a longer year ahead. 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.360 I don't want my cleaners getting injured on their first 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:36.480 day of the job. She was right, of course. I 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.040 rested with the a squad on a moss yard beneath 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.920 a shady elm. The family who lived there came out 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.200 of their house to greet us, bearing lemonade and homemade cookies. 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.880 My first taste of the unexpected perks of working on 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.560 the mission. A long haired child of seven or eight 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.200 with freckled golden brown skin showed me a tray of 0:05:55.279 --> 0:06:00.359 seedlings and an egg carton. You're cleaner's right, the child asked, 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.440 clearly unimpressed by us. I nodded, do you know when 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.280 the planters will be coming first. The pavers have to 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:10.160 do their work, I said, I know, I know, the 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.360 kid replied, laying paths to the mag left station and 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.680 the bike trails. They rolled their eyes. But when the 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:20.720 planters come, do you think they'll want to use these? Well, 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.880 that depends, I said, pointing to the seedlings. Are they 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:28.240 native to this region? Of course, the child cried. I 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:33.760 got castilia and Davisia zenotheras biciosa, and these are Lupinus texanis, 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.839 prairie fire, primrose and blue bonnets. I confirmed, How beautiful 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.760 they'll look together. Yes, I think there's a very good 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.920 chance the planters will want to use them. The smile 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:47.520 that lit the kid's face was luminous enough to melt 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.200 any lingering soreness in my muscles. As they drifted away 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.200 to tend to their seedlings, one of their parents, sitting 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.720 a short ways away, leaned towards me. I think you 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:02.080 just made their month. As we swap names and pronouns, 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.320 the kid's mom never took her eyes off the digger. 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.480 Don't worry, I said, we won't let the kids anywhere 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.480 near the job site. She looked at me for the 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:15.120 first time. What, No, it's not that it's just well, 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.520 all of it, she laughed apologetically. What will we do 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:24.160 without ambulances or fire trucks, opal as, epilepsy. You know what, 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.520 if they have a bad fall, there'll be triage cars 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.560 and water tankers running on the Maglev lines, and you're 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.800 right near the station. Emergency services should arrive faster by 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.200 Maglov than they ever did by road. They say that, 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.200 but everything's changing so fast, everywhere, all at once. What 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:47.040 if they're wrong. Look all your life, you've been living 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:49.960 with one ton bullets speeding past your house fifty feet 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.880 from your front door. Cars have been the biggest killers 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.480 of kids for a century. Won't it be safer to 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.280 have that gone? I suppose, she said, still twisting the 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.320 hem of her skirt. Her fears served as a reminder 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.000 that the quorum had only been reached by a slim margin. 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.760 Millions of people still opposed our mission. But I couldn't 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:12.400 stay and convince her because Maria was waving us back 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:17.239 over to start another shift. By noon, we'd cleared the block, 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.800 and a squad of pavers emerged from the Maglev station 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.120 with a fleet of drones in tow. I would have 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.440 spent so much time watching them work over the next 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:27.840 year that I could have joined their ranks by the 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:32.720 end of it. First they'd survey the land with sweeping lasers, 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.240 then they'd stake out the course of their paths. Some 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.199 communities wanted a large paved areas in the middle of 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.719 the block for games or festivals. Still, the footprint of 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.600 paved spaces was always a tiny fraction of the asphalt 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.319 roads we destroyed. And of course the paths weren't for 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:56.760 cars only people walking, skating, biking, wheeling. Unlike sidewalks of 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.360 old meeting at sharp right angles, the pavers de only 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.360 in curves. From above, their completed paths looked organic, like 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.040 branching veins, each block one leaf, each neighborhood a branch, 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:11.200 each city a sprawling tree were once there'd been a grid. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.840 The paving material they poured was a bright green composite 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.960 made from a century's worth of discarded plastic. When dried, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:22.160 it had a slight bounce to it, delightful to walk on, 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.959 but hard and smooth enough for wheels. And it was porous, 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.040 so that every precious drop of precipitation soaked through to 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:34.240 the soil below. At first I envied the respect afforded 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.840 the pavers engineers, all dressed in their smart blue coveralls. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.599 They commanded so much respect from the folks of the neighborhood, 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.439 but they were officious to us, perpetually frustrated that we 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.600 weren't moving fast enough. They snipped at each other too, 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:51.560 with none of the intense camaraderie that banded together us cleaners. 0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.439 So even if some magic wish could have made me 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.439 an engineer, forget it. I'd rather be a cleaner. But 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:04.440 the planters, oh I did envy them. I didn't often 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:06.280 get to see them work, not unless I took a 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.520 stroll during one of my breaks, back to a street 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:15.120 we'd cleaned weeks before. Botanists, mycologists, bryologists and ediphologists, and 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.920 of course the native land historians they deferred to. In 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.720 bright green work suits, they descend on a street after 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:25.160 the pavers had poured fresh paths. It was the planter's 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:29.000 job to restore the ruined soil trapped by asphalt for 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:33.960 a century. Our work took hours, The pavers work took days, 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.000 but the planter's task would take months or even years. 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:42.720 Where the soil was saturated with heavy metals. They used 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.320 all kinds of composts, fertilizers, and minerals. But their most 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.920 ingenious allies were living things microbes that devoured microplastics and 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:55.000 mushrooms that leached pollution from the earth. At superfund sites 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.480 where the land was especially toxic, they displaced residents and 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:03.600 worked for months in hasmac gear to heal the poisoned earth. Finally, 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:06.959 the planters would escort drone carts bursting with greenery from 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.480 the maglev station. They'd plant the fruit trees that would 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:13.360 feed the neighborhood, the shade trees that would cool their homes. 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.880 The trees would take decades to mature, but one day, 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:21.559 this endless orchard would crisscross the continent, everywhere there'd once 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.960 only been pavement. The promise of that bountiful future had 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.839 captivated the hearts of most everyone on Earth, most but 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:34.440 not all. Because you know whose hearts it didn't capture, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:39.079 sharene Please tell me the people who sponsor this pot 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:44.160 gath You are cold and heartless. Wait no, wait, that's 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:44.640 the opposite. 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:45.880 We love. 0:11:46.080 --> 0:11:49.120 Yeah, they're great. Where are the people who we would 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.760 oppose all of this if it disrupted the capitalism that 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.480 provides these goods and services to you, we're totally not, 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:58.960 just like almost everyone else involved in capitalism at every level, 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:17.480 cynically and gay with it in order to survive, and 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:22.000 we're back. We ran into our first protester around two 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.880 o'clock that day, during the last hour of my shift. 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:28.080 Cleaning was my first job after college, and I'd never 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.360 worked such a heavy day of labor. By midafternoon, my 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.079 muscles were screaming, and I was looking forward to a 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:38.200 long soak in the solar spring at the bathhouse. Suddenly 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:41.760 the digger fell silent and it ground to a halt. 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.520 The driver leaned out of his cab, hollering at someone 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.240 up ahead. Cautiously, Mary led us around the side of 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:53.640 the machine. There, inches from the digger's snout, said an 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:58.320 old fashioned gasoline powered pickup truck. There were signs painted 0:12:58.360 --> 0:13:02.360 all over the truck the cars are freedom, save the roads, 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:06.720 resist the stone age. Part of me had to admire 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.400 the guy's courage. The digger could have churned through that 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.360 vehicle with ease, but the driver sat inside the cab, 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.439 arms folded. Mary approached the cab and motioned for the 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:21.000 driver to roll down the window. She introduced herself and 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:25.160 he gave his name, Bruce Wellborn. She used his first 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:27.319 name a lot after that, explaining that we had to 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:29.920 get back to work. Bruce, give us a break, Bruce, 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.240 and if he didn't like it, he could take it 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.320 up with the body politic. At first, Bruce seemed uncertain, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:39.840 darting glances at us nervously. But the longer he talked 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.160 to Miry, the angrier he got. Until his pale skin 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.599 flushed red. He got louder and louder, until he was 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:50.760 shouting car's rights at the top of his lungs, right 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:54.559 in her face. I couldn't remember the last time I'd 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.319 seen a grown person totally given over to rage like that. 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.760 My legs felt shaky and my heart art was racing, 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.800 as if he'd been yelling at me. Miry turned to 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:08.320 walk back to us, and Bruce rolled up his window. 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.120 I envied him the cool a sea that must be 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.880 blowing inside. The sun was blaring down on all our 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:18.319 heads by then the hottest part of the day. Bruce 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.640 grabbed an ice cold can from the cooler in the 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.680 back seat. The cab was packed with food supplies and 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.720 extra gas tanks. In this heat, he might outlast us 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:33.600 in his stockpiled truck. I couldn't understand him. Forty thousand 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:36.200 people got killed in car wrecks every year in our 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:40.120 country alone. We would free our air of the smog 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.760 that gave so many little kids asthma. We'd replace millions 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.280 of miles of heat trapping asphalt with carbon absorbing orchards, 0:14:47.800 --> 0:14:51.560 restore parking lots to native prairies, and free the concrete 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:55.880 walled bayous to ramble along rocky shores. Who would want 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.840 to stand or park in the way of all that 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:03.360 we need to move? Him, Mary said to us. She 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:06.840 turned and shouted, this is your last chance to drive away, Bruce. 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.880 We're going to continue our work with or without your cooperation. 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:13.840 Bruce locked his doors and revved his engine in answer. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.360 My blood ran icy with fear of the thought of 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.520 going anywhere near that truck. What if he tries to 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.160 run us over, I asked, hoping the others wouldn't think 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.320 me a coward. Should we call a violence response team? 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:29.960 I don't think that's necessary. Mary frowned. It's not like 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.400 he has a gun. If he did, I think he 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.360 would have shown it by now. He's not violent, just annoying, 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.320 as if on cue Bruce cracked his window and shouted, 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.520 try coming near this truck and see what happens. Okay, 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.680 that sounded like a threat, Ermine said, shooting me a look. 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.640 I was glad to have an ally, And it may 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:52.720 not be a gun, but a truck is a deadly weapon. 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:56.520 Sage agreed. Fine. Mary's sighed and walking away from the huddle. 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.440 I'll call the VRT. But a few moments later she back, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.640 no good. She shook her head. They've got hundreds of 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.600 reports of protesters like Bruce here all over the city, 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.080 some of them in big groups. The dispatcher couldn't even 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:11.520 promise they could get to us by the end of 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.560 the week. Ah, I whispered. I had assumed Bruce was 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:18.800 alone extremist. But if there were hundreds of blockades in 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.000 our reservation alone, how many people were protesting across the watershed, 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:26.800 the continent, the world. Could there be enough anti mission 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.160 sentiment to force the body politic back to the debate chambers. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:34.280 That could mean years of delays. I echoed Mary's words 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.320 from earlier. We have to move him, ideas, Mary said, 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.080 couldn't the digger just go up on the grass there 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.600 and drive around him? Ernie asked, But then I'll be 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:46.920 behind us. I pointed out, what if he turns around 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.200 and runs us over? Mary nodded, I want that truck disabled, 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:55.400 but nothing that'll hurt him or us. I wasn't much 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:57.240 help in the discussion that followed, as I didn't know 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.760 much about cars. Someone said they'd heard you could just 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.440 say car by blocking the tailpipe with a potato. Mary 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.040 said that was an urban legend. Once the pressure built up, 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:10.040 the potato would shoot out. Someone else suggested slashing the tires, 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:11.840 but a bunch of people rolled their eyes and spoke 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.080 over each other, pointing out that a car was slashed 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:18.720 tires could still accelerate to deadly speed in seconds. We 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.840 could block him in Sage suggested, drive another digger over 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:23.560 here and park it right on his ass so he 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.560 can't move. Mary wagged a finger in his direction. That 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:30.280 could work, But then, what how do we take the 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.640 truck out of commission force open the hood. We could 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.280 slice the latch with a reciprocating saw Ermine said, then 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:41.119 slash the ignition. Mary snapped her fingers. After that, we 0:17:41.280 --> 0:17:43.520 just pick up the truck and move it. You think 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.000 we can lift it, I asked, with another squad. We 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.760 could sage, said. Mary pressed a finger to her ear, 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.240 calling someone on her earbuds. Ten seconds later, two nearby 0:17:54.320 --> 0:17:58.440 cleaning squads strolled up to our location alongside a rumbling digger. 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:02.600 Bruce shaeh outed, I won't be moved. You can run 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.440 me over. I'll die for my freedoms, but his voice 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.000 wavered as he watched the second digger pull up on 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:13.240 his tail. I'll disable the truck, Mary said, I don't 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.840 want to risk any of y'all getting hurt. She grabbed 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.640 the electric saw from our toolbox and clambered over the road, 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.359 smashing blades of our digger. Bruce revved his engine threateningly, 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.280 but with a digger's blades an inch from both bumpers, 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:29.919 he wasn't going anywhere. Mary sliced open Bruce's hood, then 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:34.160 sawed something inside that made the engine fall silent. It's 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.040 gonna get hot in there, Bruce, Mary called, dangerous hot. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.720 You want to come out now, Bruce cursed her. We 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.159 spread out on both sides of the truck. Then and 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.760 I got a handhold under the chassis near the driver's 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.879 back wheel. On Mary's signal, we heaved up, with all 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.199 of us lifting together and the truck felt about as 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.720 heavy as a big box of books. We shuffled toward 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.719 the side of the road and set it down gently, 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.960 So gently it gave me this funny, peaceful feeling, like 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:07.200 we were carrying a sleeping toddler to bed. Then Miry 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.080 called back to work. The digger from the north pulled away, 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:14.040 and I started in on my last shift. From time 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:16.760 to time I spared a glance at Bruce. After a 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.320 few minutes, he cracked the door to the cab. It 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:21.879 must have been over one hundred degrees in there. For 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.680 a while he shouted slogans at us, but his voice 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:28.960 soon grew hoarse. Sage had streamed our whole encounter with 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:32.320 Bruce from her lenses, and the vid went viral within 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.200 a few hours. Other squads around the city, then the Watershed, 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.760 then the continent started using the Miry maneuver to deal 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:43.919 with protest cars until that horrible day March twenty seventh. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.159 After a few weeks, the car's rights protests were losing steam. 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.679 Most of the protesters had given up or run out 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.600 of cars to protest in, but the most fanatical among 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.960 them grew desperate. On the last Friday in March. Some 0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:00.320 brought guns in their trucks, the kind of a legal, 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:02.840 powerful guns that people hoarded by the millions at the 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.159 start of the century. Of course, we'd known there were 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.919 still many of them out there, ar fifteen's that had 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.879 been hidden from the smelters. To this day, I can't 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.679 walk past the statue of falling cleaners downtown without sitting 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:20.440 on a bench a while and fighting back tears. I 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.240 had good friends who were killed that day. I feel 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:25.920 so guilty and disoriented when I think about how it 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.560 was just random, just a dice roll, that their squads 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.480 got shot up and mine didn't. That I'm only alive 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:37.399 because Bruce wasn't one of the violent ones. After I 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.639 finished up that first shift, Bruce bowed to the inevitable 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:44.320 and finally climbed down from his truck. He grabbed only 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.960 the cooler out of the back of the cab, abandoning 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.119 the rest of his supplies and the vehicle itself for 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:53.919 a sanitation team to deal with. I wound up walking 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:57.199 back to the maglev station next to him, surprised by 0:20:57.240 --> 0:20:59.320 how small he seemed. With his feet on the ground, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.200 head hung low, He dragged that cooler over the scraped 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:06.399 clean earth. You know what, that cooler could have been 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:11.119 filled with sureen gold gold coins. It could have been 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:16.240 filled with gold coins like perennial sponsor of the show 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:22.040 regging gold coins. Do we still get those? Do you think? 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:23.000 I don't know. 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:23.879 I just think it's funny. 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:28.520 Yeah, me too. And if you too want a cooler 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:32.560 full of gold, you just listen to these ads, And 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:34.640 if you don't want to hear ads, subscribe to Cooler 0:21:34.720 --> 0:21:37.120 Zone Media, because then you get all this stuff. Without ads, 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:39.600 you just get our weird ad breaks and then immediately 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:59.160 it's my voice going and we're back. Needless to say, 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:02.480 I found it on Settling ten years later, when my 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.560 Edel developed a fixation with cars, all they wanted from 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.640 the library were books about cars. All the hollow games 0:22:09.680 --> 0:22:13.920 they played were car racers. At nearly ten, I thought 0:22:14.040 --> 0:22:16.080 Edel was getting a little too old to play with toys, 0:22:16.520 --> 0:22:20.159 but they begged me for a toy car. Specifically, they 0:22:20.240 --> 0:22:23.960 wanted a toy car from the Lawndale Orchard Swap. These 0:22:24.080 --> 0:22:27.160 cars had working lights and horns and battery powered engines. 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.640 All the neighborhood kids had one, except Edel. I held 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:36.119 out for months, weathering Edel's tearful requests. Finally, one morning, 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:38.439 Sam and I were sitting on the front porch, drinking 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.760 coffee and watching the neighborhood kids playing beneath the citrus grove. 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:45.240 Edel had gotten hold of a neighbor kid's car and 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.399 was zooming it around like an airplane. Sam must have 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:52.680 caught me frowning. You know, the more you forbid them, 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.680 the more fascinating you make them. And what if toy 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.320 machine guns came in fashion? Huh would you tell me 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:02.960 to get Edel's one of those two that's different, and 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:06.080 you know it, Sam shook her head at me. Watch 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.359 how they play with them. Edel was making engine roaring 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:11.760 noises and charged at a group of younger kids playing 0:23:11.840 --> 0:23:16.280 with dolls. The little one shrieked delightedly and scattered. It's 0:23:16.320 --> 0:23:19.760 how we used to play with dinosaurs, isn't it. Dinosaurs 0:23:19.800 --> 0:23:22.520 are extinct. There's no harm in glorifying them, I said, 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:25.480 But there are real people still trying to bring back cars, 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:30.399 just a handful of extremists, don't you see. Cars are 0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:35.560 dinosaurs to this generation, ancient beasts, extinct monsters. It's natural 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.320 for the kids to be fascinated. It doesn't mean Edel's 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.320 going to grow up to be a car's rights wacko. 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:45.119 My heart pounded with anger, not at Sam, but at 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:48.040 the memory of Bruce's face. I'll be damned before I 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:49.960 get a kid of mine a toy car, I said, 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:54.000 I don't know about damned Samside, but you're on track 0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:57.760 to destroy your relationship with your kid. The truth of 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:00.960 that took my breath away. Had been patting myself on 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:04.160 the back for stubbornness. A wall had sprung up between 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:07.320 me and Edel. Hugs and tickle fights in morning. Prairie 0:24:07.400 --> 0:24:11.040