Tuesday 15 December 2015

The world underneath


Every time Kitty’s family came to Nevada, her ten-year-old brother Jack would say in an affected voice, “The desert is teeming with life.”  It was a joking reference to Mr. Henry, Kitty’s science teacher.  In addition to running a fire lab every year that gave the principal sweats in more ways than one, Mr. Henry liked to quote nature programs.  Most of the quotes weren't worth more than a groan and an eye roll.  But this one…this one made sense to Kitty.  She liked how she could look for miles and see nothing but the occasional cactus when, in reality, all around her the desert was—well, teeming with life.  Just life she couldn't necessarily see.  Underneath the rocks, underneath the needles on the cactus, even in the sand underneath her very feet…everywhere.  “Life finds a way,” Jack would say in a fake creepy whisper, this time quoting Jurassic Park, but here in the scorching Nevada heat was the proof.

Life did find a way.

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