Frontlines

Carmen sat in the library, staring at her laptop. It was 2:42pm on a Friday afternoon and the place was nearly empty. Normally she would be at school during this time, but she decided to take one more week off to get back into a routine. Besides, she loved the company of old books.

Things were slowly improving and she had started to see her friend Macy again. The past few weeks have felt long and the sun wasn’t letting up on beating down.

Carmen wondered how hot it would get before things started shutting down. She was fortunate to have a home with air conditioning, but many places in the area were living outside of the comfort zone. Jerry’s Diner down the block was just one of those many places. She knew this firsthand; last summer Carmen spent most of her days there, pouring coffee and baking the morning pastries. She couldn’t imagine working there now in this heat.

They kept calling for rain, but the sky had been clear for days. Her mom usually had the TV tuned to the news when she got home and the hottest topic was always the weather. Carmen had come to the conclusion that a call for rain was less of an honest prediction and more of a practice in the art of wishful thinking, a verbal rain dance, of some sort. Can you speak a better forecast into existence? Glen Clyde on Channel 8 seemed to believe so.

As she was staring out the window, a red minivan was attempting to parallel park. A bird was hopping along the sidewalk. Carmen’s phone buzzed.

Her mom needed canned tomatoes for dinner. Carmen sighed. Gathering her things, she decided to walk the long way home.

…

“Fancy seeing you here.”

On the way home, she passed by the community centre, where a water fountain sat in the middle of a small garden. She used to come here with her father when she was younger. Her elementary school was only a few blocks away, and they would often walk through the park on the way home after school. On a nice day, they would stop and Carmen would pick dandelions to put in a jar for her mom at home. On a rainy day, they would walk past briskly.

“How are you?” The man asked.

Carmen looked up from the bench where she sat. Squinting, it took her a minute to recognize who stood beside her.

“Dr. Newman?” Carmen asked.

“Mind if I sit?” Before she had a chance to respond, George sat beside her.

Carmen shifted further down the bench to leave more room. George placed his briefcase on the ground and sat down with a heavy sigh. For a moment they both just sat and stared ahead at the dry fountain. Keeping it full would be a significant waste.

“I’m sorry to bother you,” George began. “I was just on my way home from my shift and it’s been a bit of a, uh, stressful few months.”

Unsure of what to say, Carmen nodded her head.

“You know Carmen, your dad was a great fella and I’m really sorry you’ve lost him, especially under such circumstances. Did you know I attended your parents’ wedding?” George asked.

“I didn’t know,” she said, still staring at the fountain.

“I don’t know whether your parents ever told you but when my wife and I first came to Cedar Grove your mother was part of the welcoming committee. She got along really well with my wife, Helen, and made us feel like the community was pleased to have us settle down here. Pete and Mary were just getting married and invited us to come to the wedding. Things seemed a lot less complicated back then. I looked after your mom during her pregnancies and delivered your brother Josh. I was right there when you came into the world, so I guess we have known each other for a long time. Your dad and I never really saw eye to eye, though, on a lot of things… the environment, politics, oil and gas… we kind of drifted apart over the years. But I’m really sorry about what happened to him. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay,” Carmen replied, but her voice fell flat. “I just feel kind of useless right now. It’s so hot and things just feel like they keep getting worse and I don’t know…” Her voice trailed off as she struggled to find the right words to say.

“Yes, I hear you. I share some of that feeling of being overwhelmed by it all. You know they say the best antidote to despair is action. I have been thinking for a while that maybe we should organize a Cedar Grove environment committee to talk about what we might do locally to lessen the impact of the heat and whatever else is coming at us. What do you think? Is that something you or some of your friends might want to be involved in?”

“Well, I don’t know… We could try and at least just start the conversation.”

George wiped his brow. The sun was starting to take its toll. “That’s half the work, you know. Just bringing people together.”

“I don’t even know what that would look like.” Carmen said, her thoughts trailing off.

George stood and picked up his briefcase.

“Let me have a crack at it and I’ll see what I can figure out,” George said. “Take care of yourself, Carmen. And say hi to your mom for me. I hope she’s well.”

As George walked away Carmen checked her watch. The time read 4:49. She was expected home in eleven minutes. Eyes widening, Carmen ran to the grocery store.

…

“Please turn to page 286.”

The buzzing of the room began to die down as the teacher began to speak. Carmen had sat in her usual spot in the front left side, but slunk further down in her seat than usual. The past month had taken its toll and she still didn’t quite feel her usual self – she felt a bit more anxious, a bit more vocal, and a bit more unsure about the way things were.

Carmen stared out the window at the cars passing by on the street. The class droned on, but her mind was somewhere else. Things felt hazy and the heat didn’t help.

She tuned in and out, catching only snippets of her teacher’s monotone lecture: “…trees are an important part of maintaining our ecosystem, but…”

Carmen used to love her science classes but after getting back to school, she was having a more difficult time trying to focus. There were too many reminders of the way things used to be when her father was around.

“Next week, we’re going to look at the importance and implications of tree clearing.”

Suddenly the bell rang and the world around her came back into focus.

Wait, what did I just miss? 

Around her, everyone began to gather their things, shoving books into backpacks and squeaking chairs back into place.

“Don’t forget to read chapter five for next class!” The teacher called out. “I will be expecting you to know the key terms that are in bold at the end of the chapter. Enjoy the weekend!”

Carmen raised herself from her seat as students began to shuffle out the door. She went up to her teacher.

“I’m sorry Mr. Klein,” she uttered. “I think I fell asleep.”

“Don’t worry about it, Carmen,” he replied. “Just make sure you try to read the chapter over the weekend. We have another quiz coming up, but if you need more time please let me know – I’m sure we can work something out.”

“Why were you talking about tree clearing?” Carmen asked.

“It’s part of the new curriculum,” he replied, gathering various papers that were strewn across his desk. “It’s not about tree clearing itself, but clearing trees for pipelines. It’s the first important measure taken before they start building the access roads. It’s important to know, especially for the area we live in.”

“But don’t we need trees to survive?”

“Well, yes, of course we do. But they’ll grow back. We need pipelines too. How else do you expect things to stay up and running?”

Too tired to argue, Carmen left the room. She wasn’t convinced about what her teacher had to say and she wanted to argue – she wanted to express her frustration, but she didn’t quite have the energy to do so. Carmen decided to walk home to cool down. Ironic, given the temperature.

On the way, she decided to head towards her friend Macy’s house. They had known each other since preschool and Macy was planning on moving away for university after their last school year. As much excitement as Carmen had for her, she couldn’t quite help but feel a bit upset that Macy was leaving. She still didn’t know what she was doing after graduation.

“Hey Macy! Are you here?” Carmen called out after letting herself into the house.

“In my bedroom,” she replied from down the hall.

Carmen slid off her shoes and creaked open Macy’s door. She was sitting on her bed  and reading, as usual.

“What’s up?” Macy asked.

“Do you know what they’re teaching in science class?” Carmen said, almost yelling as her frustration boiled. “They’re literally teaching us that clearing trees for pipelines is a good thing. Did you learn that last semester?”

“Uh, no?” Macy replied, her face scrunching up in confusion. “Are you serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t,” Carmen replied. “What is going on in this town? This place keeps heating up and nobody is doing anything. Now they expect us to just accept the fact that destroying the environment is the best thing to do to keep things ‘up and running’. Do you know what Mr. Klein said to me? He said: ‘They’ll grow back’”.

Macy shut her book and tossed it onto her side table.

“Macy, what am I gonna do when you leave? How will I ever survive in this town without you?” Carmen asked, tears brimming in her eyes. She sat on the end of Macy’s bed and stared ahead at the wall.

“Then let’s do something,” Macy said sitting up. “I won’t leave you here with nothing.”

Carmen let her frustration pour out of her as she sat on the end of her friend’s bed. For the first time in the past month, she felt like things might get better.

They have to get better, she told herself. Even if we have to make it.