everything else floating around their world nowadays.
There were four rows of plants and flowers and vegetables. The rooftop was curved, looking like a thick tarp suspended from floor to floor with bended pipes spaced about 2 feet apart.
Anne walked down the middle row confidently - she obviously knew the place well. She stopped at a plant and pulled something green from its branches, placing it between her teeth and ripped it in two, the second half pulled away by her hand.
“Green beans,” she said. “Perfectly formed. Crunchy and tasty, just as God intended them to be.”
“How do you know this place is safe?”
She plopped the other half of the pea pod in her mouth, chewed several times and then swallowed.
“I don’t, exactly,” she said. “But I have a reasonably good idea given that it’s only approachable from one direction. The other side has the cliff overtop the river that’s a good 50 feet wide and several dozen feet deep. The ground wasn’t trampled - there were no prints of any kind, except for the byward path I always take to the greenhouse.”
Jess was struggling to catch his breath - he was still tired from the walk.
“And what if there had been tracks you didn’t recognize?”
“I’d be gone,” she said. There were four other greenhouses in the area, she whispered, though this one was her favourite.
It was like they were camping, he thought. A false sense of security since the only thing keeping them from the outside a bunch of poles and a big tarp.
Anne held her hand out, and in her palm sat several green beans, dark green and slightly moist.
He took two, and threw them into his mouth, devouring more than tasting.
Green beans weren’t something that he ever would have imagined he’d call delectable but they were just that.
“So these are your children,” he said.
She laughed.
“Certainly not! These are mindless plants good for nourishment of many kinds.”
The texture of the beans was almost course, but crunched wonderfully under the force of his teeth and jaws. He looked up and saw that ash had piled up at the sides of the roof - everything inside seemed free from whatever toxins were stopped by the protective tarp. The apples he had yesterday, in comparison, were probably saturated with it.
A shadow seemed to pass by the building but Anne had her back to it and would not have noticed. Everything outside was blurred by the tarp, as if they were looking through a sheet of dark green water. You could see the general shape of things, like the blurred outline of trees that swayed in the wind. The shadow Jess thought he saw was formless - just a blurred movement in the haze. He thought of telling her but distrusted his senses.
They both had jackets on and the place was surprisingly warm. Jess began to feel beads of perspiration appear at his temples.
Anne walked to the back of the structure and placed a watering can under a large tap.
“Is that clean water?”
“Of course. This place has access to an underground water supply and there’s an on-site water filtration tank in the back.”
She filled the can and walked around, up and down each aisle, giving the plants and flowers a taste.
Jess walked over to the tap. There was a sort of containment area built into the floor directly below the tap with a drain so that the water wouldn’t go everywhere. He turned it on - just a dribble at first. It was clear, pristine looking. He cupped his hands under the flow and heard Anne singing somewhere behind him.
“Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.”
The water was cool and every bit as clear in taste as it appeared. He turned the tap up so that the water flowed faster and dropped his head below the flow so he could
There were four rows of plants and flowers and vegetables. The rooftop was curved, looking like a thick tarp suspended from floor to floor with bended pipes spaced about 2 feet apart.
Anne walked down the middle row confidently - she obviously knew the place well. She stopped at a plant and pulled something green from its branches, placing it between her teeth and ripped it in two, the second half pulled away by her hand.
“Green beans,” she said. “Perfectly formed. Crunchy and tasty, just as God intended them to be.”
“How do you know this place is safe?”
She plopped the other half of the pea pod in her mouth, chewed several times and then swallowed.
“I don’t, exactly,” she said. “But I have a reasonably good idea given that it’s only approachable from one direction. The other side has the cliff overtop the river that’s a good 50 feet wide and several dozen feet deep. The ground wasn’t trampled - there were no prints of any kind, except for the byward path I always take to the greenhouse.”
Jess was struggling to catch his breath - he was still tired from the walk.
“And what if there had been tracks you didn’t recognize?”
“I’d be gone,” she said. There were four other greenhouses in the area, she whispered, though this one was her favourite.
It was like they were camping, he thought. A false sense of security since the only thing keeping them from the outside a bunch of poles and a big tarp.
Anne held her hand out, and in her palm sat several green beans, dark green and slightly moist.
He took two, and threw them into his mouth, devouring more than tasting.
Green beans weren’t something that he ever would have imagined he’d call delectable but they were just that.
“So these are your children,” he said.
She laughed.
“Certainly not! These are mindless plants good for nourishment of many kinds.”
The texture of the beans was almost course, but crunched wonderfully under the force of his teeth and jaws. He looked up and saw that ash had piled up at the sides of the roof - everything inside seemed free from whatever toxins were stopped by the protective tarp. The apples he had yesterday, in comparison, were probably saturated with it.
A shadow seemed to pass by the building but Anne had her back to it and would not have noticed. Everything outside was blurred by the tarp, as if they were looking through a sheet of dark green water. You could see the general shape of things, like the blurred outline of trees that swayed in the wind. The shadow Jess thought he saw was formless - just a blurred movement in the haze. He thought of telling her but distrusted his senses.
They both had jackets on and the place was surprisingly warm. Jess began to feel beads of perspiration appear at his temples.
Anne walked to the back of the structure and placed a watering can under a large tap.
“Is that clean water?”
“Of course. This place has access to an underground water supply and there’s an on-site water filtration tank in the back.”
She filled the can and walked around, up and down each aisle, giving the plants and flowers a taste.
Jess walked over to the tap. There was a sort of containment area built into the floor directly below the tap with a drain so that the water wouldn’t go everywhere. He turned it on - just a dribble at first. It was clear, pristine looking. He cupped his hands under the flow and heard Anne singing somewhere behind him.
“Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.”
The water was cool and every bit as clear in taste as it appeared. He turned the tap up so that the water flowed faster and dropped his head below the flow so he could
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