I said, “I’m not human, sir, dear me, don’t be ridiculous. I’m a humble crow. Why just look at me.”

“Well,” he said, “here’s an idea, to rid yourself of this ·[restless mortal affliction?]·, travel to the palace at ·[the center?]·…

“… a garden there, brighter and greener than every other, and inside the goddess keeps a book containing ·[all the knowledge of the gods]·. Inside you just might find what you…”

LAKEPORT, IDAHO

AUGUST 2019–FEBRUARY 2020

Seymour

The instructions say to use a Tor browser to download a secure messaging platform called Pryva-C. He has to load several updates to get it to work. Days pass before he receives a response.

• MATHILDA: thank u 4 reaching out sry for delay just needed
• SEEMORE6: ur with bishop? at his camp?
• MATHILDA: to verify
• MATHILDA: ur not with authorities
• SEEMORE6: not I swear
• SEEMORE6: want 2 help want 2 join fight
• MATHILDA: i have been assigned to u
• SEEMORE6: want 2 break machine

At the end of the summer, a hurricane shatters two Caribbean islands, drought squeezes Somalia, the global monthly average temperature breaks another record, an intergovernmental report announces that ocean temperatures have risen four times faster than anyone expected, and the smoke from two separate megafires in Oregon rides eastward currents into Lakeport, where it collects in shapes that look to Seymour, in the satellite images on his tablet, very much like whirlpools.

He has not seen Janet since he smashed the big side window of the RV at the marina and ran. As far as he knows, she didn’t call the police; if the police somehow found her, he doesn’t think she told them about him. All summer he avoids the library, avoids the lakefront, works at the ice rink cleaning locker rooms and stocking sodas with the drawstring of his hoodie pulled tight. Other than that he stays in his bedroom.

• MATHILDA: they say eighty dead in the flooding what they don’t count is how many depressed, how many PTSD, how many have no $ to relocate, how many will die from mold, how many
• SEEMORE6: wait which floods
• MATHILDA: will die of broken hearts
• SEEMORE6: the smoke here is v bad today
• MATHILDA: in the future they will look back and marvel at how we lived
• SEEMORE6: not us tho? not you & me?
• MATHILDA: our complacency
• SEEMORE6: not the warriors?

In September collection agencies ring Bunny’s phone three times a day. The poor air quality keeps Labor Day tourists away; the marina is practically deserted, the restaurants empty; tips at the Pig N’ Pancake are nonexistent, and Bunny can’t find hours to replace the ones she lost when the Aspen Leaf closed.