By: Candace Lu

Ashley Porter walked across the dirt road, panting. The chain on her bike had seemingly snapped in half, so now she had to hike back home from school. To add to her misery, she’d fallen down when the vehicle broke, covering her woolen ice blue school uniform in dust. Her black smog mask to filter out the air pollution and the fact that she was climbing a rather steep hill didn’t help either.

All of a sudden, Ashley spotted a small cream-colored oval sitting in the dry grass in front of her. Curious, she walked over and plucked it out of the hay. It fit perfectly in her hand and felt mildly cold. She warmed it up with her hands. Ashley had never seen such a perfectly round, white rock. Wrapping it in her sweater, Ashley hugged it against her chest, almost treating it as if it was a living thing, but that was impossible. Other than mosquitos, She’d never seen anything closely resembling a living thing.

Ashley had only heard stories; her Gram would tell her about creatures called bears and lions roaming the Earth. Her favorite stories were the ones about the land of ice and snow in the North and South. Apparently, they’d been the coldest places on Earth. You could see colored lights and animals as white as something called snow. Snow, according to her Gram, was made of cold, small specks of white that fell from the sky. Ashley had been confused, the world she knew was covered in smog and dry, barren wildlife. Later, She’d learned more about something known as climate change in school.

When Ashley finished hiking up the hill, she distinguished the familiar sight of five cottages. She’d learned in social studies about the regulation system for housing. Small towns in groups of five were assigned by the government by occupation and age. They also removed all non-ecofriendly technology, including transportation. Forcing Ashley to bike up and down a hill every day just to get to school.

She headed toward her house, mostly made of wood, decorated with furniture manufactured by the government. She placed her satchel down and replaced her shoes made from bamboo with her knitted socks. Immediately, she headed to her Gram’s room, she knocked and entered. Her Gram was seated on a cushioned chair knitting a pair of gloves. Along with assigning houses and handing out furniture, government officials sent citizens objects such as books, cards, and needles for sewing, knitting, and crocheting. As well as batteries for lights, which would run out of energy almost every year.

Ashley placed the porcelain object wrapped in her sweater on the desk. She immediately got to the point: “Gram, do you know what this is?”

Her Gram looked at the smooth object in the lump of cloth and her eyes widened. She muttered under her breath, something about birds, whatever they were. “The Phone, get The Phone right now.”

Ashley blinked, surprised by her change in tone. The Phone was an emergency way of contacting the government in case anything strange happened. After recovering from her shock she rushed to the closet, where The Phone was kept. Gram snatched the device out of her hand and pressed the only button. Then, she spoke into it, rushed.

“Gram, Gram? What is it?” Ashley asked curiously. The people on the other side questioned her about a million things. Then, she turned to Ashley, and said slowly, “You just found the last offspring of a penguin.”