never mind

If you heard the sun was going to explode and destroy the earth in two weeks, it would be hard to get motivated in the mornings. I suppose there’d be some people who couldn’t stand to sit still, they’d be out digging holes or building escape pods to Jupiter or sitting in church, but really there’d be no point in setting the alarm for 6am would there? You’d say your goodbyes in the first few days and then it’d be just sitting around waiting. Maybe you’d pack up and go out into the woods to wait somewhere nice, but you wouldn’t be taking any knitting would you? You’d maybe take mescalin instead.

And then The Scientists would announce it was all a bit of a mistake, they had the wrong lens on the telescope, made the sun look all big and scary. Everything’s quite normal, they say, no boiling seas or melting atmosphere, just forget all about it and go about your business.

But you wouldn’t be able to. Who wants to fix a paper jam in a copy machine after that? Who wants to take their car in for new tires or mow the lawn or open a dentistry practice after that? Nobody. Everybody would stay out in the woods, watching the sky and the land and talking and listening and playing with their kids and teaching them to be human. And they’d never come back.