Windward Review Volume 19 (2021): Empathy and Entropy

So when I hears on the radio that we’ve gotta leave, all pack up and get out of
dodge cause of the fire, I know that ain’t meaning me. This is a house made to
last, I owe it to my kids and grandkids to defend it like my parents did for me.
I’ve had a long life, and I don’t want to see a world where my family don’t live
here. If the good Lord sees fit for this to be my time, so be it. Thie house was
where I was born. Seems like a mighty good place to die too.
-
The dancers perform a more sentimental, familial dance during this. They build a
legacy and vow to defend it, and to love each other forever. They know nothing
of calamities to come.
ELDERLY and his chair collapse into ash.
FIREFIGHTER
How many years have faded away, forgotten by the living? Known only to
dust.
-
CHILD is seen, she is still seated. The dancers stand on either side behind her
CHILD
This is my first trip up here, to see the farm, to see my dad. He- He and
my mom split up when I was really little, so I haven’t, like, actually met him
before this. To me, “Dad” was just a name on a birthday card for most of
my life, not actual family. Its always just been me and my mom. But then I
had this idea, maybe I could come live with him for a summer. You know,
get away from the city, spend time outdoors, and like, get to know him. I remember
thinking “what have I got to lose? Its just a summer, and if it sucks
you can come back home.” I cant get that memory out of my head. Running,
packing my things, coughing and crying from smoke, all I can think is “what
have I got to lose? Its Just a summer” And I know this isn’t my fault, but I
just can’t stop thinking that this was my idea. I decided to come here. And…
as I was getting on the plane to come here my mom took my shoulders and
said “you’re sure you want to do this?’ and the look in her eyes? It was like
she felt something was going to go wrong. And I told her yes. And said I
loved her. And then I walked onto the plane without looking back. And I am
so afraid that I wasted my last chance to see my mom’s face. That I wasted
all my choices, my whole life. And as we try to outrun the fire, I keep picturing
my mom’s eyes. They were really worried. My dad got us to a little house
on the beach with some other people, but no one is saying anything. I’m
only thirteen years old. I really don’t want to go.
-
The dancers perform a complex and restrained exploration of power and loss.
Of blame and guilt and longing for what could be. CHILD dissolves into ash
FIREFIGHTER
Known only to the dust
-
Light is found on REPORTER, fidgeting in their chair
REPORTER
When I flew in, you could uh, you couldn’t see the ground. There was this layer
of smoke over everything, I didn’t even know we had arrived till we dipped
down through that smoke and a whole city just popped into view. Once I
got down there, I had to keep wearing a mask in my car, like an n95 mask,
because the ac system just couldn’t filter out the sheer number of like, the
number of particulates in the air. I drove to a refugee center, just outside of
Portland, I wanted to see how the people displaced by the fire were taking it.
And, It was odd, honestly. The skies were full of smoke, people were sleeping
in their cars and on sleeping bags in a parking lot, but there was still hope.
I uh, I found this set of sisters. They had to be in their mid-seventies or so,
and they had 3 birds and two dogs with them in their sedan where they were
sleeping. Their home, their entire town, had been burned to the ground the
previous week. And yet they were so full of life. They still had hope. I saw that
everywhere I looked. There was despair, anger, fear yes but there was always
hope. Even when we had to move the whole camp because the fires got
closer in the night, they always tried to have hope. Right up to the end. We
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Empathy / Entropy