R. Allinson: The Last Day on Earth

“Bruce Willis?”

“Yeah, you know, that movie where there’s an asteroid coming to wipe out America and Bruce Willis and Jennifer Garner’s husband save the day and Arwen cries a lot.”

“Right… you mean Liv Tyler?”

Jess nodded. Celebrity names had never been her strong point.

“Don’t think I saw that one. How do they save the day?”

“They blow it up. Or something. I can’t remember exactly, I saw it when I was a kid.”

“Could they do that? Blow it up I mean,” Lucy asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know. I remember reading a while ago that the force needed to actually blow up an asteroid that size is like a bazillion times bigger than any of the bombs they’ve ever made. And anyway, even if they did blow it up it would just mean hundreds of smaller big chunks of rock hitting us, and not all of them would burn up in the atmosphere. They’d still do a hell of a lot of damage.”

“What about… I dunno… rockets or something to steer it off course?”

“No idea, Luce. How long do you think they’ve known?”

“Who? The government?” Lucy asked. Jess nodded.

Lucy thought for a moment before answering. She took her wine and one of the blocks of chocolate over to the couch and sank down. Jess trailed after her.

“Probably awhile,” she sighed. “The only reason we know right now is because those two NASA people spilled the beans.”

“True. Do you think they’ve got shelters or anything?"

“Probably,” Lucy shrugged. “Not like it’s going to help us though. If it’s as big as they say it is…”

“Yeah — bigger than the dinosaurs. That’s not exactly reassuring. But things survived back then right? I mean, we’re here today as living proof.”

“Yeah. But, it was mainly little scavenger type creatures. The original mammals were tiny. Obviously a few crocs survived. And sea creatures.”

“I reckon some people will survive. Some of those post-apocalyptic novels will be coming true,” Jess said.

“Those frogs that bury themselves in the desert and wait for the next rains would survive I bet. It would be interesting to see what rises from the ashes… see what the next stage of evolution looks like…”

“Yeah, but you won’t be around to see it.”

“Bugger,” said Lucy.

They both laughed and drank more wine.

“What are you going to do?” Jess asked.

“What do you mean? Doesn’t seem like much we can do other than hope they pull off some miracle.”

“No, I mean, between now and then.”

“Oh…” She hadn’t really thought about it yet. “Guess I won’t be going to Spain after all. Damn it! I’ve wanted to go to Spain since I was a kid.”

“There’re lots of places I want to go… but I was thinking more practically. You’re not going to stay here are you?”

“No. Claire emailed me just before, she told me to go to the farm.”

“Your sister’s got the right idea. I wonder how long things can keep going for? I mean, I’m not going to work tomorrow, are you?”

“Hell no.”

“See, our jobs don’t matter so much. I mean who’s going to miss an accountant or an insurance call centre worker? But I’m going to miss being able to go to the supermarket, or being able to call the police or fire brigade or go to the hospital, or catch the train. Really, if I don’t want to spend my last weeks on earth working, why should I expect a policeman or bus driver or checkout chick to?” said Jess.

“I… I hadn’t actually thought about that. Shit. We gotta get outta here.”

Jess nodded grimly.

“The sooner the better.”

“Where will you go? Your dad lives in Frankston.”

Jess shook her head. “Didn’t I tell you? He moved back to his parents’ farm in Gippsland a few months ago to help out after Grandpa had a stroke. I’ll go there.”

Lucy nodded. She wondered what all the people who didn’t have a convenient relative with a remote farm would do. Steve? What would Steve do? His whole family lived in the city. Maybe he could come with her.

They spent the rest of the evening reminiscing about their university years, and contemplated futures that would never come to pass.

Present…

“Lucy! Look!” Liz’s cry brought Lucy out of her reverie. A mob of kangaroos came bounding out of the trees and raced off into the open paddocks next to the creek. Lucy smiled. She never tired of the sight. She gazed around at the landscape and wondered what would survive. Probably not the kangaroos unfortunately. But possibly a lot of the plants. Well, not these exact plants, but their seeds. The Australian bush was designed to regenerate after devastating fires. That was if they weren’t in the middle of a giant crater tomorrow of course. She thought that even those seeds might have trouble then.

Liz and Lucy rode on in companionable silence.

“Do you have any regrets, Mum?”

“A million.”

“Like what?”

Liz looked over at her daughter.

“Not seeing you grow up and marry and have children of your own, or making any use of that university degree.”

“Yeah, well, that’s on my list of regrets too. I meant for you personally though.”

“I don’t know, Lucy. I’ve had a pretty good life. I would have liked to go back to Europe with your father, and I wish we had gone to visit Claire and the boys more often. I always wanted to go to Hawaii.” Liz paused and thought for a moment. “When it comes down to it though, I think I did pretty well. Your Dad and I still love each other after 34 years together, we raised two wonderful girls, I enjoyed my job most of the time and your Dad loved running the farm. I never did record my album though.”

“It would have been a best-seller, I’m sure,” Lucy grinned.

“Like your book,” Liz winked.

“Mmm yeah, like my book. You know, that’s one thing I really do regret. I mean, not like it matters, even if I did there’d be no-one around to read it after tonight, but just to know that I could actually finish one, you know?” Lucy thought of all the half started stories tucked away in files on her laptop. She had always thought that she’d have time to finish them off one day.

“I always wanted a son.” Lucy looked over at her mother in surprise. “We tried for another baby after you, but it just never happened.”

“I never knew. I’m sorry, Mum.”

Liz shrugged. “That’s life. Then Claire decided to raise her family in Canada. I never thought my grandchildren would be on the other side of the world most of the time.”

“She was thinking about coming back, you know.”

“Was she?”

“Yeah. She told me the last time I talked to her before… you know. They were looking into getting Tom’s qualifications transferred.”

“Really? Damn it. Damn it, damn it, damn it.”

“Mum… I’m scared.”

Liz reached over and grasped Lucy’s hand.

“Me too, love, me too.”

Lucy knocked on the peeling green door. She turned to wave to her mother. Liz waved back and nudged Kunama back in the direction they’d come from. Lightning whinnied from under the tree she’d tied him to.

“Who’s there?” a familiar voice called out.

“It’s me. Lucy.” She tried to open the door. It was locked.

“Lucy who?”

“Lucy Black!”

“Oh.” The door clicked, then opened. Tim, Lucy’s unofficial fiancé from the age of four (he’d never given her a ring) and pseudo-husband from the age of seven when his older sister Bethany had married them on the primary school oval, stood in the doorway in his track pants and a dirty t-shirt that proudly proclaimed Long Live Dumbledore.