Old Home

• Simon Little, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2020

Sam looked out the rust covered window of the clunky space shuttle, he saw the once great planet Earth looking sapped of all its colour and resources like it were exhausted. Sam thought it looked no bigger than a basketball and it was getting smaller as he gradually drifted away from it. He was in the last group to leave Earth. The adults told him that they were leaving because Earth could no longer sustain them. He sat there pondering what life would be like on Earth before the climate crisis. He could have run through the wilderness with nothing to stop him. Sam’s pa told him a story about his grandfather who worked at a ski lodge in the Rocky Mountains. Apparently, they skied for the entire day with warm, cosy coats protecting them from the fresh, cool mountain breeze. Sam looked down at the Earth, disappointed. There was no snow on the mountains, no ice on the north pole, only the arid desert that has become of North America. His aunt told him stories of the beautiful Hawaiian beaches, she said the beaches were open all day and people would swim in the clear water with the beautiful coral and exotic fish. But Sam could see no tropical islands. The once magnificent Pacific Ocean now resembled an ill child, washed and grey from the waste. Sam’s uncle once told him that people back then didn’t care about the planet, all that mattered to them was getting richer and more powerful. Sam could never understand why they thought like this.
“What’s the point of money if it can’t take you anywhere nice”, he thought to himself with Hawaii and the Rockies in mind. Sam looked around and saw the solemn faces of people leaving their home. The air was heavy, and no one made eye contact. Obviously, the ship he is in was built in a hurry because you could see dents in the exposed aluminium walls and places where pipes were duct taped together. Sam wasn’t sure where he was going, people assured him that it would be a great home with plenty of food, but he didn’t really care. His home was down below him which had decreased to the size of a golf ball since he last looked out. Slowly the golf ball that was Earth became a pea, then a tiny prick, and eventually, Earth was gone.