An Ordinary Prophecy

When we opened the door, the aphids were already waiting in ambush. I don't fully understand the premise of what drove them into the house, but they swarmed in to collect in mass on the walls and ceiling as though it was the most natural thing in the world to do. We tried to scare them back outside or spray them with water. Others yelled at them, whipped towels across the walls, hoping to cut a swath right through their teeming ranks. They appeared to mate and give birth faster than we could ever hope to destroy them. The aphids found their way into the sinks and water system. They squeezed into the refrigerator, into the sheets and the closets. It wasn't long before someone decided to set the house on fire.

2.

The new popular thing to do was to get a personal plastic mold done of one's face. The process would create this polyurethane mask that could be customized to make any particular 'look' the patient may be wanting. One girl had her mask convey a 'go to hell' kind of face-a very common fashion-which was done by painting intensely curved eyebrows along with a slight quirk in the edge of the mouth that said 'and you are...?'.

For the boys, the most common face was the 'successful warrior'. This cast was done with great care. The eyebrows were set slightly higher than usual above the eyes with a kind of slant on one eye that indicated 'who gives a fuck.' The mouth was painted to have a half-smile that gave the mask a foolhardy appearance. To further illuminate the mask, most men chose to lean back in their chairs, maybe holding their heads with their hands in a kind of butterfly form, as if they were always preparing to do some sit-ups.

3.

On Wednesday afternoon, the cruise ship made a pass along the western coast of Africa. Of course the guests had hoped to see lions and antelope, but instead found a mountain of the cruise ship's trash collected along the beach. The people aboard the ship attributed this garbage to the locals, who obviously lacked the discipline to clean up after themselves. There were discarded diapers, soiled legal pads, plastic bags, empty milk cartons, and webs of gnarled fishing line. Behind that, hundreds of thousands waited shirtless and hungry as the cruise ship passed. While one couple took in the great orange glow of the sun, drinking champagne, eating lobster stolen from the Cape of Good Hope, the locals watched the white folk dance and laugh aboard the massive moving island. One man was too full to finish his pot roast, and so he threw it overboard. A few dozen men from the coast immediately rushed to their makeshift boats, nets in hand, hoping to retrieve the food. They were shot on site. Somewhere inside the cruise ship, a middle aged woman is complaining that the beer is too warm. There will be hell to pay for this.