unleashing alternative futures: pool party

“did it work?” asa yelled up to noa from the basement.

noa shrugged. “seems like it, but i can’t tell til we turn it on. not sure if that’s worth it.”

“do it! it’s only a second. the water board can’t possibly be tracking small infractions like these. they have so many bigger fish to fry.”

noa turned the handle on the hose spiget on and off. two drips.

“we got it!”

“yessssssssssssss! “ they both rejoiced.

asa climbed up the stairs and they high-fived.

“this weekend is going to be epic” asa beamed.

“you’d like it’d be harder to reroute everyone’s pipes together, eh?”


friday night came around and the signal thread was roudy. as any group of teens before a friday night party would be.

nico was bringing the floaties. anthem and remy had music figured out. alvie had the safety plan locked in. jayden was going to kick things off.

everyone arrived without a hitch. 1130p. no lights. quieter than last month.

jayden walked out to the bouncy end of the diving board as the pool filled. he loved to ride the energy of the crew as he opened each party.

“friends. your sacrifice week to week is what gives us this gift. we don’t shave, we cook less, we deal with our own fuck, all for this moment. this glorious moment.” he paused to look at everone gathered, swimsuited and smiling, around the perimeter of the pool.

“if this is your first party, in honor of your sacrifice, you go first. welcome to the pool party.”


inspiration:

  1. the long-standing work of octavia butler (and many international development theorists) who have predicted or seen drought (which is normal) combined with climate change combined with our (american and beyond) perpetual resistance to act collectively for our own benefit.
  2. visiting an airbnb for my friend, ben’s 40th birthday, where there was a lovely hot tub with jets in the apartment but signs saying that we’d be fined if we used too much water (and therefore that we couldn’t take a bath).
  3. southern california instituting it’s most intense water restrictions to date. latimes - Unprecedented water restrictions ordered as MWD declares water shortage emergency

words / writing / post-processing
365w / 17min / 5min