@Slynnwen
Omake: [idk what to call it]
"Ugh, just listen to this, Debbie. Never thought Disney would pull this crap."
Debbie rolls her eyes as she grabs flour and sugar from the pantry. She's making cookies.
"You still on about that speech? Jesus, Jim. Give it a rest."
"'
Conservation concerns all of us'. What is he, a commie?" The man rubbed his forehead in frustration. "I thought Disney had good American values!"
"I ain't listening to you complain about that damn speech any more. You'd better quiet down or you won't get any of these cookies. You've been bringing it up again and again for months! 'Sides, I think he's got a point."
"Yeah?" Jim snorts derisively. "And what point is that?"
"Gas and oil's burning up the planet, and we gotta stop sooner or later."
"We've been burning gas and oil for centuries and nothing bad has happened yet..."
"Uh, sugar, did you forget why we got this place in the suburbs? And your big shiny Chevy? City smog! You said it made you sick! Well, burning gas is going to make
everyone sick. It makes sense that burning crap messes up the air. Ash gets everywhere. You should sell it. Pay down the house some, fix the crack in the basement..."
"We need some way to get around and a good car will cost less in the long run." It's an old argument that Debbie doesn't want to push. Jim continues, "Alan lost his job because Mr. Eisner kicked a beehive and then all the cows ran away when the barn burned down, to mix a metaphor. So did the Bergens and the Decastries, and even Mr. Cooper! He told me he's probably going to lose the house and car, and then what will his wife and kids do, hm?"
"Well, that's too bad. I don't wish our neighbors harm, but that's not the point. I been talking about this with some of the girls from my book club and-"
"The girls in your book club wouldn't know a scientific paper from a gossip rag, Debbie."
She thwacked her husband with a wet mixing spoon.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Don't be mean, hon. They get silly ideas in their heads and that's for sure, but
I went to college. I read some of the climate papers at the library and from what I can tell it's all true. Besides, the smart boys in lab coats know their stuff. Dozens of them saying the same thing."
She goes back to her batch of cookies.
"Doesn't change the fact that the whole Exxon mess is making everyone poorer. It's even worse in Irving - I read this story about how whole streets are full of empty houses with the utilities shut off because so many people worked at Exxon or the businesses that shut down when Exxon fell apart. It's a depressing scene."
"Good scientific investigation being locked up -
that's the real crime here, not the solar panel business. If you ask me, Reagen needs a good reminder of reality once in a while... Hey, what's your pa say about this? It's no great depression. Can't be."
"...No, it's not. Remmy says things will be fine in a few years. It's just that they could've been fine
now."
"I think you're just sulking, hon. I know you like your cars and don't like people tutting at you for driving around, and that's perfectly understandable. But science doesn't lie! I've been thinking about going to the town council about a bus service. Stops at the outlets of each neighborhood so it's just a couple of minutes to walk out and you can sit until you get to the mall or wherever you need to be."
"Buses? Standing around waiting in the snow or rain, and having to take a whole long circuit when you really just need to nip to the grocery store for something? Cars are so much more convenient, Debbie."
"Well, it'd be cheaper to use than owning a car. That's the thing, you
have to own a car these days, there's just no living a real life without one. With more buses and trains and so on poorer folks could do without. It'd cut down on this 'global warming' thing if enough people did it.
And," she says with a twirl, "It'd get rid of some traffic! Ten or twenty cars replaced by one bus so you can ride around in your red Chevy more, how about that?"
He shrugs. "I suppose if people actually
use it, a bus system would be good. Not sure they would, though. Buses are mighty inconvenient when everyone has a car already."
"Gas is pricey again, and most of the democrats I know are talking about it. I think it could happen. Ooh! I just remembered something. You know that big open field the town council didn't know what to do with? The place that was gonna be a drive-in theater? They're talking about putting solar panels there, too!"
Jim shakes his head. "They'd better not raise our taxes to pay for that. Not when people are already hurting."
There is a brief pause as cookies go into the oven.
"
We're doing fine. You've got a nice job at a respected law firm, I get a lot of accounting done when the kids don't need me, we have
savings, Claire's doing perfectly fine in high school, Evan still has that sports scholarship for his degree, the house is mostly paid off. Even if we both lost our jobs we could ride it out
just fine and things will be great in the long term. But we do have to think about that long term. Do you want to retire as a multi-millionaire, only it turns out the whole world's burning to cinders?"
Jim sighs again. "I'll try to stop bringing up the speech, hon. Sorry."
"You can have a cookie when they're ready. Just remember, most of them are for Alan's kid. He shouldn't need to worry about food for the birthday party when he's got good neighbors like us after all!"
"Maybe we need a short vacation. Keep our minds off of things. Like you just said, we can afford it, we're in good shape. And it's simple economics that things get better if people spend more in times like these."
"Sure, why not? Where do you want to go?"
"Maybe we can drive up to one of the national parks? Take a road trip, see the Grand Canyon, maybe Zion and Rocky Mountain?"
"Weren't we just talking about how people need to drive less?"
"What do you want from me, Debbie?! Fine, somewhere else."
"Just somewhere without so much driving. Why not
Disney? We can get a bus ticket. We can wait for the summer and go see the new Tomorrowland! Samuel's been talking about the new space thing for ages, and Claire said they have some kind of new Star Wars ride coming soon. You know, those movies she likes so much?"
"I mean, the kids would like it, but
Disneyland, Debbie? You know I don't like-"
"
DISNEY!!!" An eleven year old boy comes rocketing into the kitchen. "Are we going to Disneyland??? That's all I want for my birthday!"
"Settle down, Sam!" Both parents say at once. His dad folds his newspaper and sighs.
"...Maybe," the father allows. He glances at his wife. Debbie makes a 'go ahead' motion. "...Tell you what, let's see how your report card looks at the end of the year. Get four A's out of five, and we'll go to Disneyland and see the new Star Wars land."
"It's
Tomorrowland, dad.
Star Tours is part of it but not the whole thing. It's going to be so cool! The coolest thing I've seen in forever!"
"Only if you get at least four A's, kiddo!"
He nods rapidly and bounces on his toes. "I'm gonna go do my homework! Can I show it to you after dinner, mom? You're great at math."
Debbie laughs. "Definitely! Glad to help."
And with that, Sam runs off. "...Well, anything that gets him that excited about homework can't be all that bad."
Debbie just smiled and set the oven timer, then gave her husband a peck on the cheek.
That summer, the whole family went to Disneyland. That fall, a new bus service opened up in a small town in southern California, with tentative plans for a solar power plant still being processed through the gears of bureaucracy.
