The heat given off by a nuclear bomb is so hot that it can bake a shadow into concrete, so that even when the person standing there, screaming, is gone, that last shadow of them standing there, screaming, can last forever and ever on the surface of a building, the way glazed tiles have lasted for over a thousand years in Roman mosaics uncovered by construction workers and anthropologists in the Middle East, in England, on the walls of ancient buildings that have slipped beneath the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.
Just think of that, all of the shadows that will be captured when those bombs finally go off. Dogs, cats, perhaps even the long shadows cast by crickets climbing out of their hiding places to greet the setting sun, all of those shadows will be bookmarked for future generations to cut into slabs and mount on museum walls, or make into coffee tables, or even erect churches around, because even if we know those shadows will last forever, we have no idea who will be left to find those shadows, buried in the wreckage of what passes for civilization these days, and whisper, “Look at that. Look at that. Look at that.”
Holly Day’s writing has recently appeared in Analog SF, Talking River, and New Plains Review, and her published books include Music Theory for Dummies and Music Composition for Dummies. She currently teaches classes at The Loft Literary Center in Minnesota, Hugo House in Washington, and the Indiana Writers Center.
Image:
Check out HFR’s book catalog, publicity list, submission manager, and buy merch from our Spring store. Follow us on Instagram, Bluesky, and YouTube. Disclosure: HFR is an affiliate of Bookshop.org and we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Sales from Bookshop.org help support independent bookstores and small presses.
Heavy Feather Review 