The Pole Shift

Jimmy The Boy

He was fourteen and peculiar. He had been prepping for disaster since he saw a movie on TV that involved aliens and a violent power struggle between men. When the Pole Shift was announced on the news,  he sat wide eyed and turned with accusatory eyes to his mum.

                " I told you!" Was all he could shout, his voice breaking. His step father waved him away with an ashen face. He rushed out to the shed he had built himself and sat down amongst his belongings. He wondered what he had that might save his life. He wouldn't worry about them, they could go their own way - well he would save his mum if he could. He looked at his catapults and rat traps, his ten pound bow and the cane arrows he made, tipped with tin he'd cut from cans. "Useless!" He screamed and  thought harshly of himself.  The end wasn't going to be an alien invasion, or men against men, it was going to be a fucking Pole Shift! He didn't quite know what that was, he would  look it up before he made definite plans. Right now he was happy enough to curse his Mum and his useless step father. Finally he cursed himself for making arrows instead of a boat.

                Jimmy spent the weekend researching what a Pole Shift was meant to be.  It wasn't a magnetic pole shift which happened often enough, it was really earth crust displacement, where the land moved around the mantle like it was the peel come loose of an orange. It was all theory, but the geology didn't reject the idea, eminent minds didn't either;  he noted Albert Einstein supported the hypothesis.  Even history pointed to such events, deep history though, conspiracy theory history involving the pyramids and maths encoded in Neolithic stone  alignments, Jimmy knew maths was a language and he was set aflame. If it wasn't aliens or zombies or men against men, then it could be a secret past revisited. But how was he going to survive the immense grinding wave predicted? He got thinking and whilst his mum ordered his ginger step dad about in her Singaporean sharpness,  he began to think of some sort of capsule he could enclose himself in. It would have to be buried, to survive the initial cataclysm, but then rise through the waters to bob like a bottle on the turbulent sea.

                Why did he have to live with such dummies, he heard his mother saying over and over they must get in the car and get up into the country. Jimmy was pretty sure that his Mum thought that moving upwards on a map meant getting higher. Technically, he thought, she was right, but getting a few hundred meters above sea level wasn't going to save anyone. Hadn't she been watching the news? Nothing would stand in the way! The crust would move to a new position and violently disrupt everything that sat on the surface, like a tray of drinks being knocked hard by a passing thigh. He could picture it, it would be like an earth quake that went on for hours, days! He could see building being shaken to dust, people to jelly. The mass  drowning that must happen.  He was staring into space thinking of the mayhem and death, wondering how to build the capsule. What could he use? He had started to dig a hole in the floor of his shed, after he had carefully removed his perfect wooden floor boards. How would he cover it once he was in? He could collapse the shed on top with a mechanism executed by the pull of a rope. If he piled the earth onto a tarpaulin hung above the hole then roof and the earth would plug him in nicely. But what mechanism would release him if he wasn't washed out. How would he get out? He began to doubt his plan, the capsule sounded like a tomb.

                Jimmy was relieved that the Shift didn't happen that weekend, he had not been able to make decent plans. His mother went back to work on Monday as if nothing happened, while his stay at home step dad worked on the novel he had been writing for years.  Jimmy had snuck a look at the text several times. Silly nonsense.  All about feelings and betrayal. Sex, always sex.  Jimmy would put twenty bucks on the next chapter having a looming natural disaster hanging over the head of the hero. Whatever was happening in the world his step dad's novel reflected. Last month it had been the total financial collapse of  the West,  but the hero was okay because he had bought physical  gold the week before on the advice of a beautiful Chinese financial advisor he had happened to bed one sultry evening.  The hero had also stocked up on Marijuana, but Jimmy couldn't see how that would help the hero's  finances.

                Jimmy woke up on Monday and went to school. Mrs Wright smiled at him as he slumped in a chair with vigour. His attention lingered on the Biology teacher as their eyes passed like headlights.  He was reminded of his step father's impulses and he realised his plan to bury himself in a capsule was a scene right out of his novel. He could not come up with anything other than get to very high ground. The other kids, what there were of them, were either highly charged by the news or outright frightened. The teachers gathered everyone together to discuss the fear, the unreality, and what options they were faced with.

                "As far as the school is concerned, it's business as usual. We will dedicate the mornings to analysing the news, the social impacts, and individual choice. We are at the direction of the government.  For those of you that want a religious outlet, then here in the school hall there will be prayers and discussion about the will of God."

                Jimmy snorted but was ignored. Lots of kids had their hands up, some got up and left. He noted some of the teachers were absent. He put his hand up, the late action of it drawing attention , the headmaster gestured to him.

                "Instead of any of that, how about we figure a way out to survive it? Even if it is just theory, a project?" There were nods and yes's from the kids, even the teachers shifted their body language in support.

                "What do you propose Jimmy?" The principle had known about Jimmy from the off.  Clever, uncanny and secretive. He didn't seem to have firm friends, but moved from group to group with apparent ease. He had been at the fringe of various controversies.

                "I propose we propose, instead of asking God here in the school hall why don't we ask ourselves? I want to try and survive the Shift!" There were more Yes's and some clapped. The kids began to speak then, some talked about boats or underground shelters, others that high up in the mountains was the only course. More than half said they didn't understand what  was happening. There were perhaps one hundred students sat in front of the school stage facing a dozen teachers. Jimmy spoke again:

                "If we poll what we all think, like put us into camps, at least then we can see how the rest of the population is likely to behave." The headmaster looked at him, approving.

                "That's a very good exercise. All those that don't understand what is happening move to the back of hall." There was shuffling of chairs as the confused group, the majority,  lined up at the back. The headmaster went on. "I want the teachers in this too, this is a real exercise." None of the teachers budged but Jimmy saw that some of their faces betrayed them. "Okay, good, those that think they understand move forward." The remaining kids and the teachers formed the smaller group at the front. There was some quick swapping, before the headmaster asked the two groups to turn and face each other. The exercise had released tension, there was some giggles amongst the activity but importantly it revealed that three quarters of the population were unsure what a Pole shift was.