The Laws of Water

4. Viking, Liberty, Envy

Denver Atkinson took eighty-seven long strides, power walking through Viking Avenue and then one step backwards as he spotted a white and blue sign that read "Envy Cafe". The logo looked like the one of a tech company from the nineties rather than a restaurant's. He glanced at the letter in his hand once more to verify the name and concluded that he had arrived at the right place.

The doors were locked, but he was also twelve minutes early.

He cupped his hands in front of his mouth to warm them up with his breath. Washington was cold that evening and a penetrating wind from Liberty Bay sneaked in through the holes of his knit burgundy sweater.

Denver lit a cigarette and alternated between looking right and left continuously, as if he was about to cross a street full of cars driving at 278 MPH. The whole thing was a bit nerve-wracking.

He took one last drag of his half-smoked cigarette and put it out on the sole of his shoe. A blue light flickered behind the closed shutters of Envy Cafe. He looked around for a trash can to dispose of his cigarette, but did not find one.

"Whoopsa daisy," he announced loudly, almost as if to break the ice with the voice in his head that filled him with anxiety.

Guess I'll have to hold this in my hand for now.

Denver Atkinson was one of those farts who never littered, called their grandmothers religiously every Sunday afternoon, volunteered in soup kitchens and only had sex missionary, in the dark, once a week. Barf, I know. But he was a good guy and in his defense, his fridge of a wife, Mila, was just about as cold as they cum.

The glass door of Envy Cafe swung open suddenly. A blue light lit up the path in front of the door and he cautiously stepped in.

Francis sat on the bar and contemplated a ceiling tile. He paid no attention to Denver for almost a minute. A projector and a screen were set up behind him and a bright blue slide with the letter P on it in white was showing.

"One-thousand two-hundred and ninty-six" Francis concluded.

"I'm sorry?" Denver asked quietly.

"The number of little holes in these ugly ceiling tiles, One-thousand two-hundred and ninty-six"

"Right, okay."

This guy's a total wackjob.

Denver inspected the wooden bow tie decorating Francis' neck and wondered if he should have dressed up nicer for the occasion.

But, what occasion even is this?....

By 3:31AM all those with a special invite trickled into the cafe and found a seat.

A tall man with a rumbling voice placed his hand on the shoulder of a short man with a toupee.

"Gerald! Man, good to see you."

"You two know each other?" Francis asked.

"Of course! We go way back, actually. In college..."

"Touching story," Francis interrupted him dryly "we must proceed."

The blue screen turned into a map of earth as Francis pushed the button in his hand-held remote.

"This is Earth."

He pushed up his glasses, turned back to his audience and waited for a response. No one was particularly enlightened by this slide.

"Alrighty then."

He pressed another button and red covered the surface of several countries.

"Chine, India, New Zealand and Mexico are 100% flooded," he announced "closer to home we have California, New York, Florida which are also drowning. There are 44 other countries which are partly flooded as well."

A few jaws dropped. Two men teared up, one looked like he was going to punch Francis.

"Hawaii no longer exists by the way. I hope y'all visited the volcano in Maui at least once, that place is phenomenal. Or, rather, was phenomenal."

Everyone in the room gradually began looking for pens, taking notes and commenting on these revelations.

That's more like it, Francis thought to himself.

"If you zoom in, you can see each person and where the water levels reach them."

Francis clicked on Florida and the screen filled itself with the outline of the Sunshine State of America.

He zoomed in further on a small town by the name of "Sarasota" and clicked on a person. The screen switched to the outline of a male figure, water painting red all the way up to his ribs.

He showed another girl, same city, water levels reaching her chest.

"There is an ebb tide right now in Sarasota, but God knows where the waters reach when the flood comes again."

"We have to send rescue teams." Commissioner Beverley spoke for the first time since walking into Envy Cafe that evening.

"Yes," Francis agreed "that is why I called you all here tonight. The KAM is private information and, technically, illegal. But there are millions out there without cell phone reception or ways to call for help that we can save, that you can save. I know who they are, so I figured we can work together on this. I figured we should."

Twenty-two senators, government officials and the highest ranking police officers all swallowed down the moral dilemma pretty fast and agreed to keep the KAM as their secret weapon until the law that condones it gets passed.

Senator Goudin raised his hand "Why did we need to wear this color scheme?"

"Because we're being watched" Francis answered instantly.

The room stood silent for a moment.

"Just kidding. I just like it. It's good camouflage colors too, could you imagine if someone came in here with a neon yellow tracksuit right now?"

Francis laughed and let out a snort in the process.

No one else laughed. But, that's okay.

Senator Goudin raised his hand again.

"Why's the water red, shouldn't it be blue?"

Francis removed his glasses, pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled sharply "Senator Goudin, I swear to God!"