Tuesday 17 April 2012

Ozone Layer: #atozchallenge

James lay on the grass, staring up at the blue sky above him.
“Did you put your sunscreen on?” Jeanette asked as she let the screen door slam shut behind her.
“That’s for sissies,” he said, barely turning his head to look at his younger sister.
“You wanna get skin cancer?”
“That’s a myth.”
“Everything’s a myth to you.” She pursed her lips, looking down at him, a mirror image of their mother. But instead of berating him like their mother would have, she took a seat beside him.
“What’s up, girl?”
She shrugged, plucking discontentedly at the grass.
“You don’t come all the way out here just to scold me about sunscreen and then sit in the sun. You have your ‘screen on?”
“Yeah. Ma made me. She don’t ever make you.”
“She knows I don’t care bout freckles. Or tans.”
“Or the skin peeling off your nose.”
James rubbed at his nose. “Is it peeling again?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“Aww, shoot.”
“See, you do care.”
He sat up, rubbing grass out of his hair. “Maggie’s gonna be at Science tomorrow.”
“That your girlfriend?”
“Nah, just a friend.”
“The friend you don’t want to see with a peeling nose. You can tell me. I can keep secrets you know.”
“Yeah, I know. But it’s nothing.”

The pair sat side by side, the young girl fair, with long blond braids, in a sweet gingham dress, the boy with tussled brownish locks, his bare back smooth and brown.
“So?” he asked.
“Is pa leaving?”
“That what you’re worried about?”
Jeanette nodded. “If he goes, ‘twill be like that hole there in the ozone. All the dangerous stuff might get in at us.”
“Nah, ‘sokay. I’m here, remember?”
“You ain’t big enough yet. Won’t fill the hole.”
“But I’ll get bigger.” He put an arm around her shoulder. “You just leave it to me, ‘kay? ‘Nyways, don’t think he will. Ma gave him a piece of her mind last night. Heard her.”
“What’d she say?”
“Said she can’t manage a place like this on her own. Told him his fancy thinking might just get us into bigger debt that if he just stayed here and worked the land. He said he’d think about it.”
“I hope he doesn’t go.”
“Yeah. Harvest won’t be fun without him.”
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_layer

The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone (O3). This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which potentially damages the life forms on Earth.[1]

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Also, for the heck of it, yesterday's wordle of my site:
Wordle: 17th 
I blame all the bunnies on Yuin-Y. 

6 comments:

  1. Sweet and bittersweet :-) but true, lovely post :)

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    1. Thanks Honore. It's been great tweeting/pinteresting you :)

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  2. Terrific post. A bit of truth for the early morning...

    If you've the time, stop by my blog. I'm the author of the Bella and Britt series for kids.

    In the meantime, I'm glad I stopped by. A to Z Challenge. Great idea.

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    1. Thanks Nancy.
      Dropped by at your place too!

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  3. bunnies bunnies bunnies.
    :P

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    1. No bunny.
      Eat bunny.
      Fat bunny.
      MUAHAHA.

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