Lesson 2 Urgent Call From Earth
Dry
The kitchen tap makes strange ____
____ coughs. It spits once, and then goes silent.
“Mom,” I shout out into the living room, “water is not ____ out.”
“Alyssa, shush!” Mom ____
She is watching the TV, where a news anchor is ____ about the “flow crisis.”
This is what the media has been calling the drought ever since people ____ tired of hearing the word “drought.”
Now the crisis is entering a ____ stage.
We ____ no running water out of the tap.
“To the mall!” says Uncle Basil.
My little brother Garrett and ____ jump in Uncle’s truck.
As we pull into the parking lot, ____ can see the crowd.
“You two go ____ I’ll meet you inside,” Uncle Basil says.
Inside it’s like ____ Friday at its worst ― but today it’s not televisions and video games people are after.
____ I see in the carts in the checkout line are mostly water bottles. The essentials of life.
There is a look of impatience ____ the faces of the people in line.
There is even hostility, hidden by a ____ layer of politeness.
Even ____ politeness is stretched thin.
As I approach the back of the store for water bottles, I ____ I am too late.
The shelves are already empty.
I ____ my way to the side aisle, trying my luck.
Sometimes ____ place unwanted items in the wrong shelves.
Lucky! I find a single ____ of water that someone abandoned there maybe yesterday, when it wasn’t such a precious commodity.
I reach for it, only to find it pulled away at the last second by ____ woman.
She stacks it on top of her cart like a ____ on top of her canned goods.
“I’m ____ but we were here first,” she says.
And then her daughter steps forward ― a girl I recognize from soccer ____ Hali Hartling.
As her mother pulls their cart away, Hali leans closer to me. ____ sorry about that, Alyssa.”
“Didn’t I share my water with you at the practice last week?” I point out to ____
“Maybe you could return the favor and ____ a few bottles with me.”
She looks back to her mother, who’s already moving down the aisle, then turns back to ____ shaking her head.
And then she gets a little bit red in the face, and turns ____ leave before it becomes a deep flush.
I look for Garrett,
I look for Garrett, whom ____ find in the frozen aisle. Then I see something.
Just past the frozen vegetables and ice cream, ____ is a case packed with ice.
I ____ the door and reach for a bag.
“What are you ____ We need water, not ice,” he reminds me.
“Ice ____ water. Just help me,” I tell him.
Garrett and I put ____ bag of ice after another into our cart, until it is piled as high as it can get.
By now other people have taken notice and begin ____ empty the ice case.
The ____ is ridiculously heavy now, and almost impossible to push.
____ a man in a business suit comes up behind us.
He smiles.
____ like you could use some help.”
He doesn’t wait for us to answer before grabbing the cart’s ____
“Thank you for helping ____ I tell him.
“Not a problem. We all need to ____ one another.”
He smiles again, and ____ return the smile.
It is good to know that difficult times can bring out the best in ____
I decide ____ one favor deserves another.
“Why don’t you take a bag of ice for ____ I suggest.
His smile does not fade. “I have a ____ idea,” he says.
“Why don’t ____ take a bag of ice for yourselves, and I’ll keep the rest.”
For a ____ I think he is joking, but then realize he is serious. “Excuse me?”
He is still smiling, but his eyes scare ____
As long as his hands are firmly locked on the handle of our cart, there is nothing to prove that it’s ours ____ not his.
“Is there a ____ here?” It is Uncle Basil. He has arrived just in time.
“Not at ____ The man looks at the ice with a bitter face, then leaves.