The rain began shortly after the last of the great ships lifted towards the stars. It wasn’t rain by any definition of the word, it came from the sky in droplets, but the ran across the parched earth and vanished in flashes of silver light. The people who had stayed behind watched it with awe, excitement, and more than a little fear. Would this wondrous rain destroy what was left of the crops? Contaminate the water supply, that was already so limited. For days it rained, until the small lake by the cabin was full, silvery waves lapping at the shoreline. Billy and John got the idea of running down to the boathouse and dragging the old sailboat out onto the beach. The boat was still sound, however the sails were in tatters and fluttered in the slight breeze. Julie and Gail took some old sheets and fashioned them into a decent set of sails. For the first time in a very long time they laughed as they set about rigging the new sails, and tossing the tatters of the old ones aside. Gerry had found a harmonica in the boat shed and was playing it, even though a few notes were off key, and others didn’t work at all. They danced about the makeshift sailboat as the last sails were pulled into place.
Silently they stood the five of them and looked up at the boat, with its peeling paint, and makeshift sails.
“I’ll take it out first to make sure it floats” Billy offered.
Everyone pushed and pushed until the boat was far enough into the water that it was floating, and Billy hopped aboard, checking all of the seams, and under the torn cushions that covered one old seat. Smiling he looked up, “No leaks!!”
Within moments they were all on the boat sailing slowly out into the smooth lake. The wind picked up and they gained more speed. As the did the wake in the quicksilver water rippled and moved higher up. Soon they were enclosed inside a bubble of rippling waters, moving so fast the couldn’t make out the shoreline any longer. Fear gripped them now, far too late to do anything about it though.
Hours passed and suddenly the boat slowed, the waters falling back into the lake. What met their eyes though wasn’t the parched dying Earth they had stayed behind to try and survive on. Instead they had somehow been taken to a beautiful lush land, like Earth of old. The fragrant flowers along the shoreline reminded them of how much had been lost over the years. A flock of birds was startled out of the grasslands, and as they flew overhead they realized they were looking at ducks, real ones, not the ones in the museums. As the sailed farther they knew that somehow they had found paradise, and all without having to fly for years to some far off planet. What a shame there was no way to tell them all to come back, what they were looking for was right here.
Over time others appeared, from different parts of the dead Earth, and they built new towns, working the land, and never once looked back…
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