They say a picture is worth a thousand words, we'll give you 500. Half a Picture.

I stood at the end of the world, and all I could think of was a glass of water.

“This,” he said as he placed the glass on the countertop between us. The glass pinging off the marble and causing ripples to rock the water’s surface.

“That’s a glass of water,” I replied, dryly. “Six letters, ‘hope’, s in the middle,” I added as an afterthought.

“Design. Yes, it’s a glass of water, but it’s also everything.”

“Is it a cheese omelet? Because I’ve been waiting for breakfast and I’ve got to go in 15 minutes.”

“Very funny,” he turned to the gas stove, and flipped over the two omelets. “All I’m saying is, water is it. It governs us, the way we behave. In Africa, in the Kalahari, thousands, no millions of animals migrate every year once summer rolls around and the land dries up. Imagine what would happen if we turn the tap and nothing would come out. Or what came out wasn’t usable.”

“We’ll just have to live on diet coke, I guess. Grab a roll, will you, I’m gonna need that omelet to go.”

I’m in the mountains now, high up, where it’s still safe. I’m looking down on a lake, still, calm, quiet. The ice-blue water is shimmering in the little sunlight that manages to make it through the cloud-cover. I’m thirsty, obviously. But things are not that simple anymore. I can’t know if this water is safe. The lack of birds or animals is troubling. They say the rain carries it, and if it rained here, seeped into the lake through underground streams or something. He was right, of course, once the water went bad, it was chaos.

Sure, we had bottled stuff. But how long can those last? Mineral water still has to come from somewhere. Then they tried synthesizing it. That didn’t work. Actually, I heard from some lab technician back in Idaho, poor girl didn’t deserve to go like that… Anyways, I heard that’s how the whole thing got started. Some desert irrigation project gone bad. She said it was an accident. I’ve heard sabotage. But who’d be stupid enough to sabotage the world’s water supply? Same people who blow themselves up, I guess. Damn the world and all who live in it.

I’m at the lake’s edge. Maybe it’s good? Maybe it didn’t get all the way up here. I hope a deer comes by, takes a drink. That way I’ll know. And have something to eat, too. Damn. Nothing. I guess I’ve got nothing left to lose, right. Drink and die. Or don’t drink and die. Or drink and don’t die. 1 out 3. Not horrible odds, if you think about it. I bend down, and cup my hands.

“What the hell is this stuff?” I spit back into my cup.

“I put diet coke in your coffee.” He smiled, “Y’know, so you can start getting used to it.”