V. Marco Comes to Play

It’s now nighttime on September 20, 2065, a couple of hours since Marco made landfall. The dangerous winds started shortly after Kike and Isa returned from their emergency supply run. The rain an hour or so after that. Darkness envelops the surroundings of the shelter, eliminating the landscape from view. The full force of 100 mile-per-hour winds combined with torrential, nonstop rain work in tandem to form natural bullets. The noise of these bullets populates the inside of the shelter as Kike cooks up a meal and Isa acquaints herself with the shelter.

“So, this is a pretty fancy setup you got here,” says Isa as she glances the internet equipment on Kike’s desk. The desalination plant and rainwater collection system that lay side by side near Kike’s boat. The grill Kike is using to prepare dinner. The freezer that holds his freshly caught Mahi. And the two small oyster pools set up near the rainwater collection system. “How’d you get all this crap?” Isa asks as she keeps looking around.

“I got most of it from an abandoned FEMA warehouse that I found back in Ponce, except for the oyster farm,” Kike yells from the other room. “That, I set up by myself.”

“So, you stole most of this is what I’m hearing,” Isa says waiting to see how Kike would respond.

“Scavenged,” Kike clarifies. “The warehouse had been abandoned once FEMA cut off its support to Puerto Rico.” Let’s call it half-stealing.

“How about the internet? It’s ridiculously expensive to get it these days, I heard only rich people have access to it anymore,” Isa asks wondering how it was possible that someone such as Kike, who clearly is not among the island’s elite, has access to it.

“A buddy of mine, Mark, he gives me access to his satellite internet access,” Kike continues explaining. “I don’t use it much. Just to get in touch with people outside Puerto Rico and download new stuff to read on my digital readers.”

As Kike finishes talking about his internet access, he simultaneously finishes preparing dinner. He had taken the half tarpon they got from Mariana, cooked it on his makeshift grill, and paired it with some boiled yautía. A truly delicious plate.

“This is really delicious. Thanks,” Isa says as she continues enjoying the delicious dinner. Isa hadn’t had many root vegetables when she lived with her abuelo. Abuelo’s area is more likely to have plantains to eat so her diet always was heavy in those.

“Replace that tarpon with some Mahi and it’s the same dish my mom would make for me when I was a kid,” says Kike.

“Are there still Mahi in these waters? I thought most fish were gone,” says Isa. She is remembering some of the pieces she read when living back at the university. Many books mentioned how many of the open water fishes had moved northward in search of cooler waters.

“Well, actually, I got one Mahi in that freezer over there,” Kike said much to the amazement of Isa. “Caught it yesterday.”

“So, they didn’t move north looking for cooler water?” asks Isa.

“Most of them did,” Kike clarifies. “But, there is still a population that feeds off what little baitfish inhabit the dead reef down deep near the drop-off. Did Hernando teach you about this stuff?” asks Kike.

“Abuelo didn’t like talking much about his old work and how things have changed,” explains Isa. “Always brought him down if he talked about it. Most of what I know I learned from books and digital records stored at the university’s old library.” Isa keeps eating, thinking she would like to go back and get some of the pieces she has in mind. She thinks of all the pieces she still hasn't gotten a chance to read.

They continue eating while Marco pounds the strong concrete walls of the shelter. Kike then goes around and checks to make sure the shelter is holding steady. So far, so good. He and Isa had eaten well, the shelter was not showing signs of any compromised areas, and he didn't see any cracks via which the flooding waters were getting through. Not a bad place to spend the time while a monstrous hurricane destroys everything on the outside. Based on the last set of information he’d gotten from Mark in the morning, he estimates that the storm will take about 48 hours to completely pass.

“So, why did you decide to come back?” Isa asks as they both sit in the small living room-style area of the shelter. “I know you mentioned you used to work in the states.” Kike looks up from his digital reader and hesitates on answering the question. After a few seconds of awkward silence and Isa’s eyes peering at him, he concedes.

“I missed it, living in Puerto Rico,” Kike explains. “I usually would come back every Christmas but, after dad died, I guess I didn’t have much of a reason to come back.”

“You missed it?” Isa asks curiously. Isa isn’t unaware of how much better things were up in the states. She knew some states had gone through some hardships in recent times, but that it was still comfortable to live in certain states. “I’m sorry, but I’ve read it’s better living up in the states.” A resourceless island in the middle of the Caribbean going through the gauntlet of climate change isn’t a nice place to live Isa?

“Well, there’s a level of attachment I always felt with Puerto Rico. Something that always kept pulling me back,” Kike explains. “This island, it used to be something special. Special in a way I’m afraid you’ll never see.”

“You mean with the crystal-clear blue beaches that people used to flock to on the weekends. The vibrant coral reefs that fueled the tourism. Major hurricanes being something that happened every twenty to thirty years instead of every year. The parties that filled las calles de San Sebastian every January up north in San Juan. Those things?” Isa lists these details as if she lived to experience them. Isa constantly reads about how things used to be when she lived at the university. It was the only thing the books and pieces she had access to. The pieces also explained how people drove the world into the state it’s in now.

Kike finds himself stunned at how much Isa knows about the past. He remembers that Isa had told him how much she read but this was nearing historian levels of information. “Well those things are now a giant hot tub, a white canvas painted muck green, a repetitive monster, and a lack of celebration,” Kike finally responds. “You certainly have a strong interest in things that you've never experienced.”

“I like learning about the past,” Isa explains. “It’s almost like reading about a different world.” Albeit a better one.

“So, do you know what this area used to be?” Kike asks.

“It was a tourism hotspot, right?” Isa asks.

“Yeah, it was these kinds of places that made me feel attached to this island,” Kike says. “La Parguera also used to be a mecca of beautiful wildlife. As a kid I'd love snorkeling and swimming among the mangrove keys, seeing all the different fishes, and getting stung by the occasional jellyfish. I remember sharing those things with my dad. Those things used to drive my work. Making sure those things survived.”

“Seem like you did a crummy job,” Isa says to Kike’s surprise. Isa immediately notices she struck a nerve as Kike’s face changes abruptly. 

“You got some nerve saying that to me kid,” Kike says back.

“Look, I’m sorry, but those things are gone now,” Isa tries to explain. “It just makes it seem like your work didn’t really pan out. I’m just making observations here man.”

“You know you sound like an old scientist,” Kike responds. “Makes sense since you were raised by one. Look, it was foolish work anyway.”

“You were a climate engineer, right?” Isa asks. “Did that mean trying to engineer ways to stop climate change? What did you work on, the carbon capture plants, cloud seeding, de-acidification technologies?” Isa continues listing off from her memory all the things she had learned about from the digital collections at the university. Not only did she read about the past, but also how people tried to fix the problems created in the past and what led to her and Kike’s present.

“I worked on the carbon capture plants, all right,” Kike says loudly, catching her off guard. “Now, can you just drop it. I don’t like talking about it,” Kike continues. He thinks about how lucky he is to get stuck with the one kid that knows about all this stuff. Finding a fish yesterday and now having a teenager grill you while stuck inside during a major hurricane, Kike has some amazing luck.

​

She knows it’s making Kike angry, but she wants to learn more about what people did to try and solve the problem. “Did the technology not work?” Isa wants to know. Was it possible to solve it, or was it truly impossible to return to the world that once existed? That world she had read so much about, was it something in the rearview or something we could return to.

“Jesus, are you trying to be an interrogator or something?” Kike replies. “No, it didn’t work. Now, drop it!” Kike ends in frustration.

“Oh,” Isa says quietly.

Isa feels Kike's anger and decides it's best not to ask about it anymore. And so, the rest of the night is spent without any more conversation, with only the raging sounds of Marco’s wind and stinging raindrops serving as the only background noise in the shelter.