The adventures of Daisy – somewhere in the future

Daisy woke up early that morning, to go search for a hero. She loaded her donkey with water flasks, sacks of lentils, a basket of apricots, and a woolen rug. This was all she owned, all they had left her. Leading the donkey on a rope, she began to walk down the path, through the field of dead thorns she would hide in so often. The dirt was hot, but her feet were callused. Dust rose from between her toes. Locusts buzzed around her, and the sun baked her mahogany-red hair so hot it hurt to touch. Never did she look back at her hovel. Nothing was left for her there, only memories too beautiful to recall. Daisy blinked, clearing her eyes of tears. Moisture was life in these summer days, especially since the Rat People had taken the wells, and allowed each person but a gourd of water a day. Daisy took her tears on her fingers and sucked them, bringing them back into herself as if she could bring back her old life. Squinting against the blinding sun, she raised her eyes, and in the vast, bleached sky she saw nothing. She looked down again. She did not like to see these things of the Rat People. They had come for her husband Johnny, had come for her sons on one dark night. They had come for all the men of this dry, troubled land she called America. Closing her eyes she remembered the day she met her beloved husband…