SpinOut

We found another fragment. A phone this time.

 One of the K-9’s brought it in. 

 Somebody had been making an audio journal. 

 Here’s a transcript.

Hullo?

Hi—

Hi, there. My name is Tyler. What I want to do with this, is I want to try and tell you about what happened. That’s it. I want to leave a kind of a record of things, from my point of view. I don’t know why, I just do.

* * * * * * *

For me, as for almost everybody around here, it began early one morning just past New Year’s. I woke up a little after 6:30 to walk the dog, same as most mornings. Only, I didn’t see the pre-dawn light seeping in around the shades. That was odd. The bedroom was as dark as if it were the middle of the night.

I hadn’t noticed anything wrong when I’d gone to bed. Only that, the dusk seemed to come later and last longer than it should have. At the time I thought it had something to do with the weather. I remember thinking, yeah, the weather must be mixed-up in some kind of way.

I pushed the shade aside an inch or so. Looked like a real heavy cloud cover out there. Real dark, very dark. I glanced at the clock. 6:53 now. Time to get up, get going. But — funny. It should already be light out, at least a little bit.

By the gleam of the nightlight I got into my clothes. I let the dog out of the bedroom and followed him downstairs. Outside, the sky was still completely black except for the stars twinkling. I saw no glow of light in the east, and there was an unsettled feeling to the air, gusts blowing in from all directions, as if the wind was trying to decide what to do. The birds were awake but spinning blindly around the yard. Something ragged and darker than the sky whipped right by my shoulder, wailing as it went. I thought: this is too crazy for words. Where the hell’s the dawn?

After the dog did his business we headed back inside, and I remember beginning to feel sick to my stomach. Where’s the sunrise? What’s happened to it?

* * * * * * *

It turned out that what happened was, overnight the Earth simply stopped rotating on its axis. Like it was tired and needed a rest or something. Really, you’re aware of that already if you’re listening to this. It was just, so unexpected, so surreal. There was no sudden jolt, the slowdown happened over several hours, so no tsunamis or buildings toppling, but in the end it was a full and complete stop. We’re still orbiting the sun like before, but the planet has stopped turning. That’s what they’re saying. It’s never happened before, not once in millions of years, but it’s happened now. So there was nothing was wrong with the sun, it was just that we couldn’t see it.

How did it come about? What caused it? So far, no one can say. And no one knows when or if the planet will start rotating again.

* * * * * * *

Late yesterday I passed by an outdoor hockey rink near the school. The kids in their uniforms and the coaches were out there, same as always, running their drills. Over them, the light fixtures on their long poles blazed away against the darkness, and it all looked completely normal. Then I remembered that it would look like this tomorrow at “noon,” just as dark, just as cold. At least the electricity’s still on. I heard the government had to step in and take it over.

Since it’s nighttime all the time, the days don’t have the meaning they used to. You have to stick to your clock and your calendar if you don’t want to lose your grip. It used to be the predictable measures of sunlight that would make a day “a day.” Now, the rhythm of the sun passing daily through the sky on ancient pathways, the warmth of a sunny dawn, the fireworks of a beautiful sunset, all that has been replaced by an unchanging black sky. Unchanging for now.

* * * * * * *

It’s so dark out. I never really appreciated the deep dark of night. It’s peaceful in a way, it’s true, but so crazy! They’re saying one reason people are going so crazy is the absence of natural light. The only light we have is artificial, from light bulbs. And light from candles. And from the fires.

* * * * * * *

Sales of flashlight batteries are up. Sometimes there’s a run on batteries. People are hoarding them, hoarding lots of things. It gets chaotic. Generators are also selling well, and the fuel to run them, fuel for anything, really. Light bulbs, of course. Everybody’s lights are on around the clock.

You can hardly blame people for hoarding. They find a quantity of bread on a shelf somewhere, or cake mix, frozen pizza, whatever, and the word gets out and before you know it, it’s all gone. Beer, too, liquor of every kind, cannabis, the stores can’t keep it in stock. They say that an angry crowd outside a supermarket somewhere took over a big delivery truck that was being unloaded and cleaned it out. The police couldn’t get there in time. Some say the driver was pretty shaken up, and some say that the crowd, well, you know … that guy died.

* * * * * * *

One big worry right now is how crops are going to grow. How are we going to have a harvest of anything? I heard that across the country, they’ve been converting these big fulfillment centers into greenhouses, with soil and seeds trucked in, hydroponics too, and artificial lights strung over what are going to be beds of tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, and so on, from one end of the place to the other. Sounds like some kind of fantasy, but we cling to every shred of good news we get.

* * * * * * *

I don’t know which supermarkets are supposed to be getting food to sell, or what kind, or how customers are supposed to pay for it, since so many are out of work. It’s concerning. I’m not a farmer but I know you can’t grow wheat or corn or soybeans outside in the dark and cold, or inside some greenhouse. Not in meaningful quantities. You need hundreds of acres and many hours of sunlight, and that we don’t have. A lot of rumors are flying around too, more rumors about food than the food itself. Somebody swore to me that there are these giant warehouses out in the country somewhere, full of pizza dough, cheese sticks, macaroni, peanut butter, dog food, all for free, free for the asking. Is this really true? Where do I sign up? Where am I supposed to go? I have a lot of questions but I don’t get many answers.

Over at our local supermarket, it’s mostly the processed food on the shelves now. That’s what’s left. At least it has a long shelf life! The produce section is empty except for nuts and root vegetables ... carrots, potatoes, the long keepers. Veggies from those greenhouses are supposed to start trickling in sometime. It sure won’t be what people are accustomed to. They’ll come in looking for hamburger and have to settle for arugula.   

* * * * * * *

The Earth continues to orbit the sun, tipped away from the vertical at its accustomed angle. That means things are going to change for us before too long. See, around the other side of the planet, they’re having nothing but sunshine, day and night, that’s what I’ve been told. When the earth stopped, it was nighttime up here, but it was daytime down there. Geez, the kangaroos.

* * * * * * *

As each 24-hour cycle passes, we in North America, experiencing one cold and apparently endless night, will, as the months pass, begin to see light creeping into the sky as we swing around the sun. Gradually, that faint light will become brighter and brighter, and eventually our part of the world will be leaning directly into those rays. Then it’ll be one scorching and apparently ceaseless daytime, with no corresponding nighttime to offer relief.  

* * * * * * *

Mostly people have become focussed on their own survival. Emergency services is a hot field to be in right now. Emergencies are happening nonstop.

There’s been an uptick in vandalism. Some of those greenhouses got hit. Various groups out there seem to be upset about who’s growing the food, what chemicals are being used, how’s the food going to be distributed, what’s it going to cost. They want to know who’s getting rich on this thing. Who’s not getting their fair share, and how come?

At the same time there are plenty of people who have given in to the idea that this thing, what they call the SpinOut, is nothing more or less than the end of the world. Again, you can’t blame them. What they’re saying is that there’s no future for humanity, that it’s really all over now, and that the best thing we can do is to accept it and prepare ourselves for death with as much dignity as possible. People are gathering in mosques and temples and churches and small candlelit places to pray, to meditate, to be at peace, to be together with the like-minded, and offer each other whatever support and comfort and solace they can. And to put some distance between themselves and all the fighting going on outside.

Of course there’s been conflict. A lot of finger-pointing too. People want to know what went wrong and who’s responsible.

* * * * * * *

Some people say that God stopped the Earth from turning because He’d had it up to here with all the sinning and wanted to send us a message. But then you’ve got other people who say that God still loves us and would never do anything like that to us, and anyway, they say, God doesn’t make disasters, not our modern enlightened God of today, He’s not the wrathful sort, He’s the saving sort, and so what we have to do is fall on our knees and pray and pray and beg Him to start the Earth turning again, ask Him to help us, please please save us.

Which do you think it is? I’m thinking more and more like it’s none of the above.

* * * * * * *

People are panicking. Food is running out. Would we have thought, in such a dire and unprecedented situation, that the people of the world would join hands and stand together and put their differences aside and pool their ideas and their energy to help matters out, in any way they could? From what I’ve heard, they mostly wouldn’t, and haven’t. Early on, some genius figured out that big rallies with torches and bonfires and crazy costumes and free beer would be the answer, or at least be entertaining, and maybe an outlet for people’s anger, their fears and frustrations. Demonstrations like this have become common and are sometimes quite spectacular, they say, like having Halloween all the time, but with a sharper edge, a scarier edge. It didn’t take long for certain charismatic individuals to assume leadership positions. It’s all become about who gets the most power and influence.  

I heard that gangs of vigilantes are roaming around, threatening people. Militias, too. Why not, everybody into the act! The cops aren’t doing much about it. Most of them have quit because they weren’t being paid. Those who are still on the job can’t prevent trouble, they just come around afterwards to mop up.

Naturally some people are convinced that this thing must be someone’s fault. Who caused it to happen? Who gets the blame? You can see how the thinking would unfold, a story passed from mouth to ear thousands of times over, a story of imaginary evil and very real retribution. At the rallies the speakers shout into their bullhorns: Who did it? Who did this to us? The torches burn and the crowds yell and it goes on and on, and sometimes a gang moves on to a home or business and sets fire to it, and so for a moment they feel a little bit better, but when it’s all down to smoke and embers everything just seems more hopeless than ever.

* * * * * * *

The sun is over the horizon now. It’s funny. For years people were arguing about global warming, pollution, the environment. Remember all that? Is climate change actually happening, or is it a hoax? Yes it’s real! No it’s fake — the elites are making it all up! And now, what’s happened is that the planet has stopped, simply stopped playing along. I guess we can stop feeling guilty about ruining the Earth as a place to live. The Earth is more or less on its way to doing that all
by itself.

* * * * * * *

Look at us. We’ve just had one one 4,300-hour “night,” and now we’re going to have one 4,300-hour “day.” We’re going to need sunblock by the gallon.  

They say a lot of folks from here are booking flights south to escape the five-month heat spell that’s coming. Australia, New Zealand, all those places where it will be dark all the time, but cool. Yes, the planes are still flying. But I don’t get it how there’s that many people with the cash to just pull up and move to some other hemisphere. I sure can’t afford it, and where would I live once I got there? Other people are planning to move underground, opening up old tunnels and mines and caves, bringing their generators and food inside, to get away from the sun, and regain some control over their lives. I wonder how that’s going to work out.

* * * * * * *

Last week I caught a squirrel in a homemade trap, and after some difficulty managed to skin it and grill it. It was about two mouthfuls total and tasted kind of weird, but it stayed down and there’s more where that came from. Start small, and build up from there, right? You could say that nobody expected they’d still be alive and kicking after what’s happened. But here we are. Here I am.

* * * * * * *

The sun is blazing almost all the time now. I wish it could be dark again, just for a few hours, but it won’t. The stream behind the house has dried up. But water still flows from the taps, and the power’s still on. Who wants to stretch out on the kitchen floor and just wait for death to come? We’re alive! And that means we’re going to try and stay alive, for as long as we can.

I’ve decided to take a stab at growing my own food. I found some grow-lights and shelving in a corner of the basement. I bought them years ago and never got around to unpacking them. And here’s what’s different: a couple of my neighbors are going in on this with me. Amy’s getting the soil from someplace, and Eddie’s got some fertilizer. We’re not going to make any big noise about it, because then we’d get overwhelmed.

If the power stays on, I hope to have some green leafy vegetables within a couple of weeks. I’ll stay under cover and keep the shades drawn. Maybe start some squashes, maybe some kidney beans, too. I’ll keep on growing and sharing my veggies and saving the seeds. If my strength holds out, I can keep right on growing all year long! You never know. You think that you do but you don’t. You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take. Isn’t that what they say?

Hold on a sec. Someone’s at the door.