Extinction Level Event
Page 13
Zheijiang Province, China
South of the Pearl River Delta lies Zheijiang, an administrative province of some 50 million inhabitants, more urban than rural. Nonetheless, the countryside outside of the province's major cities are still dotted by rural peasant-folk who live in farmhouses away from the hustle and pollution of the cities. Cheung Lak is one such local farmer.
Yet this day, his daily routine of applying pesticide to his crops is disrupted by an unusual discovery: the presence of dead worms amongst the crops. As puzzled and perplexed as his colleagues across the Pacific Ocean, Cheung drops to one knee to pick up one of the earthworms. Seeing the creature not move in his grip, he concludes that it is dead- and so the others must be as well. Picking up a shovel, he starts to clean the land of the hundreds that have appeared dead over the past day.
At the end of several hours of work, Cheung heads back to his farmhouse, feeling hot, tired, and drained of energy from the work. Parched, he pours himself water from the family well before deciding to take a nap. What an odd day; he thinks to himself as he closes his eyes.