For years, Geo had skated on this pond. Other skaters had come and gone throughout this time. Some had skated alongside him, chatting about the weather, or their families, or any topic from the past, the present or the future.
Sometimes it snowed, big fat flakes drifting down. If it was windy, the flakes would be small and heavy. Skating was difficult when the snow accumulated, but soon enough it would be clear. Sometimes it appeared that other skaters brought the snow with them. Other times it appeared out of nowhere.
Occasionally, a skater would weigh heavily on the ice, causing it to crack. But the cracks always healed, restoring the smooth surface.
A relatively short time ago, the number of skaters had increased dramatically. They were all different, and they all affected the pond in their own ways. Some of them disappeared when another group chased them off.
Five times now, a large number of skaters had left the pond all at once. It usually had something to do with them not liking how the new skaters changed the pond. Sometimes they left because the pond changed on its own.
But still Geo skated on. Still the pond endured.
Then a new skater appeared, holding a hockey stick. He skated faster than any other skater ever had. He stomped on the ice, causing deep cracks. He swung his hockey stick at the other skaters, chasing them off the ice. Within a minute of his arrival, skaters were fleeing the pond in all directions. The cracks had no time to heal before the hockey skates slammed into the ice, creating new fissures.
Geo was not worried for himself. In a significant way, he was this pond, and he would skate on. But he worried about the hockey player, who looked like he was about to fall through the ice and disappear along with the others.
It would take a long time for these cracks to heal. And they might not start until the hockey player was gone.
Afterword
The premise of this story is based on the infamous “hockey stick graph,” which dramatically shows the rapid pace of anthropogenic climate change, which has transformed the planet in the blink of a geological eye.
The Hockey Stick, copyright 2020 by Violet Beckingham, all rights reserved
I Am Violet 