Bloom

Written 54-F13 [2022-12-20], Edited 54-F27 [2023-01-03]

Image credit: Twitter Twemoji

I stared at the circle-shaped pond in disgust. No, not circle shaped. It was an oval shaped pond.

I know shapes.

“Why’s it all dark?” I asked Mom. “Why aren’t there any fish in the pond?”

Mom put her hand on her head. It was hard to see her face because of her white work clothes. No, not “work clothes”. It was a lab coat.

I know clothes.

“It’s not a pond,” Mom said. “It’s a algal pool. It’s dark because there is an algal bloom happening.”

“Can I swim in it?” I asked.

“No.” Mom said.

“But it’s a pool,” I said.

“It’s not for swimming, it’s for growing algae,” Mom said.

“What’s an algae?” I asked Mom.

“We’ll get to that, now come inside,” Mom said.

We walked into the place where Mom works. It is called a “la-bo-ra-to-ra-bo-la”. No, that’s not right. Well, it’s called a “lab” for short. There were many glasses. Some were cylinders, some were cones. Some were tall and thin, some were short and fat.

I reached for a cone-shaped glass.

“Don’t touch my conical flask!” Mom said. “Ugh, I should have left you at home with Brittany.”

Brittany is my babysitter. When Mom is too busy, me and Brittany watch Paw Patrol and play Uno. But Uno is strange with only 2 people.

Mom is busy a lot.

“Now, you were wondering what algae was,” Mom said without looking at me. She was looking at a green juice in a cylinder glass.

“I was?” I asked. I forgot what I had asked about.

“It’s the key to saving the entire planet,” Mom said. “Tiny plants that live in water, that we can farm for fuel and for gruel.”

Gruel. I shuddered. Every other day, all Mom and I eat is gruel.

Notes

This was written in 15 minutes during a Joy of Writing meetup.

Feedback from The Joy of Writing group

• No mention of father
• Child or mentally challenged?