Member-only story
Channeling the Air
A nightly conversation with the AQI.
Last night I woke up by frightening sounds. Something was coughing. And all of a sudden there was a strange smell in my nose, my throat began to tickle unhealthily and my eyes started to feel as if they were burning.
“Princess,” something coughed. “…arrrrgh. … I … huhk … ahem … I beg you for your support. I can hardly breathe, my quality is at stake and with it your very survival as humankind, which is bound to my purity. I … aaaahhm …
I am your precious Air.
And I am increasingly being polluted. By fire. By cars. By the industry. By planes. By mass production of edibles. By chopping of trees. By forcing the environment to change on what you believe is for your human best… huhk. Princess. Help me. Now.”
All of a sudden, this air-thing started coughing so intensively that it was not able to speak any more. Then I heard another voice out of another corner in the room.
“Let me jump in here, dear Air. Stay calm. Try to breathe. Get well. And I will explain the Princess some more about your request.”
I perceived an almost invisible form of ruby red dust. Nodding. Coughing. This must be the Air, I thought to myself, while something other — nearly as intangible — approached me through it. The air quality…
