Packing
T Kingfisher
Noah’s Ark done better
I am rating only the story Packing by T. Kingfisher (a pseudonym of Ursula Vernon's). I continue to follow in the footsteps of Hirondelle and her short story project. Anything she rates four or five stars goes on my to-read, and also "quick". This one is very quick -- only 1169 words.
Biologists are apt to complain about the absurdity of the Biblical Noah's Ark story: the idea that you could preserve all the terrestrial life forms by putting two of every animal on a big boat for forty days. Packing reads to me like an attempt to write a version of the Ark story that makes a little more sense. Some catastrophe is coming. We're not told exactly what its nature is, but we begin with these words
No, you can’t stay. This place won’t be here soon. It’s already going, slipping away, each new summer tearing off strips. You can see the new flesh underneath. We’re still guessing at the shape of it.
Apparently everyone (everyone who?) is allowed to take what they can carry, and they are coordinating to try to preserve biodiversity. Much of the story is a list of the organisms (not just animals) the travelers are taking.
I was a bit frustrated by this one because it is barely a story. Yes, I know that the human desire for coherent narratives distorts reality. But hey, I AM human, I think, and I like stories.