Through Some Coincidence

by Sean Ennis

of plate tectonics, Bramble experiences small earthquakes and tremors somewhat frequently. For the most part, they are just familiar pauses in the day, and easily slept through overnight. A book falls over on a shelf. The clock on the oven is flashing in the mornings. But if you’re in search of a climax, there will be none. Or so says the Geology Department at Bramble County Community College. Our lives are not simply context for exciting and deadly natural disasters. The earthquakes can be inconvenient, and account for the generalized anxiety of all of our pets and wildlife. Perhaps amongst us citizens as well. Once, while I was rereading the second book in The Hummingbird Wars trilogy on my apartment’s small balcony, the one where all seems lost for the heroes, I had the autonomic sense that the whole building was collapsing. The epicenter was close that afternoon, and I experienced the existential vertigo and the dilation of time I’ve heard about. It passed. To the best of their abilities, which are limited, the geologists at the community college predict no major earthquakes ever here in Bramble. Of course, they are violently underpaid, mindlessly overworked, nearing retirement, liars, and hard of hearing. The roads always need to be repaved. Why had our predecessors stopped here centuries ago and erected the first Seven Elevations of the Merge Worship and Community Center? They did not understand seismology. They mistook natural, but confusing, events to be divine portents. The weather seemed pleasant, and they were so tired. You asked what that noise was. It’s just the rattling of the warm, yellow grass. Don't be alarmed.

Sean Ennis is the author of HOPE AND WILD PANIC (Malarkey Books) and THE HELL IN BRAMBLE (Bottlecap Press). More of his work can be found at seanennis.net.