Firewater, Oklahoma
A hopepunk climate fiction story set in 2047 in Stillwater, Oklahoma
September 22, 2023
Formerly Stillwater, Oklahoma May 7, 2047 96 F 80% humidity 30% chance of precipitation
Over and over the rig’s protective red casing groaned and flapped like a wounded bird flailing violently inwards with each gust of wind ripping through my brand-new pumping mechanism. The countless rusted-out bolts on the side casings needed replacing years ago, but budgets were busted. So said the community that hired me at least and it was just too dangerous to climb up the damn rig thanks to the winds. The ladder was missing too many rungs to safely install new bolts anyway. I had to make do with what I had. I was lucky enough just to have a functioning pump and a new one at that. It was a stroke of sheer fortune that the old pump broke a week into the process of pumping out a new two-mile hole from the Earth.
This job wasn’t exactly what I had expected when I landed in Stillwater from Laramie six months ago. I was forced out of my last postdoc position at the university lab since the legislature had just changed all the state laws about funding. Total assholes those politicians. As money dried up like the parched fields of much of the Great Plains, the powers that be wanted folks to move on to somewhere else. Not enough water. Not enough good soil left, they said. We’re better off in Michigan, Minnesota, or the Northeast where there are big lakes and soil that still works. Going West wasn’t an option unless you’re rich or know someone rich. PhDs like me aren’t wealthy, and I’m severely lacking in the friends and family department. But regardless, this job was the best shot I had to prove I was a real scientist.