Volume: 1
Paradise to some, hell to others.
"Use right rudder to keep it going straight as you apply power. A little back pressure on the yoke." Off we went. We climbed to 4500 feet and followed the shoreline northwest. Off to our right, there was a giant home development in various stages of completion, crawling with monstrous earthmovers that, when looked at from our perspective, appeared to be shitting houses. We saw the flashing lights of emergency vehicles tending to an accident that had stopped all traffic on I-5. Ocean swells from the south lined up out to the horizon. There appeared to be a warehouse on fire a few miles inland. April pointed out the giant boobs on the beach, the shuttered San Onofre nuclear power plant. I told her that the plant broke down in 2013 and no one has cleaned it up. "How's that for litter?"
Spread out below us in the vastness of humanity, cops chased robbers, people shot at people, young children struggled with violins, flowers opened to sunlight while day-old babies and nonagenarians stared at ceilings. ATMs spewed cash, massive pools treated human piss and shit, women seduced men, men raped women and priests performed unspeakable acts on children. Flowing air, fossil fuel and money kept us safely above it all.