Precipice: The Beginning by Kevin J. Howard Page A

pollutants. Our oceans have high levels of acidity never before seen in our lifetimes, making it toxic to the poor creatures that have no other home. The very soil we stand on is quaking beneath our feet from the mounds of trash and chemicals we bury every day.” Manuel took a brief pause, closing his eyes to let the emotion simmer within him. “A time for change is coming. A change that every American, no matter their lot in life, has the ability to get behind. We are a nation of thinkers and dreamers and it is time to become united, to put an end to the pollution today, so that our children will have a brighter future.” Manuel’s closing statement was barely audible over the explosion of applause.
    Gregory Cunningham came back on the screen, his head slightly tilted to say, “yes, I understand and agree.” “We move to our top story. Massive earthquakes devastate Vienna and Hong Kong. Vienna experienced an eight point seven yesterday afternoon while three hours later Hong Kong was hit by an eight point four. Seismologists are baffled and offer no immediate explanation as no active faults run beneath either city. We’re going live to our European correspondent, Simon Chester, who is standing in the devastating aftermath of Vienna.”
    “Yes, thank you Gregory.” Simon wore a thick coat and squinted against the heavy rain. “I’m standing in the heart of Vienna, across the street from the remains of the Vienna Opera House. Much of this ancient city is now shattered and broken in the wake of such an awful act of nature.”
    The image changed to an overhead shot from a helicopter, giving the home audience the overall destruction of the once great city. Annie was taken aback by the damage. To see such a beautiful city known for music and romance reduced to rubble made her teary-eyed. The image changed to the classic news, jumbled footage of men and women running from a collapsing structure, people on the ground as they sheltered an injury. No one did human misery better than the news. But then the scene changed, showing something quite different, a four-mile crack in the earth on the outskirts of the city. The camera zoomed in on the opening and the screen went black, nothing visible within the long trench.
    “A similar trench has formed two miles outside Hong Kong,” Simon said loudly, trying to be heard over a screaming woman in the background.
    There was a loud thump above her, the unmistakable sound of little feet as they ran to the bathroom. Annie looked at the clock and couldn’t believe two hours had passed since her rude awakening. Logie would want his morning regiment of syrup with a hint of pancake. Annie grabbed the pancake mix from the pantry and began stirring, smiling at the typical morning sounds as Logan came down the stairs. Yawning, his hair sticking up in the most random way.
    “Making pancakes,” Annie announced, speaking over her shoulder with a smile.
    “Can I have a piece of cake?” Logan smiled, rubbing his fingers together greedily.
    “Not for breakfast, pook.” Annie couldn’t keep the smile from her lips.
    Logan gave her the usual dish of sass, looking down to the white tiles with a hangdog expression. “Cake!” Logan stomped.
    “Why don’t you go in the other room and play with your toys?”
    “Fine,” Logan moaned, suffering defeat as he turned away and headed off into the living room.
    Annie set about making the pancakes, stirring the batter as she listened to her son playing on the floor behind her. Logan’s imagination was something she bragged about to Erica. Her son could come up with the most elaborate scenarios for his little toys, soldiers fighting on distant planets. Annie listened intently to the words her son spoke as he took on each individual character, one of them always being his father. It was such a relief to hear Logan always placing daddy as the heroin rather than the monster society saw him as. The last thing in the world she would ever want was for