The Madness in the Fire chapter 5 "It will be fine"

Hello fellow readers.  Haven't had an installment in a while so here ya go.
These aren't actual chapters only the beginnings of them.  Sort of a trailer if you will!
Enjoy
-Bushman



The Madness in the Fire
Chapter 5
'It Will Be Fine'

"Hey babe?", a voice from the living room carried down the hall.
"I'm folding laundry what do you want?", a crispness in her voice said leave me alone but this was important.  This was a little frightening.

"You need to come see this"
"I told you I ......", he cut her off in mid sentence.  "Now please"!

She shuffled down the hall carrying an empty basket on her hip.  The new and improved laundry basket with a concave side that fit the contours of her hip just right.  The person that had tweaked the original design just a bit and made the basket much more user friendly was probably in the Caribbean sipping mimosas right now while he sat on an old worn out plaid couch sipping cheap generic coffee.
She was a striking woman.  Tall and slender but with just the right amount of curves to accent her slim frame.  Her cheeks were a pale pink and he knew he had irritated her slightly.  It was a familiar scene which usually ended in him chasing her down the hall while she scolded him and then eventually into the still unmade bed of the morning.
This morning was different. He wasn't staring at her as he usually does but was fixated on the television.
"What is it?", she asked.  "The Giants won the pennant or some other amazing news like the Russian contortionist that I just had to see last time?".
He ignored her snide comment and just pointed at the screen.

The television screen showed a man standing in a boat next to a large wall of ice.  The caption at the bottom of the screen read 'Greenland's ice is in danger'.
He turned up the volume...

"Scientists report that the glacier may have lost upwards of 37 feet of ice in the last two years alone.  Evidence points towards global warming but the traditional trend of ice loss has been much lower.  Greenland's massive sheets of ice are a scientist most effective way of measuring global warming and over the last 40 years or so they have kept an eye on Greenland.  It acts as a catalyst for other glaciers and ice caps.  What happens to Greenland happens everywhere.
Typical ice losses are around 6 inches up to 12 inches every 20 years.
Estimates suggest that the glacier has lost a total of 50 feet of ice over the last 4 years and measurements point towards an ever increasing trend.
Researchers are still trying to fathom the amount of fresh water being released into the oceans from this massive meltdown.

Fingers are being pointed at the cataclysmic meltdowns of nuclear power plants in several countries in the Asian Pacific countries.  The failures of these plants and their corresponding meltdowns have decimated the areas around them and the inability to contain them has led to a massive amount of radioactive leakage into our oceans.
Findings by IFML or Institute for Marine Life suggest that this radiation is being carried on our oceans currents and is traveling around the globe at an alarming rate.
While the contaminants in the water don't appear to have a direct effect on the ice they do suggest that the massive amount of aquatic life being lost such as kelp beds and coral reefs are contributing to the increasing water temperatures akin to a drought in the middle of the United States.  Without this all important structure of plants and animals the sun is allowed to scorch the sea and the ever rising water temperatures are evidence to this fact.
Rising coastal waters have attributed to massive evacuations along many coastal towns and villages throughout the world.  It just isn't safe to live by the sea anymore.
For news 10, I'm Patricia Dunbar."

She stood mute, staring at the tv which he had turned off.  The house was silent.  The ticking of the clock down the hallway was all that could be heard.
"This just keeps getting worse", she said softly.
"I know".
"What about Danny?  What do we tell him?  The world is falling apart just when he is beginning to be a part of it"
He could hear the distress in her voice.  It was the voice they all carried these days.  Pretending to be alright but knowing in the back of your head that it wasn't.
"Honey it will be fine.  The Oceans have a way of healing themselves.  It will just take more time".
"And what if one more nuke plant blows up?  Then what?  Not only are they poisining the oceans but now they are moving inland and killing off all the trees and grass and birds and....."
She began to whimper and he stood up, taking the basket from her and setting it down on the floor.  He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her close.  "It will be fine, I promise", he whispered into her neck.  He closed his eyes and held her tight.  He didn't know what else to tell her.  Only lies would comfort her.  She knew it just as much as he did but sometimes the lies helped them get through the day.
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He opened his eyes and looked at his wife.  Tears coursed down her cheeks leaving clean streaks on her dirty cheeks.  Her hair was tangled and coarse and her body had lost all the curve and resembled nothing more than walking bones.  She opened her eyes and looked back at him.  The spark, the life that once shone brilliant in her eyes was almost gone.  He was running out of time.
"It will be fine", he said, "I promise".