That was the summer I grew up. Gradually, softly stealing upon me, came the knowledge that the world did not need saving. And how was I, a goosegirl in a forgotten corner of an insignificant country, to save the world in the first place? Epiphany and I met each other, on the road or in the town, and although we talked of saving the world, the idea grew paler. As the grass frosted at the end of summer, I admitted to myself that I no longer believed. I had gone to the world of the grownups.
My father noticed how I had grown up in the summer, so he called me away from my role as goosegirl. I resigned myself to a world of living on a farm and doing work in the house and garden. Epiphany and I visited each other, but we did not speak of saving the world.
One morning after I had grown up, I stood outside and worked in the garden, pulling weeds. Thoughts of Epiphany and of saving the world were both drowned out by work. I was abruptly pulled back into the greater world as a neighboring goosegirl ran up. She was speaking with excited urgency, her eyes wide, her hands waving toward a dark and fast-approaching cloud. I ran to gather everyone and somehow warn them, but the cloud approached so quickly there was no need- before I could do anything, everyone saw it for themselves. There was no way to stop it. The goosegirl ran home, driving her flock before her. My father slashed a few leafy vegetables from their stalks in the final moments, and then ran inside to join the rest of his family. We watched through cracks in shutters as the cloud descended on our farm and our country.
Locusts covered every surface. As the sun moved across the sky, they ate every living green in sight, and when the land was bare, they flew on. My family crept outside of the house. The locusts had devoured everything but the vegetables that grew underground. They had left the geese and goat and oxen alone, but there was little green left for any animal to eat. The disaster that had swept the land bare had left little to live on for even a short time. My family decided to wait a while and see if the land could even partially recuperate, while living on what the locusts had spared. Our farm and country and world had been yanked nearly out from under us.
Before I even had time to finish worrying over the sudden disaster, I was hurrying to meet Epiphany. She did not live too close- perhaps the cloud of locusts had spared her farm. I had to see how she as doing. I walked quickly through the eerie land, hurrying toward comfort. I glanced over my shoulder at the desolate landscape behind me and saw another fast-approaching dark cloud. I walked faster. I looked again and saw how dark and close the cloud had come. I began to run. The cloud was chasing me, dark and menacing. As it grew closer, I heard it roaring after me, as no locusts could. The massive condensed storm that was chasing me was black with that which it had already killed. I ran for my life, toward Epiphany.
The storm caught up with me and swept me away from the world with its outer edge. Winds whipped me and I breathed dust and dirt. I screamed in the storm, for help, for the storm to stop. The storm faded from a roar to a whisper yelling my name, and it grew darker until the darkness consumed consciousness.
I suddenly woke to look into Epiphany's eyes, as bright and blue as skyflowers. She crouched over me protectively, her hands shielding my head from what was left of the storm. The fading wind whipped her red-gold hair over me. The storm broke and faded away, and the sun began to shine.