Six Days in a Bomb Shelter

What is the opposite of doom and gloom?

Savage winds blew that day but it was not enough to clear the air of the feeling of impending doom. Everyone in town felt it. Even the animals could feel it.

Despite travel warnings several families got in their cars and left town. They were not sure if they could get far enough away in time but they were compelled to try.

Gloom preceded doom. Sylvester, the only person in town who still had a positive attitude, wondered if gloom helped to bring forth doom. Like the proverbial chicken and egg conundrum, it probably did not much matter which came first between doom and gloom. One was never far from the other.

Sylvester went for a walk but the doom and gloom vibrations were so thick and pervasive that he cut his walk short. He went home and gathered food and snacks and water and batteries and movie dvds, bringing them all down to his underground bomb shelter.

The tiny bomb shelter was built just for one occupant. It had a tiny bathroom and a short counter with a tiny refrigerator, a camp stove and two square feet of counter space. Above the counter were shelves with supplies. The only sink was in the bathroom. There was a cot and a plush leather recliner and there was a giant TV screen on the wall.

After locking himself in the shelter Sylvester took stock of his supplies. He figured he could last a week to ten days. He then went through the pile of movie dvds. He decided to first watch a comedy. Perhaps that would offset the doom and gloom vibrations.

For the next six days Sylvester ate, slept and watched movies. There were no quakes or rumbles or meteor strikes (which his shelter would not have kept him safe from). He had no TV reception in the shelter and he had forgotten to bring down a radio so he had no connection to the outside world. Between movies he wondered what was going on out there in the world.

After he finished watching the final movie he decided to exit the bomb shelter to see what was left of the town. Opening the hatch and stepping out into the world the first thing he saw was that his house was still there. That was a good sign. Looking around he noticed that there was a strange light emanating from everything. Wishing he had a Geiger counter, he wondered if that was some sort of radiation.

Instead of going into his house he decided to take a short walk into town to see if it had been destroyed. He quickly realized that it had not been.

He looked up into a deep azure sky. It was still there. As he walked the sidewalks he noticed that all the trees were full of birds singing their hearts out. There was traffic on the streets and people out and about. They all seemed to be glowing and they all had huge smiles on their faces.

The town somehow looked more beautiful and vibrant than it ever had. Everything seemed brighter and more focused. The overall vibrations felt downright euphoric. There was no evidence of doom or gloom anywhere. If anything, things seemed so much better.

Sylvester was amazed. He stopped walking and turned in a circle taking in what now seemed like a much better world. Whatever the hell happened he was now sorry that he had missed it.

Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction.

Speaking of walking down the street…