***
John insisted on being dropped off a block away from the school. He climbed out of the cruiser, and Brooke watched him shake the dust from his hair on his way to school.
A pang of guilt hit Brooke as she watched her son saunter down the sidewalk. She remembered how nervous she had been on her first day and recalled using quite a bit of shower time that morning herself.
But things were different now. Her family didn’t have the same wasteful luxuries as she’d had when she was growing up.
The elementary school was busy with kids walking to class and stepping out of buses and parents waiting to drop their children off in the car lane. Emily gave Brooke a hug then scooted across the seats and climbed down from the cab.
“Have fun, baby! And remember to only do the fountain trick outside,” Brooke said through the cruiser's open window.
Emily waved and gave Brooke a missing-front-tooth smile.
Brooke pulled out of the school lot and headed for the water ration facility. She was hoping she could receive an approval for increasing her water usage. There were plenty of weeks when she stayed under the limit.
Traffic was heavy, even for a Monday morning. Brooke turned on the radio to help pass the time. Every station was broadcasting commercials, so she flicked it to one of the AM news channels.
“California residents are bound to be upset when they check their water bills this week. The price of a gallon of water quadrupled since yesterday, and water rations have been cut in half.”
Brooke reached for the volume and turned it up.
“One of our station reporters attempted to reach out to the southwest regional water management division but was unable to obtain any comment on the matter.”
“Jesus Christ,” Brooke said.
“The past decade has seen a dramatic decrease in the water levels of the Colorado River, which supplies many of the forty million residents in the southwest United States, as well as Mexico, which government officials continue to set economic sanctions against in hopes of preventing any military conflict.”