magenta

A work of flash fiction

Ten years makes a difference

First assignment of the school year: what are ten changes in the last ten years in the world around you? Most of you are about ten years old, so these are changes in your lifetime, if not in your memory. Cite sources, and give explanations.

One: I see zeppelins almost every day, and I didn't when I was little. Even though the fusion plants are new, they produce a lot of helium, so people are starting to use zeppelins to replace airplanes. They are “the cruise ships of the air” I want to ride on one.

Two: Berets and tams are really popular. Everyone wears them. I only have three. My best friend May has eight. I looked at a bunch of pictures from 10 years ago and almost no one wore them. Now, a lot of people do.

Three: There are a lot fewer cars on the streets. I checked Google Maps and Google Pictures for photos from ten years ago of the block I live on. I counted the cars parked on the street, and ones I could see in parking spaces in back of houses. There are 30 houses on our block. There were at least 17 cars; I couldn't tell for sure because of the trees. Today I counted 8, and 4 of them were sharing services, I think. Three were parked in front of one house, so I think they were all visiting someone who lives there. A lot of people have torn down garages, or turned them into offices or storage. (Mama says some of them were used for storage already, and people would park outside.)

Four: Using the same pictures, there were no solar panels on any of the roofs 10 years ago, and there are solar panels on all but two now. One is the Millers, who have a gigantic oak tree in the back yard, and refuse to cut it down. The whole house is too shaded to make use of the panels. I heard Mama and Mom talking about this.

Five: Almost everyone has a garden. I looked at five urban gardening sites. There were a lot of listings for people who don't have the time or energy to garden, so someone else can use their yards. There are fewer lawns than 10 years ago. This is a “natural outgrowth of the local food movements” according to a neighborhood website, since you can't get any more local than your own backyard. We grow tomatoes, green peppers, broccoli, chard, and radishes, and herbs. I help with the weeding. People had gardens 10 years ago, but not as many, and mostly not in the front yard. I looked at the same pictures. Google is very useful.

Six: Meat is more expensive and almost everyone eats less meat or none at all. Sources is U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics page, and Wikipedia, and an article in New York Times dated August 20^th, 2025. We mostly eat meat on special occasions, like Thanksgiving. Some people eat none at all; they are called vegetarians. I like bacon, but I only eat it at my grandparents. They say pork is ok because pigs are fed on garbage we would have to put in landfill, and farmers compost the end products for fertilizer.

Seven: “The Simpsons” isn't coming out with new shows any more, because one of the men who did it got sick and died, and the other one can't or won't do it without him. I remember the last show, two years ago. “Game of Thrones” ended last year, but there are rumors of a revival. I don't know how because everyone on it is dead. Mama says it will be about stuff earlier or they will reboot it and do it with other actors. There are still “Star Trek” reruns every day. Mom watches them when she is sick, and Mama teases her about it.

Eight:. When I was born, the President was a Black man named Obama. Now is it a woman named Harris. There were three presidents in four years in between them. This was caused by what people call the Matryoshka scandals, because every time one of them was opened, there was another one inside of it, and they were all from Russia.

Nine: There is a vaccine for Lyme disease. But there isn't for Zika, or a lot of other diseases, so I have to put on repellent when I go outside in the summer.

Ten: There are a lot more trains. I checked the U.S. Department of Transportation site. When we went to visit Granddad in Chicago in June, we missed the train, and had to wait two hours for the next one. Mama said that it used to be only one train a day. I didn't believe her until I looked it up. All the trains were really crowded, I can't imagine just one train a day to Chicago, even if it was really long.