It had been a long winter in Yrcalla, and it was the first really sunny day of the year. The air was still cold, but the parks were suddenly flooded with young people in shorts and bikinis drinking cheap cider and having barbecues. The beer garden of the Grapes was crowded with students, and Sylvia and her friends were lucky to get a table. As Sylvia returned from the bar with the first round of drinks, she overheard the laughter of the students on the table to the right of her. They were so young, she thought, getting younger every year. She saw their faces flushed with the sun and the booze, heard the nervous edge to the laughter, too loud. They talked so fast, snatched desperate glances at their crushes when they thought they weren’ t looking. Sylvia remembered that intensity of feeling, the way everything seemed to matter so much, then disappear into insignificance just as quickly. I’ m glad I’ m not that young anymore, she thought.
“ I just, I genuinely don’ t think people are taking it seriously enough,” James was saying. Sylvia set the beers down on the table and sat down.
“ Oh god, it’ s the Hum all over again,” laughed Gene.“ Saffron, we told you James goes funny when he works from home all the time.”
“ I’ m being serious, they have no idea how to stop it spreading.”
“ It’ s just a fungus, dear,” Saffron smiled.
“ They don’ t even know that. Ever heard of a fungus that feeds on electricity?”
“ That’ s just an internet conspiracy theory,” said Gene.“ They don’ t know what it feeds on, but it’ ll be some organic substrate just like any other fungus.”
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