Outside the unforgiving sun beat down on the sand. I glanced at the thermometer, I gave an exasperated sigh as the temperature was now up to 105 degrees fahrenheit, and supposed to get warmer by mid afternoon. The clock read noon, the beachside concert was not until five o'clock, I had time to kill before heading out for the meet and greet before the concert. The weatherman was showing the heatwave that was sweeping the nation, it was breaking records nationwide, it was so warm that the glaciers were melting faster in one day than they had all of the previous year combined.
I decided that I was going to read through the plan for the concert for this evening. I would have to go through 5 costume changes, and only 2 makeup changes. I looked out of the trailer’s window to see that a crowd was already gathering. It was a concert that was free to attend, The volcano that shadowed the beach was silent. When they told me where the concert location was I became as still as a stone. That was always one of my greatest fears giving a concert in the shadow of a volcano, whether it was extinct or not I would never get over that fear. Mount Konocti was on the south side of Clear Lake in California, the exact side that we were performing on. The last known eruption was about ten thousand years ago. The name of the volcano means Mountain Woman.
The local news was interrupted to bring in the latest breaking news. The headline read ‘Hawaii Dissapears.’ I unmuted the television to hear what the anchorwoman had to say.
“There is no sign of anything from the Hawaiian Islands this afternoon, as all of their volcanoes seems to have erupted all at once. Leaving nothing but black lifeless mounds in the Pacific Ocean. Hold on, we have something new information coming in.” The woman had her hand pressed against her ear as the information came through her headpiece. “Yes it is definitely confirmed now that there is nothing left of Hawaii, a few people have escaped on boats. There is still no information on the number of people that have made it out alive, or the number of people lost. The estimate stands that hundreds of lives have been lost. As soon as more information comes in we will alert the public.”
As soon as the anchorwoman was done speaking the picture rattled around, the noise sounded like an earthquake or a train, the camera was rolling yet and the anchorwoman’s placid face suddenly had a look of panic, then the camera fell to the floor and the screen went to static. I turned off the television, my heart was hammering and I heard the blood rushing through my ears. I looked back out of the window, the once still mountain now had a steady stream of smoke coming from its peak. The people on the beach had no idea what was going on. Harold my manager came and knocked on the door.
“Lily, there has been an emergency we need to cancel the concert.”
“No, Harold, we can move it up.” I looked at the clock it was five minutes to one o’ clock. “I can be ready in five minutes, go tell the crowd.”
Heart still hammering I went to the back of the platform that we were using as a stage.
“Julia I need to be ready in five minutes,” I told my costume and makeup artist. “Just use the costume and makeup we were saving for last.”
“Right away ma’am.”
I glanced at the volcano, the smoke was grey now instead of white.
Five minutes later my band, crew, and I were gathered backstage. They were all aware of what the volcano meant and had been watching the news. The volcanoes everywhere were erupting, Mount Vesuvius was once again wreaking havoc in Italy, and Mount St. Helens had erupted once again worse than the eruption in 1980. The world was ending in fire and the storms that sent the