This story is part of Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, a climate-fiction contest from Grist. Read the 2021 collection now. Or sign up for email updates to get new stories in your inbox.
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Mariska looked at the choice cards in front of her, wondering if her papa would have preferred merbau or jati if he had taken the time to choose before he died. Though if he did, he would have chosen something other than this for his final resting place. He had always been a practical man, always taking what he thought was the most logical route. But he was also extremely stubborn and could dig in his heels so deeply that the only person who could convince him to change his mind was himself, or his wife.
If he could have it his way now, he would have gone the way his wife did: burnt to ashes and scattered into the sea.
Mariska finally settled on the merbau. It wasn’t so much that she liked it more than the other. She chose it beca... Read more
