This story is part of Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, a climate-fiction contest from Fix. Learn more about the power of imagination in Fix’s Climate Fiction Issue.
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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 because its name started with the letter M. Also, because the merbau tree was native to the Land, though this came much as an afterthought, in case the first reason wasn’t v... Read more