And What They Saw
He saw himself from behind himself. A naked man, pear-shaped and poorly formed, standing there naked in an abyss. The only light Paulie could see emanated from a small pink star in the black void. He felt as if he was surrounded by some sort of strange invisible liquid, neither warm nor cold to the touch.
“I want you to see what I see. I see a world that has stopped growing. Instead, it is withering. You see a flower sprouting from the earth, while I see it choking on the exhaust of two billion cars or the factories that produce them. The very same noxious gases that are killing this planet’s smallest beings will kill you as well. Death is inevitable, but soon the world will die, and life will become impossible.”
As he watched himself wade in the ethereal mist until he
