And the world will applaud you if you try and save this planet

It is no ordinary day in the internet café. Chapter one was written by me, and two options for chapter two in collaboration. (A fictional Vineyard Tale this week)

The cat had had a good night. The moon had lit the park in a velvet blue. He’d had the place to himself. One of the best nights in a long time. But now it was time to head home. It was late, already 8.30am and the sun was scorching the cement pavement and burning his paws. Time for a drink, God he was thirsty. And time for sleep for that matter! He walked along the road and jumped up onto the two meter high red brick wall and walked along the top to get home through the kitchen window.

The bald man didn’t see the cat walk past along the wall opposite the café, even though he was sat at the table by a huge window with a great view of the street. He was tapping away furiously on his laptop, eyes down, headphones on tight. The inside of his coffee cup was striped in a dry coffee. The tinted tide measured the time he’d spent here. The silver foil that had wrapped around his homemade sandwich sat scrunched up in a tight ball in the saucer unapologetically. He didn’t hear the baby start to cry on the next table or the credit card machine bleep as customers paid for breakfast and left. He was focused in his isolation, clocking up the hours for payday, improving the filter functions on the app for a third week in a row.

Suddenly he felt someone tap him on the shoulder and he jumped. No way! Who would dare break his concentration? Really? Did he look like he was there for a chat?

Disgruntled but feeling obliged to turn around, he took his headphones off and turned his head.

Mother Nature looked at him straight in the eye and smiled. A beautiful, perfect smile. ‘You don’t need to work on those photographic filters to make photographs appear even more beautiful. It’s already all there in nature. You haven’t been walking in the country for so long you don’t remember how beautiful the world is! Your filters are going too far.

‘If I were you’, she paused, ‘I’d start working on ways to save water with your computer genius, because, while you’ve been logged on and plugged in, this drought has become existential and the politicians aren’t thinking straight. They just argue between themselves and the hotel owners.

‘Be the smart guy and turn this crisis round with your hi-tech and the world will applaud you.’

He stared at her. Blinked. He rubbed his eyes in case he was dreaming.

She stopped smiling. Nodded her head knowingly, slowly. Her beautiful eyes looked deep into his. Then, without a word more, she turned and walked away, dissolving in a mirage in the street and was gone.

water is gold by Pipp