and writhes in my arms like a snake about to bite. This last one is the worst.

Then I reach the bottom of the aisle and there is an altar. On the altar is the spinning shaft of a tornado, a sick yellow color, or dirty grey, like used motor oil. I am supposed to lay the girl on the altar, give her up to the whirlwind. I am supposed to keep my eyes down, like in church, but I cannot. It’s always the same. I have to look. I look up, up, up the gleaming, spinning shaft of the tornado to the top, and there is no roof above me but only the sky filled with the swollen head of the thundering whirlwind, bigger than God, spinning sickly out of control. That is when I start screaming and wake up....

“The current air pollution density of one hundred and twenty-five is a new record high.”

Yes, the weather was getting more vicious, hostile and unpredictable all the time. We had been warned: ozone depletion, pollution, deforestation, and all that. But talking about it is one thing; trying to live with it is something else.

My hands shook as I lifted the cup of delicious black liquid from the hissing espresso maker and took a slug of the double shot. I set the cup on the desk and looked out the window at the emptiness of The Wall. It was soothing to watch, like a blank tv screen. I waited for the bean to take effect.

A movement caught my eye. I spun around in the chair.

There were shadows in the hallway behind the frosted glass.

“There is someone at the door, Bob.”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, Bob.”

I quickly slipped the coffee makings back into the safe. It was a little early in the day for a client, but I didn’t want to get caught with illegal drug paraphernalia on my desk. Might be bad for business. Not that there was any business.

I snuck the top right desk drawer open so I could grab my pistol fast if I needed it.

Then the door exploded inward and the glass shattered into a million fragments, with the broad-shouldered lads who had kicked it in following close behind.

I just had time to slam the safe shut and spin the dial before they swarmed across the desk and hit me. The oak swivel chair toppled over backwards and I crashed to the floor beneath them. They wore the full body armor of the City Police and they felt like giant insects crawling over my body.

I fought them. A thought ran wildly through my brain, that it was a shame, them breaking the pretty glass with my name on it, since the door was unlocked anyway. Then something came down hard on my head and the lights went out.