Rebuilding

Brown goo oozed through her toes. Drawing a fresh-smelling breeze in through her nose, she lifted her right foot while sprinkling straw with her left hand. Stomping down into the mud, Teyana smashed, squished and pummeled the straw, clay and earth mix onto the tarp with her feet.

Without a word, Lucas stepped to the edge of her tarp. Teyana moved to the opposite side and together they folded the tarp in half and both of them jumped on top of it to further smash the mix down into a burrito-like mass.

"Ready!" Lucas announced to the group of children eagerly standing by. They descended upon the mix with squeals, pulling the tarp closer to the wall, quickly creating mud balls from the mix on the tarp.

"Heads up!" Kaden shouted to the tow headed kid at the top of the wall. He hefted one mud ball after another as the guy on top quickly caught and placed each ball onto the thick firm mass he was kneeling on. Pressing down while poking holes with a stick, the boy quickly knitted the balls of stiffening mud into the layer below it.

Teyana sauntered over to the front door area. She smiled as she ran her fingers over the flowers and leaves that one of the earth artists had sculpted into the new arch. Dry now, there were only a few surface cracks showing. Once brushed with a chalk fresco, the colors, shapes and theme of the dried sculpting would become like fired clay.

Peels of laughter echoed. Kids tumbled across the grass, while others hauled buckets of water, soil and bats of straw to other earth-stomping builders. "Ready!" Another line of children manifested on the other side of the building. A blur of mud balls were heaved skillfully upward to the figure at the top. Slowly the second story began to emerge.

In the distance Teyana could make out the group of thatchers down by the river. They were deftly gathering reeds to dry into bundles that would cover the roofing framework. Layer by layer the waterproofing would be lashed securely. No amount of wind or rain would suceed at penetrating the skillfully constructed roof.

Lucas quietly appeared at her side. Running her hand over the smooth surface of the recently plastered wall, Teyana smiled. "Kaden is really getting good at this." She said.

It had only been four years since the local government had announced the plan. There was only one way to survive the weather changes and geophysical shifting on the Earth's crust. Surface dwellers needed to build homes that would be resistant to fire, flooding, downpours, heat waves, high wind and earthquakes.

The straw in the earth mix provided all the necessary tensile strength, while preventing cracks from running through the dried walls. Adding small amounts of lime made the plasters and earth mixes as solid and stable as cement used to be. The thick walls of earth delivered cool, fresh scents in summer and held in the heat during winter's unpredictable delivery.

The circular foundation itself was constructed by layering cement blocks puzzled together to make a solid platform. It stood knee high over a gravel-filled trench. Recycling broken cement blocks made all the difference. They were flat on two sides. Perfect for stable stacking. The earthen walls were at least a foot and a half wide. Old car windshields made perfect elongated windows. Plumbing pipes were layed into the French drain under the gravel.

Dioxins from the cement making process couldn't leech out of the blocks anywhere near as easily as it would if the wall itself were made from cement. This is why they had banned its use for building. Dioxin levels had reached a critical measurement in the soils of most neighborhoods due to the heavy use of cement in the old-style buildings.

Rebuilding, restructuring and reimagining had become the only way through. Abandoning and burying toxic materials was now the norm. Repurposing broken up cement into new, mostly organic structures, was still allowed.

The village of Ordinary Angels had emerged naturally from the rubble. The one-two punch of earthquakes and hurricane-force winds had humbled everyone. When it was followed by incessant downpouring rain, groups of families and friends began banding together. Groups focused around the gardeners and earth builders who were sounding the alarm about the need to "reorganize" how we approached our recovery. It was working.

Traditionalists wanted to create bricks from the clay-heavy mud to quickly stack into the walls of newer homes, but the voices of reason prevailed this time. Walls of stacked bricks fall down fast, while walls of interconnected and straw-laced earth dried like massive boulders in the sun. Not even a big earthquake could make it collapse. At least not unless it was well over 7.5 on the Richter scale.

Overhanging roof edges that extend beyond the wall by at least two feet protected from even the hardest driven rain. Crops of fast growing poplar trees were cultivated artistically around the gardens and small two story homes that had become the norm. Only food and wood producing plants were encouraged. The rest of the natural landscape was rewilding itself. It was resplendent. So many flowers.

"There's a council meeting tonight." Lucas was pulling off his shoes as he announced his plan to attend. Teyana squinted and plopped herself down on the edge of the bed. Their tent was a temporary reality as they worked to build the new home.

"Can I go play baseball with the gang now?" Kaden asked as he dumped his wooden dinner bowl into the basin. "Sure, honey." Teyana responded. "What is the question they are answering tonight?" She asked Lucas. "Is it time to dig another food production pit?" He replied. "We've had more people migrate here in the last few months, and supplies are starting to thin out." "Ah." She nodded.

Digging down below the frost levels and roofing over the top with thick glass had become the safest, most stable way to grow reliable food crops.

Lucas and Teyana settled into their seats. At the head of the room were four large easles hosting four large chalk boards. There was a facilitator standing in front of them. There was a semi circle of eight people who had been picked randomly from the diverse population of Ordinary Angels village.

At the top of each board one word was written. One said "Data" another said "Concerns" another said "Problem Statement" and the last one said "Solution."

As the meeting began, the facilitator wrote the problem question at the top of the board. One by one the facilitator addressed each person. With intense focus the facilitator held eye contact with the person speaking, hearing their reply fully, while writing the point of what they said onto the board.

After a few hours food was passed around. Each person had been addressed with everyone's responses recorded on the boards. By the end of the session, a unified answer had emerged. The feeling in the room was almost electric.

Folks often attended these council meetings just to get this "high" of a unified solution being anchored into reality for the village by the people. The locals called this "Experiencing the Field." Outsiders called it "Dynamic Facilitation."

Lucas lifted Teyana's hand from his knee. He furtively glanced as she rose. He followed her toward the door.

The couple wandered into the golden glow of sunset. They stood for a moment, taking in the sounds. Young people laughing and shouting in the distance. Birds chirping in the trees nearby. Dogs yapping and chasing their children who were playing games in the fields. The occasional bleating of a goat or sheep. The random hum of a hovercraft.

Another moment let them soak in the sights. Shadows in miniscule expansion. The moment being stretched through sheer attention. The ache deep within each of their hearts growing palpably stronger. Love singing softly through these depths.