Silent City's Population Control

Imagine we are pigeons in the busiest city in the world. Acclimated to the bitter cold, snow has no effect on our feathers. Let's visit one of our city's inhabitants and observe. We happen upon one of the better citizens of New York City. She works every day, curbs her dog, cleans after it, recycles, pays taxes. She is a model citizen in every right and loves her city to a fault. She is waking up on a day like normal. She doesn't drive so the impending snow storm is nothing more than a few extra items of clothing to wear when she steps out of the loft. Let's see what happens when she failed to pay attention to the weather man and stay indoors for the duration of this "special storm."

The blizzard came in overnight. All the news outlets said it was to be the storm of the century. Being a native of New York, she never paid much mind to the apocalyptic snow forecasts bleated by every weatherperson ever. Snow was snow. They were at the top of the world, give or take, it's going to be colder than areas comfortable near the equator. That was what science said, right? She had always intended on moving to somewhere warm. Her cold nature was not cohesive to this weather but she has been a lifetime resident, so why change things? Everything she was accustomed to was in the big city. Anything less is going to be... well just that. Less. She loved the city and there was no doubt about that.

After donning her fuzzy robe and matching slippers, she shuffled through the chilly loft apartment to the kitchen area for some coffee. Having just enough space for her things and her dog was the best find ever. It was just a couple blocks from the Empire State building and was everything she could ever want. After taking the first blissful sips of her hot coffee, she shuffled back across the unusually creaky wooden floor to pull the curtains up and let in the morning light to survey the prophesied damage.

In mid sip, she nearly inhaled the bean water out of the cup and spewed the hot beverage on the window. It cracked the huge window pain and she felt the chill enter the loft from the cracks in the pane. The glass smoked with breath of her coffee.

Being on the second and third floor of the building and having a view of the main street afforded her to see the busy commotion always below. Being that it was 9 AM, the trash should have already been picked up from the curb and cars parked along the street. People should have been rushing to unknown destinations in a way that only New Yorkers can go. Traffic should already be thick and the typical city noises should have invaded her space.

Instead, there was an eerie silence.

Coming out of her shock, she felt the temperature of the loft suddenly drop. She quickly got dressed in double layers and put on her winter outer wear. She grabbed the leash and discovered that her beloved Lab was not having any want or need to leave. He stayed in his crate and whined as if he hurt. Not wanting to argue, she locked him in, assured her return and left the loft.

Riding the elevator down, it was unusually quiet. There was not anyone coming or going. Upon reaching the bottom floor, she rushed across the lobby and noted the morning doorman's absence. What was really going on?

She opened the door to the building and there was nothing but silence. It was as if she had entered an anechoic chamber. There was not a soul to be seen, no traffic, no people. It was silent. She reflected on a song by Simon and Garfunkel. Something about how silence can sound. Never being outside of the city, she never heard anything but the sounds of the city. Even in her loft, she heard it as a faint background noise. Never in her life had she heard anything like this before.

It was maddening. Her head began to hurt from the cold. She suddenly felt but not felt. Despite her feet and hands being well insulated, she could not feel them. Clumsily, she got her glove off after a frantic fight. Her fingers had already turned blueish grey from frostbite. She screamed. Only, there was no sound. The snow prophecy she rebelled against had come true. It was apocalyptic. It ate up all noise as her scream came out not at all. She was just standing there with a fearful look on her face and frozen or near frozen right there in the snow like that Norwegian painting, by Edvard Munch.

She watched the blue-grey on her fingers slowly engulf her hand. As she waited for her impending death, she looked around at the doorways in the street. There were faces looking out at her but no one had ventured out like she had. All of them listened. Why had she not?

The quiet snow kept her from keeping her promise to her dog upstairs. She can only hope someone will come and take care of him. She should have listened. The cold of the snow and the uncharacteristic quiet of the city engulfed her. Funny how things are. Blue-grey was her favorite color. This was her last thought as the bitter cold settled upon her beating heart and slowed it down. Stopped it from beating. Even her heartbeat was silenced by the snow that had somehow shut down her beloved city.

We back off a bit, a bird in flight; watching her frozen figure grow smaller as we leave the ground below. Looking around, there are not any people to be found. The silence is so loud. Can you hear it? This is what will become of the busiest city in the world should the climate change move forward and continue to choke out the sun. There is nothing anyone can do. More than a perfect storm, it will become a solid planet of ice, or a disk of ice if you prefer. Whatever you believe, global warming is what they want you to believe while they slowly freeze us all to death.

Population control is all. They just forgot to mention they were doing it in their own back yard. As we leave the cold city, the rest of the country is status quo. Those that survive will move on. Unlucky for some of the good people, the loyal ones, she just happens to be the sacrifice of the few for the good of the many.

What do YOU think?