Lucas was excited to eat his turkey this Thanksgiving although he knew the celebration was not going to be as bountiful as he had enjoyed during childhood when food on Earth was still plentiful. He missed the days of large family gatherings and dreamed of being able to eat his mom’s apple pie once again. For several years now,  countless crops have been unable to grow in the United States and many places around the world. This weekend before Thanksgiving, Lucas had heard the rumor that major shipments were coming to the Port of Seattle, and he was going to be there to score some apples and any additional goodness he could get.  

A blustery, northwestern wind blasted Lucas’ face as he waited, along with a crowd of people, at the port this November morning. Only the seagulls seemed unfazed by the hostile weather and squawked cacophonously through the air which smelled thick with salt and seaweed. He looked around the sea of people and concluded the surplus shipments from Canada were not a well-kept secret, but despite the considerable crowd, the docks were quiet, filled with solemn anticipation rather than social chatter. Food was serious business these days.

As much as Lucas enjoyed sleeping in on Sundays, this morning he had a mission far more important than sleep. He was going to deliver the goods to make apple pies for his family and most importantly for his girlfriend, Emma. Ever since cosmic fate brought them together that magical New Year’s Eve two years ago, in 2060, Lucas and Emma were inseparable. Despite what some people had hinted to him, he knew in his heart, Emma wasn’t just a stop on his journey to adulthood.

No, Emma and I are destined to be together forever, Lucas was daydreaming when the tension grew among the crowd as the clock struck eight and the first ship docked. People were lined up to get the first choice of items they knew were seldom available in the stores. Most of the ship cargoes would end up in grocery stores, but since early 2058, when the famine really had taken hold, small sales would occur in the port on the docks. Just like with any rationed goods at other points in history, a black market also flourished and drove up prices. Lucas had asked his best friend Eric from the university to join him, but Eric had stayed out too late on Saturday night and didn’t wake up on time, leaving Lucas to handle the growing mob on his own.

The crowd at the dock was restless and people were squeezing Lucas from all sides. He almost panicked from the mounting pressure on his airway when thankfully someone yelled, “Potatoes!”, and a crate full of potatoes was opened about 50 yards away. The crowd pulled towards the earthy potato smell like a compass pulling north. Lucas exhaled and gasped for air when the pressure from the crowd released as many around him hasted to get early picks from the potato selection. 

As it turned out, this was his lucky morning. Soon after the potatoes, another crate opened up no more than 10 yards from Lucas’ spot, and the heavenly aroma of an apple orchard flowed towards him. “Jackpot!” he exclaimed and deeply inhaled the sweet smell, which instantly triggered soothing childhood memories of apple picking with the family. Those were the days, he thought and sighed audibly. People in front of him quickly grabbed bags of apples for $100 a piece, and the crate was emptying alarmingly fast. It was now or never. Lucas edged his way up to the crate and called out to a tall, long-bearded salesman. Eagerly, Lucas reached out to grab a bag and more than happily handed over his $100 bill, then stared into his apple bag feeling giddy with excitement.  

Just as he had made his purchase and was getting ready to leave, a fight broke out right in front of him. Two men started throwing punches at each other, fighting over whose apple had fallen to the ground. Lucas turned around to get away from them but caught one of the men’s elbows directly over his right eye. He screamed with pain and dropped to the hard, wet ground. Although his head was throbbing, he quickly turned his attention to the apples as a terrifying thought had entered his mind; I’ve lost the apples!

Lucas managed to look over to his right and saw a couple of apples had spilled out from his fallen bag. A skinny boy in ragged jeans seized the opportunity, grabbed the apples and ran for the exit. How stupid of him to come here alone, he scolded himself silently. Suddenly, the large man who had just sold Lucas his prized apples sprung to his rescue. Surprisingly agile, he jumped the fence that was separating sellers from patrons and helped Lucas get back up, bag in tow. After the initial gasp of desperation, Lucas let out a big sigh of relief once he realized only a couple of apples were lost. There would be apple pie for Thanksgiving after all.

The massive salesman smiled at Lucas, “Watch your step, junior!”, whereupon he leaped back over the fence. Lucas waved at the man with gratitude, stuffed the bag of apples in his backpack and hurried out towards the road. As his adrenaline levels were normalizing, Lucas realized he was bleeding from above his left eyebrow. He grabbed a tissue from his pocket and held it over his wound to keep the blood from dripping down his face. His mom was going to be very excited about the apples but Lucas figured he would have to explain the bruise. I guess I will make up a story about getting hit with an accidental elbow during a basketball game, he chuckled to himself. Excellent plan. He knew better than to say he was injured at the port and needed to come up with a white lie his mom and Emma could believe.

Since the bag of apples was a bit heavy and Lucas was still shaken from the port incident, he decided it was wise to take a car back to campus. So he exited the port hastily, tapped a couple buttons on his watch and quickly ordered a car. At least transportation is quite effortless these days, Lucas mused when the self-driving taxi pulled up just moments later. He swiped his palm over the reader on the handle and the car door opened. As he jumped in, the automated system welcomed him in a pleasant tone, “Welcome, Mr. Lundgren.” Lucas snickered upon hearing “Mister” before his name. He announced the university’s address to the car’s autopilot system and the car zoomed off towards campus.

Settling in on the plush seat, Lucas finally felt relaxed again after his harsh visit to the disorderly port area. Rather enjoying his ride, he gazed out the car window, imagining Emma was there with her wavy, brown hair and gorgeous deep brown eyes. She had grace, strength and a maturity uncommon for girls her age. A senior at Lakewood High School, the same school Lucas had graduated from the year before, Emma was a talented writer and wanted to attend The University of Puget Sound in the fall. Although the school was small it was well-known for its excellent writing program and thankfully only an hour south from where Lucas was majoring in computer science at the University of Washington. Of course, Lucas would have preferred for Emma to be on campus with him at UW, but he fully supported her making the best choice for her future.

In Lucas' mind, there was no doubt or uncertainty that his future was with Emma. All his friends, and even some of his family, were of the opinion that Lucas was growing up too fast and that he was too young to make big decisions about whom to spend the rest of his life with, but Lucas felt differently about it. To him, the struggles many people were enduring only meant he didn’t have any time to waste.

These struggles had come on quickly when major changes in quality of life started in early 2055. By then, global climate change had taken its toll on the planet and food shortages became ubiquitous. The rise in global temperatures eroded the world’s top soil and reduced the farmable land by over 60 percent. Increased water temperatures changed the marine ecosystems and drained the oceans of much of their fishable bounty. Species after species went extinct, and the herds and flocks of those that survived, rapidly diminished. Even the tremendous advances in vertical farming could not keep up with the decreases in farmable soil, creating the ripple effect of crumbling livestock populations.

Over many decades, there had been warning signals, but then, seemingly all of a sudden, the all-encompassing, life-impacting changes hit humanity like a giant tsunami of hunger, war and catastrophe in a relatively short period of time. Even the advent of commercial nuclear fusion technology in the 2040s, a truly clean and abundant source of energy that greatly reduced carbon emissions and stopped the increase in global temperatures, wasn’t enough to avoid a global hunger crisis. It was already too late. Reversing the damage from prior centuries, since the advent of industrialization, would take enormous sacrifices by humanity and decades of environmental recovery. 

Passing along Seattle’s cityscape, Lucas stared out the car window and dreamt about his life not long ago. He could see the vacant lot that used to be Seattle's famed Pike Place Market and remembered how he used to pick out fresh fish there with his father. And that’s where Seaport pizza used to be, he reminisced and nodded to an empty pier. They really had the best cheese pizza. He closed his eyes and imagined heaping piles of freshly caught fish on ice and the comforting smell of melted cheese. But when he opened his eyes, all that remained were rusty buildings with broken windows, and its only visitors the cawing seagulls resting on the roof.

The car ride was soothing and Lucas’ mind wandered. How did we get here? Where did humanity mess up? Obviously, global warming had been going on for decades without much action taken or many consequences noticed, but then it was like the dam broke and our planet suffered irreparably, Lucas visualized. And why wasn’t much done about it when the signs had been there for so long? He shook his head in anguish. 

When the car pulled up to campus and Lucas jumped out, he managed to shake off his gloomy feelings and focused on the happy fact that only two more days of classes remained before he could go home and spend Thanksgiving with those he loved. Exiting the car, he grabbed one of the apples to eat during the walk to his dorm. As he crunched into his first apple in over a year, Lucas savored the sugary juices that tingled his taste buds and cherished every bite, so crisp and fresh. The satisfaction the sweetness brought him was so worth the struggle at the dock. Entering his dorm room, Lucas tucked away his apple-stuffed backpack in the far back of his closet to avoid tempting any visitors. He could barely wait for Thanksgiving.