by Zygmunt Nowak Solinski
Greg, a little boy, is intrigued by the vacuum cleaner, which Mrs Williamson, the cleaning lady, says is so powerful it picks up all the dust. It must be magic, he thinks. One afternoon during their holidays on the coast, Dad is sleeping off lunch, Mum has gone to see some friends, Greg is out with Ricky, his dog, playing football. After some time, when Ricky gets bored, Greg goes into the house.
He finds the vc (he calls it that) and takes it down to the seashore. They have a house near the beach and he puts the tube in the water and the vacuum cleaner sucks up the ocean. Greg puts the vc back into the garage and plugs it in to recharge it.
All the seas and oceans of the world are emptied, all the fish and whales are dead and there are extreme changes in the weather.
When his Dad wakes, he sees the empty sea. They have to leave for the town quickly, he says.
Many people emigrate to the new areas. The polar caps melt and give fresh water. Cities are founded, and half the world now lives in the dried-out parts. There is plenty of space for everyone and enough food also. Explorers are sent out to the deeper, drier areas. They are looking for places to settle in. Small oceans are created for the fish and other creatures. From aquariums and zoos.
Many years later, Greg and his Mum and Dad go back to see their house. Greg, now a bit older and wiser, finds the old vacuum cleaner and empties it over the edge of the cliff. All the oceans of the world pour out and drown the cities and people in the deserts and canyons and mountainsides. Greg’s Mum and Dad come and stand on the cliff with him and look at the ocean.
‘All those towns and people drowned.’
‘It must be a natural phenomenon. The fish in the aquariums can go back,’ his father says.
‘And the whales?’ Greg says. He is a veterinary researcher specialising in humpback whales.
Many years pass. Greg, an old man, sits at the edge of the ocean watching his great-grandchildren.
The population of the world has grown and more problems are on the horizon. He gets up and goes to the garage to look for the vacuum cleaner which he hid away so long ago.