Five teenagers are in a car. It's a dark, rainy, Friday night and the music is loud as they cruise along to their destination. They're heading to an old abandoned Mill on the far outskirts of town where they often go to drink beer and hang out. Tonight there will be a keg.
The driver, Mike, says he knows a shortcut. He turns onto a narrow little road with only scattered houses and no traffic. Christy, from the front passenger seat, turns the music up louder and they speed along.
Steve is sitting in the backseat on the passenger side staring out the window, listening to the music. Something orange catches his eye. The wind, apparently, has blown the sign sideways, twisting it like a corkscrew. But Steve can barely make out the words: 'Danger Bridge Out No Thru Traffic.'
Suddenly Steve remembers where he is. He had been here before. He also remembers the bridge -- old, iron, and suspended 30 feet above the river. "Hey", Steve yells. "Did you see that sign?"
He is yelling at Mike but the music is loud and Mike is trying to light a cigarette. "What?", Mike replies.
"Did you see that sign? I think it said the bridge was out."
Mike turns the music down a bit but leaves his fingers on the knob. "I didn't see any sign."
Christy chimes in, "I didn't see any sign either Steve. You're just high."
"No shit", Mike added. "No more for you dude."
Lisa, in the backseat, is looking at Steve now and sees that he is dead serious. "Shut up Steve. You're freaking me out." She places her flattened hand to his face and gives it a gentle push.
"I'm telling you. Slow the fuck down. I saw a fucking sign that said `Bridge Out'." Steve was getting desperate.
Mike briefly jerks his head around towards Steve. "Man, I've been down this road a thousand fucking times and there's no fucking bridge."
Suddenly, clutching the dashboard with both hands, Christy says, "What is that?"
Everyone is now staring straight ahead. Orange barricades stand lined across the road. Just beyond they can barely make out what looks like bent steel columns. The remnants of an old bridge.
The wheels of Mike's car locked up immediately as he slammed on the brakes. It glided like a smooth, steel rail on the wet pavement. The last thing they saw was orange as the fragile wooden fragments of the barricades smashed through the bumper, over the hood, and into the windshield.
And then, it was just a feeling. A brief sensation of zero gravity as the car and its occupants descended down, through space, towards the rocky river bottom below. The music played for twelve hours before the battery ran out.
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Guess which character represents the climate scientists. It's really time to listen.