34MAG | 34THPARALLEL.NET

34MAG | 34THPARALLEL.NET

There are many futures.

Feb 01, 2024
∙ Paid
Share

No past, no future.

ARDIS EXTINCTION BY LINDSAY SMITH 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 118 UPDATED

INT. LOUVRE

Spence leans in, breathes on the glass case of the Egyptian king.

SPENCE

He looks happy.

A tour group of Chinese shuffle past. One of them stops, jostles Spence aside, and takes a shot of the happy king.

SPENCE

So many culture lovers.

ARDIS

Did we see the Mona Lisa?

(she pushes through the crowd)

There’s no happiness, right? You have to put on a happy face.

SPENCE

You’ll end up in a glass case too.

EXT. CANAL

Spence and Ardis watch a tourist boat glide by on the canal, rows of empty seats and a woman standing at the front singing a sorrowful love song in French.

SPENCE

How long is it now?

ARDIS

What are you talking about?

SPENCE

Your research.

ARDIS

Oh.

SPENCE

Four years?

ARDIS

Three.

They start walking along the canal.

ARDIS

Well this is the fourth year. So what are you getting at?

SPENCE

You haven’t published anything.

ARDIS

I haven’t written anything.

SPENCE

Ardis, there’s nothing new.

She takes a few steps. Turns back to him.

ARDIS

That’s just it. There is.

EXT. CAFE TERRACE

Ardis and Spence are sitting at a tiny table on a cafe terrace.

SPENCE

You like the coffee?

ARDIS

Nice.

SPENCE

It’s the best. Peru.

He studies the crowd of tourists shuffling past, a leg shaking impatiently.

ARDIS

Nice village too.

She pushes away her coffee cup.

ARDIS

Except it is fake.

SPENCE

What do you mean fake?

ARDIS

Done up for the tourists.

Spence stands up from the table.

SPENCE

There’s something I want you to see.

They push through the tourists to the outskirts of the village.

Spence leads Ardis onto a dirt path that crosses a field of purple flowers glowing in the sun.

Ardis looks back at the village.

ARDIS

Jimmy, it’s pretty.

They come to an old stone wall. Spence pushes open a weathered wooden door.

SPENCE

The village graveyard.

Spence takes Ardis’s arm.

SPENCE

This is authentic, no tourists.

Old cypresses soak up the sun and in the shadows wild grass lies shrivelled.

ARDIS

What is it? What do you want me to see?

Spence stops at a grave overgrown by an old olive tree.

ARDIS

(looking around)

Where’s the village from here?

Spence shifts his feet, the gravel crackles.

SPENCE

Just look.

Ardis looks at the grave of Harrison Wells.

SPENCE

You see darling? This is where he is.

He takes a few steps back the way they had come.

SPENCE

That’s all.

Another grave lies next to it, like a twin. Edith Wells.

ARDIS

Edith Wells? How can that be?

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 34MAG | 34THPARALLEL.NET
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Sign upGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture