
Part 1
A quiet craftsman finds his thoughts drifting between the grain of a wooden block and the uneasy world outside. When his partner returns, their whispered conversation hints at a desperate plan—a chance to confront the strange, lingering catastrophe that has left fields barren and trees forever leafless. Their bond, tempered by past loss, fuels a fragile hope that something can be reclaimed.
Beyond their modest workshop, the planet grapples with a baffling ecological failure: spring arrives, yet shoots never sprout, and nations scramble for emergency measures. Governments mobilize naval fleets to harvest the seas, while scientists race to turn wood itself into sustenance. As the couple prepares to step into this uncertain landscape, the story balances intimate human resilience with the looming mystery of a world that has stopped growing.
Language
en
Duration
~15 minutes (14K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
New York, NY: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1962.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2023-11-11
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
A shadowy byline from mid-century science fiction, this author is best known for the 1962 story "And It Was Good," a reflective tale of war, compassion, and renewal first published in Amazing Stories.
View all books
by Vinceslas-Eugène Dick

by Philippe Aubert de Gaspé

by Abraham Cahan

by Pauline E. (Pauline Elizabeth) Hopkins

by Laure Conan

by Eliza Fowler Haywood

by George Sand