2025

Elise brushes past the politician outside Simei station. He’s handing out flyers, and a small crowd has formed around him. In her hurry, Elise notices she hasn’t caught the colour of his uniform. Is it a mixture of red and white? Or all-white? Or pastel blue, or green? Not green. If it’d been one of the Greens, she’d definitely have stopped to take a flyer, maybe even a selfie. As she waves her wrist watch over the gantry and enters the steaming hot station, she realises she doesn’t know if the Greens are even contesting in Simei. She purses her lips a little sadly. They’re made up of young university professors with socialist ideas and she thinks their angry Instagram stories about climate change are pretty cool. She’d have liked to cast her first ever vote their way in this, the hottest August in recent memory.

This story is read by Brendon Fernandez.