Entry #18: Nuclear birth and death

"That silver dome is gone now. It was targeted by multiple missiles in the immediate counterattack."

The tale of Two Pigeons continues. If you’re new to this novel, start with Entry #1: The Job. To read all installments…please become a paying subscriber.

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Day twelve of the lockdown. Things are looking better. The rad cloud has finally started moving north into Oregon. The San Francisco Emergency Government says it expects the lockdown order to be lifted within a matter of days. Still it’ll probably be weeks if not months until we can walk outside without suiting up. It all depends on the amount of strontium and cesium the dust storm dumped on us. We’ll see…

I painted Dimona, the research facility that birthed Israel’s nuclear bomb. Strange to think I saw it when I was sixteen on a trip to Israel with my synagogue. I spent a few days hiking in the Negev Desert and this building was always on the horizon, its silver dome gleaming in the harsh light, following us like a mirage. That was back in 1995. Our guide, an Israeli hippy with dreadlocks, had told us about the secret history of that place with pride while we rested in the shade of a boulder to escape the midday heat. “This is our ultimate survival device. It’s how we keep the Arabs at bay.”