FLUX

A cocky executive from the fossil fuel company first questions Grace's integrity and threatens to cancel her access to their well sites, then makes a surprising offer that would supercharge her research and prove just how valuable it (and she) is. Get full access to Homecoming at juliegabrielli.substack.com/subscribe

Warbird’s new well casing is throwing off crazy high methane readings. So are Dazzler and Beast. Three out of her eight sites. It’s alarming. She suspects the casings are cracked, but given the gaps in her instruments’ readings, she needs more data. And more reliable equipment, but that’s not happening. She’ll make the best of it. She always does. Get full access to Homecoming at juliegabrielli.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to all the new subscribers who’ve joined in the past couple of weeks. I’m delighted that you’re here. Whether you’re here for the lovely interviews with nature writers; the bi-monthly journal, NatureStack, curating the best of Substack’s nature writing; the occasional essay on all this; or this serial novel, FLUX, welcome. Wherever you are on this path — whether you’re brimming with wonder or weary with grief — you belong here. Together, we can return to our deep connection with the world

⬅️ Previous chapterApril 2009Grace Evans takes one step, another step, step, step, lift, the ground drops away and she becomes a creature of the air. She tucks her feet into the glider harness and tips horizontal to be rewarded by the joy of weightlessness. Her bones feel hollow and light as a bird’s.Though gravity seduces her glider earthward, she rides the wind off the hill and climbs a few hundred feet. Pockets of cooler air brush her face. On the ground, the temperature will climb near ninety

Late October 2009Dr. Grace Evans yawns and stretches from the long drive. They’re flaring again. So loud it feels personal. A sulfurous, rotten stench hangs over the site. She can almost feel the air suffering. They say you’re invisible, she whispers. They say you’re intangible, odorless, colorless. That you’re out there. Would they act differently if they understood that you’re inside them? In lungs and cells, yes. But also in thoughts. In imaginations. And assumptions.The quiet time at Warbird of