Extremophiles

Knee-deep in the eggy marsh, Dr. Smith and three classmates lifted a refrigerator from the water like pallbearers. Hinges rusted, drooping.

Years ago, a teacher explained that extremophiles are the only microorganisms that can survive the marsh. I remembered this last week, when my father confessed outside of a gas station that he was leaving my mother. He wept while I stared at the brackish water along the highway and struggled to feel.

“People just toss things,” Smith mourned. The fridge laid supine next to the trash we’d collected. Meanwhile, a great blue heron studied us, balancing on one leg.