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Arshia Ramesh, 10
Overland Park, KS

The Dust Cloud

Arshia Ramesh, 10

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. The air quality from the Sahara Desert dust cloud was rated over 350 in Kansas. Which was twice as bad as it was last time. I feel like we are prisoners in our own home, not able to go out or open any doors and windows. We have not had a breath of fresh air in exactly one month and 27 days. I feel as if the days have all blurred into one. I want to push open our front door and run outside. The only contact with the outside world was when our groceries were delivered by a man wearing a gas-proof mask. Also, Kansas’ crops have been dying since the air quality is so dangerously low. I have not felt this bored in my entire life. My older sister, Shasha, and I have been doing our nails and putting on a fashion show to pass the time. I don’t know how much longer we are gonna be stuck at home, but I hope it will be over soon.

It’s the next day. Mom said that school is starting in September, but this year is going to be an online school. I felt like I was gonna cry. I did not want online school I wanted to meet people I wanted to learn in a classroom, but then again I was not surprised.  Even school was going to be taken away from me. Last year school was cut short because of  COVID-19. Now it was like there was not going to be any school at all.

I ran to Dad: he always has a habit of making me feel better.

“Dad,” I said, “Mom said that there is gonna be online school, but I just really want to go to school and sit in a classroom and learn there.”

“I know sweetheart, but we don’t have a choice, we have to keep you safe” Dad told me.

There was that word that meant so much but always seemed unfair.

I have been reading the news. The experts say that they have got control of the dust cloud and soon they are going to move it,  but that also has a bad side: the cloud would just go to one of the states around us and make other people suffer. I don’t know which one is better. I hope the government chooses the right decision.

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Comments

  1. superb , very well explained the current situation young children’s going through.
    Time is a good answer. every thing goes as the time passes. This will also go, nothing is permanent. once again everything will bloom soon . Be positive it just a matter of Time.

  2. Beautifully expressed, very impressive and love how the story is written. Totally captured my attention!! Just love it

  3. Beautifully narrated… it is sad what has happened and is happening but COVID 19 is like nature’s reset button…. everything will be normal again…soon!

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