invaluable
beyond calculable or appraisable value; of inestimable worth; priceless: an invaluable art collection; her invaluable assistance.
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The sun beat down in the cloudless sky. It was a constant thing. The heat, the dry wind. Kevin would never get used to the sky without clouds. To the constant, rainless weather. He never though he would miss rain. Or the color green. Or any number of other things, really.
He licked his lips in a vain attempt to bring some level of moisture to them, but the hot air whisked it all away before it made any difference. It was something else he never though he would miss. The sound of footsteps on the dry ground brought him out of his thoughts.
“Don’t just stop, Grandpa.” Daniel said. His eldest grandson held a crude spear draped over his shoulder, but was not keeping his eyes as open as he should have. The other two were much more alert. “We have to keep going if we want to find anything in time to get back home.”
“Yes, yes, I know.” Kevin said. He was old, but not old enough that his grandchildren would be taking care of him. “I was just getting the lay of the land. Nobody’s been out this way in years. Who knows what we might find.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. It was heartening, in a way. The world might be barren and civilization collapsed, but teenagers would never change. He felt a rare smile cross his face for a moment before he went back to searching. Of course, there was nothing. Nothing but rock a dirt for miles.
The small group kept walking, eyes peeled for threats or treasures. It was one of the grandkids that found something. The youngest one, Marcus.
“That rock looks weird.” The young boy said with a small giggle. “It’s all lumpy.”
Daniel huffed and went to chastise his younger brother, telling him that it was nothing. Kevin took a closer look. The rock was indeed odd. In fact, once he trained an eye on it, he doubted it was even a rock. He headed over and slowly knelt down, feeling old pains in his knees as he did. He looked closely and his eyes widened.
“This…this is…” He reached down to what was not a rock.
It was an apple. Or at least the remains of one. It was clearly old and certainly not edible. But it was intact. It had been years since Kevin had seen a piece of fruit, so even this stirred far too many emotions in his old soul. But other than that, there was more. He pulled out an old knife, one of the few metal tools left, and began cutting into the dry, shrivled fruit. He let out a wild cheer when he saw the treasure inside.
“Come over here, all of you!” He called. All three of his grandchildren came over.
“What is it, Grandpa?” The middle child, Caroline, asked. She shuffled as close as she could, craning her neck to get a better look.
“Do you know what these are?” Kevin asked, holding up his newfound treaures. All three shook their heads.
“Looks like some kind of rock.” Daniel said.
“A rock. Yes, I suppose it would, wouldn’t it? No, these are the single greatest treasures we can find. The greatest, most precious things you’ll ever see. These are seeds. Apple seeds. Put them in the ground and give them water. In a few years, you’ll have apples. Fruit. Food. Good food.”
That grabbed all of their attention. “These…make food?” Marcus asked. “But they’re so small.”
“Right now they are. But they’ll grow. It won’t be fast. Honestly, I might not even be alive to see them bloom. But as long as there’s water and people to care for them, they will grow.”
“That’s…” Daniel said. “We need to get these back to shelter. There’s water there, right? Is that enough?”
“I hope so.” It was just a small stream, but it was steady. It would have to be enough. “I really hope so. Mark this place. We’ll come back here, just in case there’s more. Where there’s one apple, there could be more. But we can’t be too greedy. We have the seeds now. We should get them home and hope someone there can grow them properly. Come on, all of you. Let’s hurry.”
Kevin tucked the seeds, five small bundles of hope, into the crude bag at his side. Together, the four of them made their way to the small gathering of people that they called home.
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Remember, should all civilization collapse, finding a steady source of food and water is crucial to survival. It's probably not so important for someone like me though. Chances are that I'll be one of the first to go in the inevitable chaos. Yeah, I don't have many survival skills. Or physical fitness. Or, well, anything that'll help me live for long.
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