In Chapter 6, Michael met Monty, who’s concerned with population, and saw a woman in a green sweater.
The Emerald is printing “And the Dew is Our National Treasure” in serial form, with an installment every Tuesday in the Pulse Relax section. Earlier installments can be found at www.dailyemerald.com.
 
When I return to my seat, the woman in the green sweater is still asleep, and Monty studies his computer screen. As soon as I’m seated, Monty nudges my elbow. “Look! This is the best part. Here. The bottom of the screen is time, and 10,000 years ago is over here.” He points to the lower left corner. “And in the lower right corner is the present.”
I nod.
“Along the right side is population. Do you see it?” Eyes wide; frozen smile. “Based on archeological ruins, there were about 5 million people in the world 10,000 years ago. The size of one city now.” He turns his quizzical face toward me. “Amazing, hunh?” I nod. “You betcha.”
The woman on my right sighs, and I turn to look. She’s reading.
“Here…” Monty pulls me back. “For 8,000 years, from 8,000 BC until the year zero, we were very successful, doubling every 1,300 to 1,600 years. By the year zero, we were 250 million.” Big nervous laugh. “Population explosion, don’t ya think?”
I’m thinking of the woman to my right. “Sure.”
“Wrong! 250 million is here, right here, just barely off the bottom of the screen!”
I want to hurry him: “And so where are we now?”
“Guess. I mean, between the year zero and the present we had plagues, wars, wild animals, maybe an inquisition or two, more plagues and wars, perhaps some floods, and do you think we ever got to half a billion?” I count the number of painful seconds between freeze and reanimation. “Don’t know? It was around 1650. 1650!”
I nod wearily. “And where are we now?”
“Hold on, hold on. Look. From the year zero to the year 1650, the population doubled. It took longer than it did before the year zero! Know why? Ummm?”
I flip an impatient hand.
“Ya, I already told you. Plague. The plague.” I pretend to stretch, putting one hand on the small of my back and twisting to steal a look at the woman.
“Hi,” I say.
She looks at me, says ‘Hi’ casually and turns back to her book. Oh, Fate, she has green eyes!
“Dramatic changes, dramatic changes!” Monty pulls at my arm. “After 1650 came big changes. The Industrial Revolution, migration to the New World, better food, hygiene! More children survive. It takes less than 200 years to add the second half a billion. We became a billion people for the first time around 1830. Population grows another billion in the next 80 years; it’s 2 billion in 1910. And adds another billion in the next 40 years; 3 billion in the mid 1950s. By the late 1960s, there are 4 billion. And in the early ’80s there are 5 billion. And now we’re here.” He touches the top right corner of the screen. “6 billion. 6 billion!” Freeze. Silence. Puppy dog look.
I need to tell him he’s being intrusive. “Population,” I say in a deliberately slow voice, “may not be the problem so much as that some people cannot contain themselves to their space.”
He pulls his head back, and his eyes widen; I think he gets the message. He turns to his computer and begins typing. I sit back and survey the slender arms, graceful hands and delicate fingers of this beautiful, beguiling woman. I prepare to meet my green-eyed destiny.