January 24 How to make oxygen on the moon

 Breathe in.

The air is different here, it fills our lungs in a different way, as if heavier or something, like diesel in our petrol bodies.

We’ve gone over it enough now, still it is our only conversation, even when silent. If everyone had talked more, drank less, heeded signs and counted to ten or twenty, perhaps things might have worked out differently.

When we touch now there’s a film over our skins, that we scrub and rub at until it’s almost gone, almost but not quite.

Day by day we are learning to breathe again, learnt our lesson, matched our appetites to our bellies, and escaped to here.

Exiled but together, and if anyone ever comes for us, we’ll deal with it head on.

Breathe out.