“Things are a world away from the way they were just 100 years ago,” she said. “And it’s too late to fix it.”

APRIL 10, 2106 I couldn’t sleep last night; my stomach was in knots. In general, I try not to sweat the big stuff I can’t change. But I can’t shake Nana’s speech. I’m beginning to think that what we’re seeing now — paralyzing ice storms almost every winter, sweltering heat waves almost every summer, all kinds of talk about water shortages around the country and tons of red tide here in Portland — is only going to get worse.

Of course, there’s a lot I still have trouble believing. Like clams were something regular people could afford 100 years ago. No one clams in Maine anymore because the clam flats are underwater! And other shellfish? Portlanders always dealt with toxic red tide, but it didn’t happen as often as it does now. And to think that the lobster used to symbolize coastal Maine — most of us have never even seen a lobster, let alone tasted one. They all died off or migrated to colder water up north years ago. Nana also says people used to ice skate on the duck pond in Deering Oaks. Whatever. And only a few farms in Maine used to be irrigated? This is hard to swallow since the soil dries out so quickly here! And this whopper: potatoes used to be one of Maine’s biggest crops! Not soybeans!

Still, there’s no denying the facts — 3500 miles of Maine coastline has been damaged over the past century because sea levels have risen; in 2066, Portland built the Back Cove seawall before rising sea water wiped out most of that neighborhood; the farming season here used to last, on average, from late April to mid-October. Now it starts in early or mid-April and doesn’t end until early or mid-November; bluefish and striped bass that spawn in the wetlands of Casco Bay, as well as mussels, eels, herring, and winter flounder which feed on organisms there, were wiped out or whittled down to barely nothing when the ocean rose and flooded the wetlands.

I’ve got to stop this. I’ve got to think about nicer things, like moving into a new apartment with Ben, like finally starting my adult life.

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APRIL 20, 2106 I got a call from Ben. He went to the doctor because he’s been feeling achy and dizzy, and found out he has Lyme Disease. He says his doctor told him it’s amazing he’s almost 21 and hadn’t caught it before now since ticks are flourishing all year round thanks to the warm weather. The doctor also told him to watch out for mosquitoes, black flies, and even mice and rats, because the winters don’t kill them off anymore either. Ben sounded pretty pissed off. I decided not to mention my global-warming chat with Nana. Instead, we talked about his new job selling water from Sebago Lake.

APRIL 25, 2106 I came home the other day and Ben was at the house. He was sitting with Nana and reading from an old notebook. I pretended to be cool with it but I was a little freaked out. Ben pointed to the notebook and said it was my great-grandmother’s. She was a reporter for something called the Phoenix, back when newspapers were something you could hold, and she went around talking to scientists and environmental advocates about global warming 100 years ago. I said, so what? Ben stared at me strangely and then he said, “Look what she found — people predicting what life is like now, sometimes a little worse, sometimes a little better, but mostly pretty accurate. We’re living what they warned about.”

My stomach twisted into knots again. I told him I like the weather.

APRIL 26, 2106 I did something pretty bad. I stole a case of Ben’s sample bottles of Sebago Lake water. I put them on my bike and went down to York County to sell the water on the street (thank god Portland still gets its water from Sebago Lake for cheap — a lot of people from across the country have moved here just for that privilege). Some people down in coastal parts of York County had their private well water tainted by the ocean when it rose and seeped into the ground, so they’ll pay a premium for lake water right out of the tap. I made about $100, which should be enough for Ben’s present. I could have sold a lot more, but I’m glad I didn’t try to bike with any more weight: about half way back my asthma started up because ozone levels were high and it was so hot — like 95 or something. Plus, my hay fever was bad and I was just a mess for a while near Biddeford, just heaving and thinking about why this makes me and all my friends hate the spring and summer. I thought of Nana and how she refuses to use her air conditioning because she says it means power plants burn more fossil fuels, which makes the environment that much worse, even though she would have died last summer from heat stroke if I hadn’t found her and taken her to Maine Medical Center. And then I thought of Canada and how great it sounds with four real seasons and summers that don’t boil like Maine’s always do.