Alice Looking for a Rabbit Hole in New York

In search of a store I had visited less than a month ago, I rode the city bus past the four block stretch where I was certain the store was located. After riding past the blocks, I exited the bus at the next stop, deciding to walk back and find the store. I figured I had somehow missed it. I walked with my head arched up and slanted, looking at store signs and glancing in store windows. Walking the path I had just driven by, I could find no trace of the store. After a moment feeling like I was looking for a rabbit hole on the avenue, I concluded that the store must have closed down. With no apparent trace of its existence. 

From the microscopic occurrence—the ‘disappearance’ of a store—the macroscopic emerged. I wonder, how long would it take for everything on earth, in the absence of human intervention or development, to return to its elemental form, leaving no trace, no hint, of mankind’s existence? A billion years? Two billion? More? Or perhaps less. Given that the earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old, wouldn’t it be curious if a prior incarnation of us—‘us’ representing all of humankind—existed, flourished, and died, with no trace of its existence after three billion years had passed? That would mean that, given enough time and inaction, they (whoever ‘they’ might be) wouldn’t even know we had been here.

But, I suppose none of this matters since we’ve only got another 1.5 billion years left to enjoy Earth anyway, according to those in the know. And that’s probably not enough time to vanish without a trace. Even if a particular store on a certain avenue in New York did it in less than a month.

  - Alice