She shattered John F. Kennedy's record for youngest president, having taken office at thirty-six. Yet, despite all, even she couldn't stop a major cri...is from engulfing her country. Five months after Dean was sworn into office, a major domestic terrorist group known as MASK sent troops from all over the world to the US. Dean mobilized the military and declared war on the organization, the first war fought on American soil. Unfortunately, MASK possessed advanced technology, and their enigmatic. The last time the US Geodesic Service had updated the map was in 2040. At that time, ‘sea level’ was 1.48 feet higher than the previous reading in 2020 – at least Florida’s MEASL – or Mean Elevation Above Sea Level – dropped by that much. In 2060 a revised estimate was made, and Florida lost another 2 feet. Most of Dade (where Miami was) and Broward counties were now only two feet above the average sea level, and the water table was so close to the surface that the ground squished when it was. She took another drink of the rum. Liquid courage, or so she hoped. Didn’t seem like it was working so much.She finally at least got the courage to stand. I thought maybe I’d offer, “You want help, love?” I asked her.She shook her head, “No, I have to do this.” Her hands were shaking when she went to that button on the side, the one holding her dress together.“Hon, you don’t have to. Nobody’ll be mad if you don’t. We can go home if you can’t do it.” God, I hoped she didn’t take me up on that. ”“Oh, I will be, just not right now.”Lynn went to her closet and retrieved the ropes we’d used when we’d played this game before. I don’t really own any neckties that we could trash, just a couple I kept for funerals and special occasions, so, based on something she’d read online, we’d gone to a fabric store and picked up some fancy – but strong -decorative rope. It’s something used for home decorating, but it was soft to the touch and shiny, and they’d had it in a bunch of colors; we’d chosen.