You are listening to a Clarksworld magazine podcast with your host and narrator, Kate Baker.

Greetings Clarksville citizens and welcome to the second story for the month of March, issue 22.

I hope that all these stories that you are listening to here at Clarksworld are treating you very well.

And you've considered supporting if you haven't in the past. If you'd like to do so,

because we cannot do this without you, and each of these stories every single month, is

brought to you by your ongoing support, it's Clarksworldcitizens.com or patreon.com for it slash Clarksworld..com or patreon.com forward slash Clarksworld.

And one of these stories that we're bringing to you is titled, Pollen.

It is by Anna Beridenka, translated by Alex Schwartzman.

Now, Anna Berderdenka is half writer and half lawyer.

She does everything possible to ensure peaceful coexistence between her lawyer and writer subpersonalities.

She's the winner of multiple Russian language SFF short story contests and has been published in magazines and anthologies.

She comes up with her best stories while gardening or walking her dog.

Alex Schwartzman's translations from Russian have appeared in Clark's World Reactor, FNSF, Asimov's Analog, and many other venues.

He is the author of Eridani's Crown, The Middling Affliction, and Kakistocracy Fantasy Novels.

So, my dear listener, if you are an ongoing supporter of the magazine, I want to thank you for each and every subscription, for every dollar that you've pledged over at Patreon.

Or if you've told a friend about a story that you've particularly enjoyed or a narration that you've pledged over at Patreon, or if you've told a friend about a story that you've

particularly enjoyed, or a narration that you've liked. Again, we cannot do this without you.

And with that said, I hope you can sit back, relax, and let me tell you a story.

Even after Uncle Sulim died, he remained occasionally intolerable.

Did you check the pollen count inside the base?

Yes, it's at the higher limit of the acceptable range, within two basis points.

Nika's response was almost a void of irritation.

...